Why Losing Over 25 Pounds Feels Different—And How to Start Strong

Philippians 4:13 reminds us: “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (NLT)

The first step to starting strong is to:

1. Anchor your “why” in faith.
    Instead of only focusing on appearance, anchor your journey in purpose. Maybe your “why” is to have energy to play with your kids or grandkids. Maybe it’s to serve in ministry without fatigue holding you back. 
2. Shrink the mountain.
    If you have 50 pounds to lose, don’t stare at the 50. Break it down. Focus on the first 5 pounds. That’s a real, tangible goal. And once you hit that, set the next one. 
3. Focus on the first habit, not all the habits. 
    When you’re starting, don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to change everything at once. Choose one habit. 

I'd like you to think these through:

• What’s the real reason you want to lose weight? Beyond appearance, what’s your deeper why? 
• What would your life look like if you were free from the extra weight holding you back?
• And are you willing to do the work it’s going to take to get there? Only you can decide to make true change. 
• What is one small step you can take this week to move closer to that vision?
  
  

I want you to do ONE simple action step this week:
 Write down your faith-based “why.” Post it somewhere visible. Each morning, pray over it and if you get stuck, ask God to reveal it to you. 

Heavenly Father, thank You for my friend listening today. Thank You that You care about every detail of her life—even the parts she feels are too heavy, too messy, or too hard to change. Lord, remind her that she can do all things through Christ who strengthens her.

Give her courage to take the first step, patience to keep going, and joy in the small victories. Guard her heart against discouragement and lies from the enemy. And help her see this journey not as punishment, but as an opportunity to honor You with her body, her energy, and her life.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and NOT losing weight?

Hey there friend, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach. I gained 100 pounds in my late twenties and struggled for years to get it off. Seven years ago, I found a basic system that worked and has helped me lose 90 of those pounds. I’ve been working with women in online fitness and nutrition ever since to break chains of diet culture, embrace their bodies and fueling instead of dieting.

In this podcast, I'll teach you how to:

• • Lose Weight in a Way that honors God without obsessing about the scale
  • Meal Plan and Prep for Your Family
  • Follow a MACRO based plan that allows you to eat the foods you love.
  • Recognize and pray through triggers keeping you stuck.
  • I’ll help you Plan your week and schedule your self-care time.
  • Cultivate a spirit of self-discipline in your workouts you actually enjoy.
  
  It's time to give God your health journey and watch Him make you new, from the inside, OUT.

Join The Biblical Weight Loss Framework: https://www.herweightlossmindset.com/framework

Join my FREE Community: https://bit.ly/JoinTheChristianWeightLossCommunity

Join my Insiders List with weekly tips for weight loss for Christian women: http://herweightlossmindset.com/herweightlossmindsetinsiders

Transcript

Hello, my friend, and welcome back to the podcast. I'm so glad you're here today, because we're going to talk about something that doesn't get set enough in the health and fitness world.

Losing more than 25 pounds, it just feels different, and I know, I've lost over 90 pounds in my journey.

It's a bigger mountain to climb, and sometimes the journey can just feel really heavy, not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually too. So before we dive in, I want to ground us in God's Word.

Philippians 4.13 reminds us, for I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Now at that time, Paul was writing a letter to the church in Philippi, and there was just a lot of pagan rituals going on, and they were really struggling with staying firm in their faith, and Paul was reminding them, we can do everything through

Christ, who gives us strength. So I think sometimes it's just really important to look back at the Bible in the context of the time, and to see what the people back then were going through. They were dealing with some pretty horrible things.

If you're struggling with excessive weight loss, like, that can be a really heavy thing.

So it includes the small choices that you're making today, and it includes the strength that you're gonna need when you feel tired, discouraged, or tempted to quit, which happens to all of us. Or if you're like me, maybe you've quit 100 times.

So I want you to grab a pen, I want you to get ready to take some notes. This is not easy stuff to talk about, but you are worth the fight, and I'm gonna give you some technical steps that you can take today. So hang tight, and let's get started.

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and not losing weight? Are you tired of doubting your ability to actually lose weight in a healthy way? Do you wish you could find a laid out for you plan that will help you stay accountable to your goals?

Hey friends, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach. I gained 100 pounds in my late 20s and struggled for years to get it off. So grab your pre-workout and let's chat.

I want to invite you to the Biblical Weight Loss Framework. And I know that it sounds like a lot and you maybe you've checked out the website and you think I just I don't I don't know what to expect. I don't know what all of this means.

I just I really want to encourage you what we're going to do in the Biblical Weight Loss Framework is look at your personal journey, your personal struggles, your personal triggers, your personal habits and hurts and hang ups.

And listen, I know this is not easy stuff. But we're going to spend the first probably six weeks just diving into the mindset around why you make the choices that you do. It's going to be hard.

But I personally don't know of anything in life that comes easy. That's worth having. Weight loss is hard.

Losing weight biblically without giving into our flesh, that's hard. But God has clear direction for us. And the Biblical Weight Loss Framework is going to help you take that Holy Spirit led approach to weight loss God's way.

