What is Faith-Based Weight Loss?

What is Faith-Based weight loss? Discover how faith can help you achieve your weight loss goals through God’s guidance and healthy living.

Have you ever been frustrated with your attempts to follow a diet to lose weight, but over and over again the current fad diet leaves you either wishing for better, or you feel worse off than when you started?

As a believer, have you wished you could find a Christ-centered approach to lasting weight loss that uses biblical weight loss principles? 

That is what faith-based weight loss is: diets, programs, and meal plans that are based on the Word of God that help you lose weight and incorporate spiritual weight loss principles into your daily life for a better physical and spiritual life that honors God and the body He created.

You may wonder if it is possible to attain weight loss through faith, or if faith has a role in weight loss. It is and it does! Christian weight loss is essentially God-centered weight loss. Your goal as a believer is to put God at the center of your life, and this applies as much to losing weight as to anything else.

With your focus on God instead of yourself, you are not losing weight to fit in with the world’s view of what you should look like, but instead, you are making healthy choices that give you nourishment and strength so that you are able to serve God well with full energy. 

Faithful weight management also allows you to give God your struggles, your “mess ups”, and your guilt about bad eating habits, and allows you to accept His grace.

As Becky at So Very Blessed says this about losing weight with the power of God: 

“Christian weight loss isn’t just about losing weight. It’s about transforming your life from the inside out.“

So Very Blessed

Are you curious about faith-based weight loss? Do you seek spiritual support for your weight loss journey, desiring a holistic approach that combines faith, healthy living, and a supportive community to achieve lasting transformation?

If so, read on to answer your questions about what faith-based weight loss is, and discover how faith can help you achieve your weight loss goals through spiritual guidance and healthy living.

Understanding Faith-Based Weight Loss

One way of looking at faith-based weight loss is recognizing that being overweight can be a signal that your life is out of balance.

Some weight issues are caused by medical issues and medications, so this is not necessarily true in every case of being overweight, but often enough, extra weight is caused by stress and anxiety (which brings about emotional eating) and making food an idol in your life when you turn to food to solve your problems instead of to God.

Putting God back at the center of all you do will help you keep the focus where it should be, relying on His strength to help you manage your weight loss goals instead of doing it out of your own strength and punishing yourself when you fail.

God has even said in His Word that He cares about how you treat your body (1 Corinthians 6:19), so it makes so much sense that He would be very present to help you as you seek to honor His creation by eating properly and attaining a healthy weight.

Some key principles in losing weight with a faith-based approach are:

• believe that God can and will help you and that He cares about your weight loss goal
• pray for weight loss
• use Scripture to renew your mind and change how you think about yourself and your weight loss struggles
• change the guilt you are feeling over succumbing to temptation for God’s grace and forgiveness
• trust your identity in Christ and remember that your worth is not in your weight

For more about how to integrate faith with weight loss, check out this article by Sara at The Holy Mess that talks about 7 steps for how to lose weight by the power of God and the faith-based weight loss program at Faithful Finish Lines.

Core Principles of Faith-Based Weight Loss

Spiritual Foundation

In my article about weight loss prayers, I wrote about the power of prayer and how it is helpful to talk to God about everything that concerns you during the day.

You want God’s help to change you so that you can follow Him more closely, and prayer for help with weight loss is part of that. 

You seek God’s wisdom daily and He is the One you tell about your struggles and discouragements, so including weight loss as something you pray for regularly is an effective way to bring it under God’s control as you lay this area of your life at His feet.

Taking your thoughts captive when you are telling lies to yourself about your weight and your worth is an important part of God-centered weight loss.

Meditating on God’s word is an essential part of a vibrant Christian walk, and there are many Scripture passages that can become your “go to” verses for help with weight loss and a proper body image. 

Becky at So Very Blessed shares about this in her article about bible verses for your weight loss journey.

Emotional and Physical Healing

Emotional eating happens when you respond to your emotions (whether negative or positive). It is also known as stress eating; in order to deal with stress or anxiety, you eat (or overeat) even when you are not hungry.

You may feel that you are lacking something, and in order to deal with that lack, you eat. Or you may be trying to ignore feelings that you don’t want to have or you don’t want to face — like loneliness, fear, or rejection — and food is an easy way to bring about some relief, even if it is fleeting and temporary.

