Down Sized: My Spiritual Journey to Weight Loss

By Ms. Lynne

One night, as I was driving home from the store, the moon looked unusually bright. It glowed with a certain ravishing beauty. Just as I marvelled at the moon, the Lord spoke these words to me:

“Lynnee, just as I have sustained the moon all these millions of years, I can sustain you.”

As you read this book, you will discover how God really sustained me. Be blessed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781796084054

Ms. Lynne

Ms. Lynne was born in Washington, DC now residing in Maryland and has have 37 year experience as an educator in DC/Maryland area she's currently holding a masters degree in Early Childhood Education, She conduct' teacher's training and workshop for educators.

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Copyright © 2020 by Ms. Lynne.

Library of Congress Control Number:            2020901169

ISBN:                Hardcover                       978-1-7960-8407-8

                          Softcover                        978-1-7960-8406-1

                           eBook                            978-1-7960-8405-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 01/21/2020

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Contents

Chapter 1 The Early Years / My Foundation

Chapter 2 My Family

Chapter 3 Education and the Woman I Became

Chapter 4 Life Happens

Chapter 5 My Heart, My James

Chapter 6 Becoming a New Me (Becoming Vegetarian)

Chapter 7 The Jesus Fast (My Spiritual Journey to Weight Loss)

Chapter 8 The Psychology of Weight Loss

Chapter 9 Hot Resources

T his book is dedicated to

three people that are closest to me down through the years. My mother, my sister, and my beloved son and my heart, Mr. James. They all know my struggle and my weight-loss journey, especially my son. I want to say to my son, James, thank you for being my biggest cheerleader during the Jesus fast. I made it.

Love,

Ms. Lynne

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Chapter 1

The Early Years / My Foundation

I was born in the hot summer of 1964. My birthday is July 15. My mother went into labor early that morning. I was born at a local hospital in Washington, DC. If you think about it, Martin Luther King Jr. was still alive when I was born. I was born to the late Chris and Ritch. People still had black-and-white televisions at that time. There were no remote controls and cable TV. There were no cell phones, social media, and personal computers. Computers were mainly found in government offices. My mother worked in the federal government during those days. She was trained as a computer programmer. Back in the 1960s, that was considered a very good job for Afro-Americans. That’s what they called us in those days, although my birth certificate says I was a Negro.

Down through the years, we, as a people have been called by many names, were called the N-word, colored, Negro, Black, Afro-American, and now, we proudly call ourselves African American. The way I see it, just call me a child of God, and I’m all right. God doesn’t judge us by the color of our skin. He loves us no matter what.

Anyway, I digress. When I was born in the latter part of 1964, the movie My Fair Lady was a blockbuster. It won an Oscar. To this day, I love watching that movie.

Watching movies and curling up on my couch with a bowl of cereal is one of my favorite pastimes. Some of my favorite movies would be The Color Purple, My Fair Lady, and Coming to America to name a few. There are certain movies I could watch over and over again.

Growing up in Washington, DC, in the late 1960s was memorable. I had an older sister, the late Christina, who was three years older than me. We grew up in Upper Northwest. Our house was big—with seven bedrooms, a huge basement, and two apartments. My parents kept the apartments rented out most of the time. Christina and I played all over the house, but under the dining room table was our favorite place. We draped a white sheet over the table and pretended to go camping.

My mother seemed to always be in the kitchen, cooking one of her most delicious meals. There are certain aromas to this day that remind me of my mother’s home-cooked meals. I remember the smell of turkey and dressing cooking in the oven. My mother seasoned the turkey just right. It was like she wrote the original recipe for the juiciest turkey ever.

Thanksgiving was a big family holiday for us. All my mother’s sisters and their families usually got together. Her brothers lived in Atlanta, so we didn’t see them as much. But the ones who lived here in the DC area got together at least once or twice a year. We would have the family at our house or one of my aunts’ houses. The only thing I can tell you was, the food was always so good, and there was laughter.

My mother came from a big family. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia, along with six other siblings. Clemon, Loraine, Sarah, Elizabeth, Justin, Ritch, and Edward are the names of all the children who were born to the late Wallace and Cecilia. The holidays was a time of family, food, and fun.

I don’t remember where my father was most of the time. I know he worked during the day and came home at night. My dad was a happy type of father who played with Christina and me when he got home. I used to watch football with him in the dining room on Sundays. I am a big Redskins fan thanks to my father. I can remember, I was about seven years old and the Redskins were going to the Super Bowl (around 1972). Everybody seemed so excited. This was the beginning of my love of football.

My father had a big influence in my life through football, music, and food. He loved to eat. I remember him taking my sister and me to the Hot Shoppes restaurant to eat on a regular basis. We used to order a Mighty Mo sandwich, fries, and I used to drink the Orange Freeze. Hot Shoppes has closed down now, but one time, they were a very family-friendly place to eat.

One thing my family did together was going to church. I remember my father taking Christina and me to Sunday school every week. My mom and dad also sang in the choir together. I remember the songs were so uplifting, and people would often stand and shout during the services. After church, we would always come home to a good meal cooked by my mother. We did many things as a family. We traveled together to Atlanta, Georgia, each year to our annual church convention. The national convention hosted over a thousand people from around the country.