I'm going to give you video training. I'm going to give you homework prompts. I'm going to give you group coaching opportunities.

This is going to be a 90-day deep dive into your personal struggles, your personal journey. I'm going to create a macro plan for you. I'm going to create a specific fitness plan for you when you're ready.

Maybe you're not ready for workouts yet. Maybe just incorporating walking. It's all so individualized.

Go to the Biblical Weight Loss Framework. The link to join us is in the show notes below at herweightlossmindset.com. That's herweightlossmindset.com.

Hit pause on the podcast, go to the show notes, click to sign up, and let's get started. Maybe you're like me. You've tried to lose weight before and gained it all back.

I remember the first keto diet I did. I had just graduated college. I was bartending second shift.

I was drinking quite a bit back then. Probably, I would say six, maybe seven days a week, and I had packed on about 25 pounds.

A friend was starting the South Beach Diet, which was popular back in the early 2000s, and so I told her I'd give it a shot. Well, when the headaches started, debilitating headaches like I could barely get out of bed.

I just went off the keto diet and I gained back not only the 25 pounds that I had lost, I gained back another 25 pounds. So I find myself 50 pounds overweight.

I have always been a, not a skinny person, but like a, I would say like a, I don't even know what the word is. I don't want to say normal because normal is not a size, but it's like, I just always felt like I was pretty fit.

I was a dancer, I was active. And so that was just, that was really hard for my body to carry that weight all of the sudden. And maybe you've done diets.

Maybe you've tried all the quick fixes like me, cabbage soup, ab rocket. Maybe you've done the 30 day challenges. And they worked, maybe for a little while.

But when you're carrying 25, 40, 75, or maybe 100 extra pounds like I was, those surface level approaches, they just don't hold up. They just don't work. At least they didn't for me.

And I'm guessing they probably didn't for you if you're listening. And why is that? That's because this is not just about dropping a few pounds to fit in last summer's jeans or your prom dress from preschool.

This is about rebuilding your health. This is about reframing your habits and your mindset from the bottom up. It's about tearing apart old mindsets that tell you all or nothing works or that you failed before and you'll never be successful again.

It's about letting God into a space of your life that maybe you've tried to handle alone before. So let's break down why losing 25 pounds or more feels different. For one, it takes more time.

We live in a world that loves quick results. Like my husband is so irritated by all the Amazon packages that come, but it's just like it's fast. It's going to be here in two days.

The baby needs Tylenol. I'm not going to the store or ibuprofen, I guess. We don't give her Tylenol.

Anyway, boom, it's here. Oh, she needs diapers. Oh, boom, it's here.

Oh, she needs her magnesium. Boom, it's here. But sustainable fat loss, it happens slowly.

It's not going to happen overnight. And anything that promises you quick weight loss without fixing your mindset, it's a scam. It's a marketing scheme.

Don't buy in. One to two pounds a week is what leads to long term sustainable weight loss. That means your journey could take months.

It could take a year or even years. For me, it took almost 15 to figure out what my body actually needed. And that requires patience, which isn't easy, but it is a fruit of the spirit.

So the first question you need to ask yourself is if you're willing to trust God's timing, if it truly means breaking the chains that are holding you back from the results that you desire, doing something, stepping in and trusting, having faith that

he's going to lead you somewhere, maybe the biblical weight loss framework. The second reason it feels different is it takes more mindset work. The finish line feels so far away.

I remember thinking, oh my gosh, I have to lose 100 pounds, and I would instantly get defeated. Why? Because that is a good number.

Especially as life happens in the beginning, you have an off day or make a choice that you didn't tend to. The old lies that we've implanted in our brain that we've quit before, why would we think that we can?

Or the enemy's cohorts love to whisper lies like, this is too hard, why do you think you can do this? You're never going to change. But what do we know about God's truth?

His truth says otherwise, he promises to complete the good work in us that he began. When you let him lead. It also feels different because it requires a lifestyle change, not a diet.

Quick diets might help someone lose 10 pounds for a wedding, but when your goal is bigger, you need lasting change. What does that mean? What does that mean?

That means building habits with food and exercise and sleep and stress and hydration that can carry you for the rest of your life. I've lost 10 pounds for vacation and gained the 10 that I lost on vacation. I don't want to live that way.

Do you? So a week before last, I was in Florida. I had a speaking engagement and I had done a three-day detox the week before.

I had been eating so many things and ice cream and I just didn't feel good in my skin. And so I just I knew on vacation that I did not want to ruin my progress. So every morning I got my workout done.

My aunt and I went on a walk almost every day. I made sure that in the morning before coffee, I still drank my 30 to 40 ounces of water. I had treats, but I focused on protein.

I made us breakfast every day. Eggs, toast, spinach. We had fruit and we had lots of healthy snacks.

My aunt and I went to the grocery the day that we got there and I didn't gain any weight. And it can be that simple when we let God be the voice in our head instead of our doubt or fear or thinking, Oh, I lost 10 pounds. I can do it again.