Spiritual hunger goes even deeper; instead of seeking relief from emotions, you are seeking purpose, fulfillment, and connection in life.

Spiritual hunger can occur during life transitions and challenges that shake your sense of identity, purpose, and connection — and if you try to satisfy these needs with food, you will end up feeling emptier and more unsatisfied.

These are areas where God’s help is the only real help! As a believer, you have access to the Holy Spirit’s guidance in weight loss and in dealing with emotional eating and feeling like you are spiritually needy.

There is a good kind of spiritual hunger, and that is when you are hungry for God and His Word and the work He wants to do in your life. With the Spirit’s help, you can ask for that kind of hunger to help you deal with the spiritual hunger that makes you feel unsatisfied and wanting to bury that feeling underneath a load of food

Lanette Whiteside knows what it is like to be both emotionally and spiritually hungry, and she shares in an article how to nourish your body without turning to food.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says: 

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

This verse says clearly that your body is the holy place where Spirit resides; as a result, you should be honoring your body by treating it well so that the Holy Spirit is honored.

Faithful weight management, disciplined eating, exercise, and getting enough rest are all part of that act of worship and honor. 

Karla Reiswig shares some great insight into what it means to steward the temple of God on her blog Heavenward Home:

“As stewards of our bodies, we have a responsibility to care for them in the best way possible. Just as a temple is carefully maintained and kept clean, we can honor God by taking care of our bodies and treating them with respect. This means being mindful of the food we eat, the activities we engage in, the rest we allow ourselves, and more. When we make choices that promote our physical, emotional, and spiritual health, we are showing reverence to God and demonstrating our gratitude for the body He has given us.“

Heavenward Home on what it means to steward the temple of God.

Practical Strategies for Faith-Based Weight Loss

God established special dietary guidelines for the Israelites in the Old Testament, including prohibitions against eating pork, shrimp, shellfish and many types of seafood, most insects, scavenger birds, and various other animals.

Healthy Eating Habits

One reason for this was that God wanted the nation of Israel to be set apart for a special purpose and to not follow pagan practices. The dietary laws He gave them differentiated between clean and unclean animals, birds, and foods contributed to that divine purpose. These dietary regulations also had health and hygiene benefits.

For this reason, various diets have been developed that are based on these guidelines of what is considered healthy eating in the Bible.

Principles of such Bible diet plans involve eating close to nature and avoiding junk food or highly processed food. Some diets get even more specific and emphasize eating only substances God created for food, such as seed-bearing plants, fruit-bearing trees, and foods that were considered clean in the Old Testament.

Help Guide says this about healthy eating:

“Healthy eating is not about strict limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about eating well-balanced meals that leave you feeling great, having more energy, improving your health, and boosting your mood.”

Help Guide on healthy eating

A balanced diet gives your body the nutrients it needs to function correctly and is important as a way to maintain good health.

An article on Livescience.com explains what a balanced diet does:

“A balanced diet supplies the fuel your body needs to work effectively. Without balanced nutrition, your body is more prone to illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Eating a variety of foods and consuming less salt, sugars, and saturated fats are essential to ensure your body functions at its best.”

Livescience on what a balanced diet does

Exercise as Worship

It is commonly accepted that physical activity and exercise are important aspects of staying healthy, particularly for gaining strength and flexibility and also for dealing with stress.

It really is important for you to find a form of sustainable exercise that you enjoy in order to make your wellness journey complete. 

You can find joy in movement and getting stronger, and you can glorify God as you exercise by making it an act of worship. In an article on this subject, Becky at So Very Blessed says,

“God created you intentionally and for a purpose and I guarantee it goes far deeper than chiseled abs. To be able to passionately live out that purpose, glorifying Him and serving the people in your life, you need energy and stamina, which only comes from taking care of your body. Your mind, your body, your emotions, and your soul are not isolated from each other. Exercise to draw nearer to God in heart, body, mind, and soul.“

So Very Blessed on Exercise as act of worship

Pretty much anything you do that gets you moving can be turned into a time of worship. Try making your exercise time a time of focusing on God’s word and prayer. Many exercises like running, biking, and walking don’t require anything other than for you to move your body, so why not use that time to also focus on Jesus and prayer?

You can also take your regular exercise routine and dedicate it to God before you begin, asking Him to use it to strengthen you. Listening to worship music while exercising will also turn your thoughts naturally to worshiping the Lord while you work out.

