[SuperJon]

Rick Warren has already shed several pounds in January by following a health plan that celebrity doctors helped launched at Saddleback Church on Saturday.

The megachurch pastor dropped 8 pounds since starting the Daniel Plan this year, said Dr. Mark Hyman, one of three developers of the 52-week, church-wide plan for the Saddleback family in southern California.

The Daniel Plan, based on the prophet Daniel who chose healthy eating instead of the king's rich foods, is part of the church's aim this year to get its parishioners physically healthier.

It is the first of several community programs that Saddleback will launch as part of its Decade of Destiny campaign over the next 10 years. The plan will address 7 key areas of life: spiritual, physical, financial, relational, vocational, emotional, and mental.

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What are your thoughts on church wide fitness/health plans? Good? Bad? Not needed? Focusing on the wrong thing? Focusing on something overlooked?

[Sly Fox]

I believe the purpose is solid as long as it is done in the proper context. We did something similar a couple of years ago at our church with less than amazing results. While our pastoral staff dropped the weight, by February there really wasn't much sustaining the momentum from the launch.

[blwall1416]

Very much needed. Simply sit outside Golden Corral, Bob Evans, the Hibachi Buffet, or most any other dining establishments on Sunday after church to see why.

[Cider Jim]

Some churches even have like an entry fee, and the person who loses the most weight wins the cash. I had a friend at Brentwood or Blue Ridge (I always get them confused) who won a couple hundred dollars last semester for dropping about 20 pounds.

[jack_sparrow81]

Our church did the daniel fast last january for 21 days. My wife and i lasted 14 days. I lost about 10lbs within that time and we stopped after i had a friend comedown to visit and it was tough to go out to eat on that diet. From a fasting standpoint i never really got hungry i think bc of the peanuts. The main thing i struggled with was making sure my priorities were in the right place of concentrating on God and not being concerned of how much weight i lost. I think we actually gave our scale away during the fast.

[thepostman]

thats the thing about these things. Why are you doing it? Sure its great to get healthy, but are you doing it for you or are you doing it for God. Our church recently did a churchwide fast and its hard to get lost in why you are giving up food, or soda, or tv, or whatever it is you are giving up.

Its a tough balance and something that shouldn't be just another church program. It needs to be taken seriously and not just another weight loss program, which from the outside looking in its almost as if this is what its becoming..

[Sly Fox]

I like the First Place concept that our friends over at Houston's First Baptist Church developed. It places weight loss inside of a plan to develop discipline spiritually as well as physically.

[ATrain]

The Bible says our bodies are temples of the Lord, therefore I fully support any church's effort to encourage healthy living through proper diet and exercise.

[ALUmnus]

The Bible says our bodies are temples of the Lord

That verse sure does get taken out of context quite a bit, doesn't it? Churches are the biggest suckers when it comes to fads. This is no exception.

[SuperJon]

I don't mind this all in concept. I think it'd be good to have a sermon on gluttony occasionally. We hit on everything else but just slide by that one. A lot of churches do a sort of "New Year New You" type of series that hits on all the basics in January. Sliding a gluttony/health sermon in the middle of finances, relationships, etc and then providing avenues through community groups to live out the principles taught wouldn't be a bad thing at all. Saddleback may have went overboard a bit but in concept it's a good idea.

[phoenix]

For it to work, there has to be an emphasis on a continuing lifestyle change, at the very least a change in attitude about food and eating. The major problem I see with some of these programs is that they last a couple months, people lose weight, and then two weeks later they've gained it all back.

Done the right way, in community with some sort of accountability, this could be a big help. Unfortunately, it's rarely done the right way.