That is not the answer. That's not the answer. We can blame the enemy.

Yeah, I've done it a million times, but it's usually our own poor choices that make a spiral. The enemy is not God. God is omniscient.

He's omnipresent. He is in all things at all times. The devil is not.

He is one fallen angel. Yeah, he has people that are out and about maybe, and they're like trying to make ruin in the world, whatever, but they're not probably focusing on you.

The majority of your issues lie in your own personal choices and the blocks that you have in your mind and your heart over your weight loss journey.

So it's really learning to pray that Psalm 139, 23, and 24 verse and ask God to remove the offensive things in you and replace them with what he needs you to be filled with. Okay, so get your pen.

How do we start strong on a journey that feels so big? The first step, you must anchor your why in your faith. So instead of only focusing on your appearance, anchor your journey and purpose.

Maybe your why is to have energy to play with your kids or get off the floor with your grandkids without needing a forklift. Maybe you want to serve in ministry without feeling fatigued.

Maybe it's simply to be a good steward of the body that God entrusted to you. Write it down, put it on your bathroom mirror, pray over it daily and find a verse that's going to keep you encouraged. The second step, drink the mountain.

If you have 100 pounds to lose, 75, 50, 40, 30, don't stare at the 50. Break it down, focus on the first one to two pounds. One to two pounds this week means real one to two pounds next week.

Maybe five pounds a month. That is a real, tangible, sustainable goal. And once you hit that, set the next one, another three to four to five pound goal.

Each milestone is proof that you're moving forward. And remember, one to two pounds a week. So get ready for a long journey.

But what an incredible opportunity for God to do a work inside of you and honor him in the process.

Now listen, if you start a macro plan and you go for a month and you lose, let's say, week one, maybe you lose like a pound, and then week two, maybe you lose like six pounds.

Week three, you're not gonna have a huge weight loss, if any at all, because you've now lost seven pounds in two weeks and your body has to go through a systems check, like, wait, what's going on? Am I okay? Am I healthy?

Am I sick? What's happening here? So trust your body, trust the process, trust that God created you perfectly and he is going to honor your choices when you continue to seek him and let him lead.

So the third thing that you can do is focus on the first habit, not all the habits. When you're starting, I say this all the time, don't overwhelm yourself by trying to change everything at once.

Choose one thing, maybe drinking more water and nail it, get really good at it for 21 days. Maybe it's incorporating a 10-minute walk three to four times a week. Maybe it's adding protein to your breakfast.

Pick one thing, one habit that feels natural that you can work into your life in the season that you're in. Three weeks and then add the next one. So I want to pause here and ask you a few questions.

So maybe you're listening to this podcast while you're journaling, or maybe you're taking a walk and listening. I want you to think these through. What's the real reason that you want to lose weight?

Beyond appearance, what is that deeper why? What is it that is pushing you to keep going? The next thing I want you to think about is what your life would look like if you were free from the extra weight holding you back.

Close your eyes, picture yourself. What do you look like? What are you wearing?

Where are you going? How are you serving? How is that freedom allowing you to live the life that God has called you to, walking out the Great Commission?

The next question is, are you willing to do the work it's going to take to get there? And only you can decide to make true change. Maybe you're ready, but you don't know where to start.

Join the Biblical Weight Loss Framework and let me help you. I want to help you. I've been there.

I know how hard it is. And the last question, ask yourself, what is one seemingly small step that I can take today to move closer to that vision?

What is the one habit that I'm going to implement over the next three weeks so that I can get really good at it before I add the next habit? Listen, sister, I know this is overwhelming. It feels overwhelming.

But I want to remind you that God doesn't ask you to climb the whole mountain today. And he definitely doesn't ask you to climb it alone. He is right there with you.

He asks you to take one faithful step. He's not measuring your worth by the scale. He knows your heart.

He knows your desires. He knows your willingness to trust him. He knows that you want to walk in obedience in those small everyday choices.

Pray, ask him every morning to lead you and guide you and then have the strength to walk it out in Holy Spirit obedience regardless of the outcome of the scale. We're not losing weight to be skinny.

We're losing weight so that we can be a testimony to God's work in our life. It is not too late. You are not too far gone.

Do you hear me? You are not stuck forever. With God's strength, with steady practical habits, you will see change.

So I'm going to challenge you to do one simple action step this week. Are you ready? Write down your faith-based why.

Post it somewhere visible. Send it to me on Instagram. Shoot me an email at info at herweightlossmindset.com.

Every morning, pray over it. And if you get stuck, ask God to reveal it to you. Let this why remind you that this is about more than weight.

It's about honoring God with your health, your body, and your choices. Heavenly Father, thank you for my friend listening today.

Thank you that you care about every detail of her life, even the parts she feels are too heavy, too messy, or too hard to change. Lord, remind her that she can do all things through Christ who strengthens her.

Give her courage to take the first step, patience to keep going, and joy in the small victories.

Guard her heart against discouragement and lies from the enemy, and help her see this journey not as a punishment, but as an opportunity to honor you with her body, her energy, and her life. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.