10 Commandments Diet Plan

Today I take a brief break from our tiptoe through the Ten Commandments to discuss dieting and how my Savior relates to my diet. In the process, I will be introducing what I have come to know as the Ten Commandments Diet Plan. Before you boil me with oil or scoff at me as a heretic, hear me out.

The story of Mark Applegate’s obesity began in 1982. I had always been a pretty large kid, but really began to grow out during my Junior High years. I struggled with self-confidence issues throughout my childhood. A verbally abusive step-father saying I would never amount to anything combined with an uber-popular, athletic brother the girls swooned over to the point of asking me “why I couldn’t be cute like my brother”, among other issues compounded the weight problem. Looking back, however, excuses abound.
Fast forward ahead to 2004. I was approximately 380 pounds. I am not exactly sure what weight I topped out at, but I remember three moments in my life that really stick out relating to the extent and shame of my obesity. First I remember reading on my doctor’s chart on me that he referred to me as “morbidly obese”. I have come to learn later that this is a medical term, not a value judgment, but at the time seemed like I was being made fun of by my doctor. I had been the target of fat jokes for years, but it was particularly hurtful to see a third party writing to his peers making fun of me.

The second low point of my corpulence was subtle, yet painful. It was when I outgrew the regular scale. When the balance scale, regardless of how far I scoot it to the right, still doesn’t budge, it was a painful event. My spring scale nearly took 2 revolutions. Scales were not my friend.

The third low point was at my first cardio-stress test. As I grew into the enormous person I was, my health declined. My blood pressure was extremely high, compounded by a stressful business life and a busy schedule. Heart palpitations were common and my overall health was terrible. I finally went to the doctor to get my heart checked. I was required to get a stress test. If you haven’t been privileged to have one of these, it is when they shave your chest and tape probes all over it, then run you on a treadmill and watch your heart medically. I am a private man, and having an attractive nurse pushing my obesity from side to side to shave me was a new low point.

Upon reflection it is easy for me to see how I got to nearly (?) 400 pounds. Three reasons jump out to me....pardon their simplicity. The first reason is I love to eat. Food tastes good to me. It still does. Pretty simple... yum...I love it. I could go for an ice cream right now as I type! The second reason I gained weight is similar. I ate a lot of calories and was lazy. Liking food is one thing. Eating by the bucket is another thing altogether. I enjoyed food so much that I ate it a lot. I was so big that I was exhausted at the end of a work day. Exercise was minimal. Simple calories economics 101 says that if you put in more than you burn, you gain weight. I ate a bunch and laid on the couch a lot too. (No charge for today’s complex dietician lessons.) The third reason I gained the weight is that I just didn’t care. The stress of life combined with a low self-confidence led me to not see the value of caring for my health. Ironically I didn’t piece together how my relationship with Jesus Christ related to something as unspiritual as my weight. I was just living life without consideration to my weight. A year ago things began to change.
I want to point out three events that changed my take on my weight. First, as my health rapidly declined, fear of leaving my family behind because of premature death, was a strong motivator. Please note that I am a Christian. I am going to heaven when I die, not because of any merit in my life (actually in spite of the lack of it!), but because of the unmerited favor of an awesome God. I don’t fear dying in the least. Paul, in Philippians 1:21-6 explains the dichotomy of death writing “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.” Despite being infinitely less spiritually mature than Paul, I can still relate. Death scares me for my family’s sake. I have a beautiful and far more gracious than I deserve wife and three awesome kids. I would hate to think of them mourning over my death caused by my poor decisions.
The second watershed event in my life was crucial as well. It started when my pastor began a study on repentance of sin and personal spiritual cleansing. As you know, I have written about sin often in my column, but at times I am thick-skulled. It was during this study when I gave my life a good spiritual check up. I shaved my flabby chest, if you will, and hopped on the treadmill with the probes on. I am a pretty decent guy, by many standards. I don’t kick the cat, I pay my taxes, and I go to church as often as possible. I am a Christian, and am forgiven for all of my past, present, and future sins. Despite this glowing self-appraisal, I came to realize that there is a lot more to personal “goodness” (Romans 3:10) than repenting of the “big sins”. The more I think of how amazing of a God that I serve is, and how awe-inspiring the love of Jesus Christ dying on the cross as a substitute for the punishment I deserved, the more I want to root all the sin out of my life. My obesity, defined biblically as gluttony, is one of the many sins in my life I have targeted for battle. The thought of sinning and not esteeming the sacrifice of Jesus Christ made me sick the more I thought and prayed about it. In addition, seriously evaluating myself in the light of the 10 Commandments furthered this feeling (hence the name 10 Commandments Diet). Do I still sin? Yes. Am I at war with it on many fronts? Yes. God is wonderfully patient with me.
The last event was a Bible study led by Ken Spurgeon from Proverbs. We spent part of a couple classes discussing being a sloth. I am the poster child of “sloth-kind”. My weight, and the corresponding exhaustion, became an excuse to not serve God with all of my strength (see Luke 10:27). I want to serve Him in the best way possible. Obesity is a hindrance. Excuses abound.
How does my diet plan work? 2 steps.... First examine yourself spiritually. Compare yourself only to Jesus Christ. Hold up the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20) as a mirror. Pray, read the Bible, and root out the sin in your life. Second, eat less and exercise more. Simple economics... eat fewer calories than you burn and you will lose weight. I am using Weight Watchers, and I like it. Most other diets work too. Do the math, count the costs of your sin, and lose the weight...it is that simple. Your doctor can help more with the logistics of what to eat than I can, but you have to ask. At the same time think about Jesus on the cross dying for folks like you and me. Are the “small”(?) sins like gluttony really worth it anyway???
Diet update... 230.6 lbs. Total loss 105.4 lbs since November 13th. 39.6 lbs. to go. My yearly physical this week revealed a clean bill of health with dramatic improvements in every category of health. I am off of all medications and on the road to much better shape. I appreciate your prayers!!!

