1/16 cup of soy sauce

Well, I’ve hit the 22 pound mark.  I thought I would be here sooner, but things don’t always go as planned.

I passed up 20 lbs and wend from 19.6 on Saturday to 21 on Sunday, I was so excited.  I had been planning to treat myself with a froyo when I hit 20, but my coach Cyndi said, “Noooo, don’t” and I didn’t.  So I kind of feel like the extra pound was my treat.  But then I ended up missing dinner on Sunday night.  I thought splurging would mess me up, but skipping a meal messed me up big time.

I didn’t mean to miss the meal, I just planned to eat after Sunday night service, then ended up being out until 10:30 at which point I decided not to eat right before I went to bed.  Big mistake! I woke up ravenous on Monday, and it seemed as though nothing satisfied my appetite all day long.  That is the first time I’ve experienced real hunger on this diet.  I made it through the day sticking to the protocol and anxiously awaited my crock pot at home.  I had found a fantastic recipe that contained all things I could eat on the HCG except 1/8 cup of soy sauce.

I’ve been told by many who have done the diet that I need to go to Whole Foods and get Bragg’s Amino sauce, apparently it functions very much like soy sauce but without all the salt.  But I haven’t had a chance to go, so I did what I thought would be okay; I cut the amount in half to 1/16 cup of low sodium soy sauce and made the difference up with water.  It made sense to me… what could it hurt?

Well,  I ate my delicious crock pot of food, exactly 3 ounces of meat with 4 ounces of lettuce and loved every second of it. It was so good. It was as though I had never tasted soy sauce before.  That should have clued me in.

I woke up Tuesday morning, not very hungry and feeling great, and I had gained .4 lbs!!  Now, I wasn’t upset because I know that I didn’t eat any fat, so it wasn’t .4 lbs of fat, but still, I gained?? Apparently “low sodium soy sauce” has plenty of sodium in it; enough to make me retain water and gain.

Lesson learned.

As I was reflecting on my choice to substitute and risk it and realized that it didn’t take much sodium to spoil my whole crock pot.  I was reminded of Galations 5:9, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.”  So then I had to ask the Lord, are there other areas of my life where I have compromised; where I have substituted my will for Yours, even just 1/16 cup of my will for Yours?  Am I selfishly spoiling my whole crock pot so I can enjoy a few minutes of satisfaction or enjoyment?  I’m not going to share His answer, but just know… lesson learned, or rather, lesson still being learned and I’ll probably always need to be learning it… Let’s face it, we all try to change God’s recipe from time to time. We don’t want to,and often it’s not on purpose, but we’re human and by nature, lazy.  I’m just glad I serve a God who loves me enough to show me when I do it; even if it means I had to gain weight to see it.

Who knew I would get all that life lesson from some soy sauce.  God is good.  And I love this diet!

amy