For more ideas of what you can do for your exercise routine, check out this article by Becky of So Very Blessed about the best at-home Christian workouts.

Benefits of Faith-Based Weight Loss

Wellness is so much more than just your physical health, so your focus should be on more than just nutrition, exercise, and weight management.

Holistic Wellness

To be fully well requires a holistic integration of physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, where you are doing all the right things to fuel the body, making sure you have the emotional support you need as well as reducing stress to maintain mental well-being, and nurturing your spirit by putting God at the center of all you do.

Self-care is important to holistic wellness. It involves taking time for yourself to engage in activities that promote relaxation, rejuvenation, and personal growth, such as reading, journaling, practicing mindfulness, and engaging in hobbies.

Maintaining a habit of sabbath rest is a good way of incorporating all the aspects of holistic wellness by taking time out of each week to rest and destress while you focus on God and spend uninterrupted time with Him.

Community Support

Finding support from a community is vital to a successful weight loss journey. I can attest to this myself — I learned early on that my success in losing weight drops drastically when I try to do it on my own without the support of other women who understand the struggles of trying to lose weight.

The support of peers who have shared experiences similar to those you are going through in your weight loss can provide both emotional and practical support and hold you accountable in loving ways that you can’t really achieve on your own.

If you are in need of such community support, you are invited to join our community Christian Weight Loss For Women.

Faith-Based Weight Loss Programs

In addition to the article above that lists Christian workouts — some of which are connected to faith-based weight loss programs — there is another article with a good overview of some of the more popular faith-based programs. In addition to her own programs for weight loss God’s way, Cathy Morenzie lists and shares some of the features of the top ten Christian weight loss programs.

One of those programs mentioned is the program hosting this blog, Faithful Finish Lines.  FFL provides a Biblical, grace-focused path to wellness where you can discover food freedom with online Christian weight loss resources and a supportive community for women.

Most Christian diet programs and Christian weight loss groups feature calorie-reduction and exercise with a focus on faith principles based on what the Bible has to say about health and honoring the body God created. The goals of these programs are to help participants lose weight while strengthening their faith and spiritual well-being, along with making sure their physical well-being is taken care of. 

Drawing on the Holy Spirit for guidance in weight loss through prayer and trusting in God to help develop discipline brings strength in times of weakness. God’s grace and forgiveness when giving in to temptation are often emphasized.

You may ask whether Christian weight loss programs really work? Kimberly Taylor, who runs the Take Back Your Temple program, answers that question with a resounding YES, citing her own 85-pound weight loss as a result of using Christian weight loss principles.

Other success stories include those shared in my article on prayer and weight loss:

Sara and Becky, who created Faithfulfinishlines.com together, have each lost over 100 pounds and kept it off for years — their methods involved keeping the focus on God and prayer.

Lanette is the Community Care Coordinator for the Holy Mess Weight Loss and Wellness Community on Facebook and also a member of FFL. She has an amazing story of weight loss — more than 350 pounds! — that included focusing on pausing, praying, then planning as a way of overcoming lifelong food cravings.

If you are interested in reading more about these women who trusted God and prayer to help them succeed in weight loss, you can find their stories here:

• Sara’s story of losing 100 pounds and keeping it off
• Becky’s weight loss story of making small changes and relying on God
• Lanette’s story of losing over 350 pounds and how she used the three P’s to deal with her cravings

FAQ’s About Faith-Based Weight Loss

In your pursuit of God-centered weight loss, a holistic approach that combines faith, healthy living, and a supportive community to achieve lasting transformation is vital.

A spiritual foundation that promotes emotional and physical healing will help you establish healthy eating habits and physical exercise as a form of worship, bringing about physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits.

I encourage you to explore a faith-based approach to weight loss. Faith can help you achieve your weight loss goals through spiritual guidance and healthy living. Don’t be afraid to commit yourself to the journey! As Cathy Morenzie says,

“Faith isn’t about asking God to miraculously change everything overnight. It’s a process that aligns with God’s principles and helps you grow from the inside out. It’s about developing patience, discipline, self-control, and the fruits of the spirit. As you take those small steps of faith and witness God’s assistance, your faith strengthens progressively.”

Cathy Morenzie

God is with you, and He will help you align your health goals to include faith and fitness as you seek to achieve weight loss through faith.

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