5th Commandment

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.” (Exodus 20:12 NASB)
“3And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?”For God said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.' "But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God," he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. "You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.’BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'" (Matthew 15: 3-9 NASB)
Today I resume our float trip down the Rio de 10 Commandments with a subject I, more so than ever, am hardly qualified to write about...the Fifth Commandment is to honor your Father and your Mother. I also want to springboard onto a rabbit trail that relates to this subject and how it relates to tradition. Join as the blind leads the blind on this one.
I am the baby of my family in more ways than one. The youngest of three kids, I became adept at whining my way into and out of trouble. My older sister, the firstborn of the Applegate brood, was a typical co-parent type growing up. I looked up to (and still do) her maturity and strength. She was the trailblazer of the Applegate kids... first to drive, get a job, and the like. She also moderated trouble among the ranks of the siblings. Next came my brother. He is a genius, yet with the “turtle-running-across-interstate” risk-taking gene. He is extroverted and winsome in personality and, in many ways, my idol. In his teen years, unable to be challenged by teachers and parents intellectually, creatively found himself in trouble often. Then came yours truly... I was the baby. I am the baby. I even married the baby of another family. My sister would usually relent rather than hearing me whine to get my way. My brother would, rightfully, whack me to shut me up, thereby getting himself in trouble. I was in a nice triangular insulation from parenting because of this arrangement. I was successful in the “kid game” if I could get in trouble less than my brother. Piece of cake.
I suspect we drove my parents crazy (and were on the short list of reasons why their marriage failed). When they would try to go on a date, we would terrorize our “babysitter of the week”. I remember vividly (as does she) when we played a game with one of them. Never play the Houdini game with an Applegate kid! A simple game... tie me in a chair and see if I can escape. The first round is easy. The second round we tied her up and left...for the afternoon. Three hours and six bucks worth of Pac Man quarters later, we freed the poor babysitter (Is that a felony Mr. Starbuck? I hope I have passed the statute of limitations!). We had a different babysitter the next week. The Fifth Commandment never entered our mind. God gave us parents, assigned them to raising us, and we would do this kind of stuff to reward them! It was, and is, so easy to sin.
This is the pin point tip of the iceberg of my breaching the 5th Commandment. But enough about me... How about you? Did you always obey the first time asked as a child? Did you bring honor to your family name through your school work, your service to mankind, and your good character...all the time? Have you ever called your parents a name to or behind their back? What was your attitude toward obeying? God’s standard is perfection, not an easy competition of behaving better than yours truly. Obeying externally and rebelling inside is not honoring your parents. I think we are both zero for the first five Commandments! Yet, despite breaking this and the other Commandments a plethora of times, God made a way for us to be forgiven. Stacks of my and your sins forgiven by an amazing God dying on a cross as a substitute penalty for the crimes we committed. All we have to do is repent (turn from them never to return) of the sins in our life, let Him be our absolute boss (Lord), and know that He is the only way to go to heaven. If you need more info about this process, email me. I am happy to help!
As for the before-mentioned rabbit trail, I direct you to the Matthew 15 verse above. There was a tradition in the day of Christ that Pharisees would dedicate things to God so they wouldn’t have to show it as an asset. It was, in a way, like a loophole in the right thing to do scale. Jesus, as he was wont to do, exposed this, and others like it. Their stuff was no more “given to God” than that “business lunch” write-off at Hammons Park was for business purposes. God cares about reality, not perception. Honoring God with our mouth while denying in our heart is as useless a screen door in a submarine (so says the song). I am trying to reign in my motives these days. I put on a decent show on the outside, but have found sin hiding in the motives. Join me in rooting this one out.

Bible verse... Proverbs 10:1. I know a story of a man who became a Christian in jail after a journey that largely began with the reading this verse.
Diet update...I have lost 97.4 pounds now, after another really good month. I weigh 239.6, about 50 pounds from my goal. I appreciate your prayers!