There was a point during my paramedic years when I weighed more than 240 pounds.

And I remember looking in the mirror and barely recognizing the guy looking back at me.

Now, I didn’t get there because I woke up one morning and decided to destroy my health.

I was working ridiculous hours.

A scheduled 12-hour shift could turn into 16, 18, sometimes close to 20 hours away from home.

I had more than an hour of driving on each side of it.

I’d stop at White Castle or Burger King because it was convenient.

Sometimes I’d get home at 4:00 in the morning and eat the plate my wife had left for me too.

Then I’d sleep a few hours, get up, and do the whole thing again.

It would’ve been very easy for me to look at that situation and say:

“What was I supposed to do?”

And there’s some truth in that question.

I didn’t choose the late calls.

I didn’t choose the commute.

I didn’t choose getting home at 4:00 a.m.

But I did choose the Whopper.

I did choose the sliders.

I did choose to eat again when I’d already stopped for food.

And those ordinary decisions added up.

A decision can be completely understandable and still move you in the wrong direction.

That distinction matters.

Because when we talk about weight today, we tend to bounce between two stupid extremes.

One side says:

“Your weight is completely your fault. Try harder.”

The other says:

“Your weight doesn’t matter, and talking honestly about it is shame.”

Neither one tells the whole truth.

That’s exactly what I unpack in this week’s episode of The Rebellious Remedy:

​[Watch Christian Weight Loss: Stewardship Without Shame here.]​

Here’s the distinction I think Christians especially need to understand:

Your weight is not your worth.

But that doesn’t mean your weight can never matter.

If excess weight is contributing to high blood pressure, poor mobility, sleep apnea, joint problems, blood-sugar problems, or some other health concern, pretending otherwise isn’t compassion.

It’s just refusing to tell the truth.

At the same time, stepping on a scale and turning that number into a verdict about who you are isn’t truth either.

That’s shame.

Shame says:

“I’m disgusting.”

“I’m lazy.”

“I’m hopeless.”

“I’ll never change.”

The gospel says something very different.

Romans 8:1 tells us:

That doesn’t eliminate responsibility.

It puts responsibility in the proper order.

You don’t lose weight so Christ will finally consider you valuable.

Your value was settled at the cross.

Now we’re talking about stewardship.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6 that our bodies belong to God and that we are to glorify Him with them.

So the Christian question isn’t:

“How small do I need to become before I’m good enough?”

It’s:

“What does faithful care of the body God entrusted to me require right now?”

That might include losing weight.

It might also include improving your strength, sleep, blood pressure, mobility, blood sugar, eating habits, or something else entirely.

Which is why before somebody starts another diet, I think there are two much better questions to answer:

Why do I actually want to lose weight?

And:

How would losing weight help me steward my health?

Those questions force you to separate stewardship from appearance, comparison, approval, and shame.

And once you know what problem you’re actually trying to solve, you can build a plan that fits the problem.

​[In the full episode, I walk through how to build that plan using integrity, wisdom, discipline, and perseverance.]​

And look, the plan probably won’t be impressive.

That’s okay.

Most people don’t need another heroic two-week diet.

They need a way of living they can actually repeat.

At Dream Root Wellness, I keep the physical foundation pretty simple:

Sleep.

Eat.

Move.

Get enough sleep.

Eat mostly whole, natural foods.

Prioritize protein.

Drink water.

Walk.

Build strength.

Then practice those things consistently enough to learn what works.

Because discipline isn’t how miserable you can make yourself.

Discipline is the repeated practice of a process.

And eventually you’re going to screw that process up.

You’ll eat too much.

Miss the walk.

Skip the workout.

Work late.

Go on vacation.

Watch the scale move the wrong direction.

Then what?

For a lot of people, one bad decision becomes permission for the next ten.

“I already ruined today.”

“I’ll start again Monday.”

“I knew I couldn’t do this.”

But one decision isn’t your identity.

Peter denied Jesus three times.

Christ didn’t pretend the failure didn’t happen.

But He also didn’t leave Peter trapped inside the identity of being the man who failed.

Peter still had a next act of obedience.

So do you.

You don’t need to punish yourself tomorrow because you overate tonight.

You need to figure out what happened and make the next faithful decision.

That’s stewardship without shame.

Tell the truth.

Take responsibility.

Get the help you need.

Build a plan that fits your actual life.

And when you fail, don’t turn the failure into your identity.

​[Watch the full Christian Weight Loss: Stewardship Without Shame episode here.]​

Your weight isn’t your worth.

But your body does belong to Christ.

And caring for it today—not twenty pounds from now—is part of faithfully stewarding what He has entrusted to you.

Rooted in Christ, Jonathon Ennis Founder

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P.S. If food is the part you keep overcomplicating, I created the free Seven-Day Temple Fuel Reset to give you a practical starting point. Over seven days, you’ll take an honest look at how you’re eating, establish basic protein and hydration targets, identify the processed-food culprits, build some simple meals, and choose one standard you can keep practicing for the next 30 days.

​[Get the Seven-Day Temple Fuel Reset here.]​

P.P.S. Quick question: Have you ever felt like the number on the scale was saying something about your worth as a person?

Hit reply with yes or no.