“Lent-to-date” weight loss: 2 pounds

Last updated on: March 5, 2015 at 9:50 pm by Jane the Actuary

“Lent-to-date” weight loss: 2 pounds 2015-03-05T21:50:26-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Look, I know, it’s bad form to kill two birds with one stone by combining Lenten sacrifice with weight loss, and I already griped about the joy that some Catholics take in telling everyone else that they should be doing positive things like prayer rather than giving things up.

But at the same time, here’s my experience:

For most of my life, I haven’t had any problems with my weight; I’m not especially thin but have been somewhere in the “ideal” weight range for my height, though maybe at the upper end, but, then, I’m definitely on the shorter side (nearly a full foot shorter than Megan McArdle), so the actual number of pounds is on the lower end. I lost the baby weight three times without too much trouble — and then hit the trifecta of turning 40, working at home, and the youngest starting school, and I started gaining weight. Not too much weight, but more than I should, and it’s much more difficult to lose the weight than after the babies. (And trust me — I gained a LOT of weight when pregnant!)

So last year, spurred on first by New Year’s and then by Lent, I lost a good five pounds, only to gain it all again over the summer. (Too many trips for ice cream or other treats with the kids, rationalized because it’s a walk or a bike ride there, but far from enough, or just treats at home.) And all this past fall and early winter I kept telling myself, “time to get serious and stop snacking,” without actually doing so — because my weight-loss method is, in fact, to cut out the between-meals (except, say, mid-afternoon) and after-dinner snacking, and my worst tendency is, after working or reading or watching TV in the evening upstairs, to go downstairs to lock up and decide, “tonight’s dinner was pretty good, I think I’ll eat some out of the pot,” followed by, “well, now there’s hardly enough left for it to be worth putting it back in the fridge. Might as well finish it up.” Oh, and my mid-morning Bad Habit is to say, “I’m getting pretty hungry. Well, clearly I didn’t have enough for breakfast, so I’ll just promise myself to have a light lunch if I have a snack now.”

And, yes, that which I have given up for Lent is both sweets*, in general, and snacking before lunch and after dinner.** (*I let myself have dessert when I’m out with the family, say, at the potluck get-together of two weeks ago, or at a restaurant.)

(** The funny thing is, I also gave up “checking the blog inordinately often to see how many pageviews I have,” but, as it turns out, switching to Patheos cured me cold-turkey as the metrics are done through a system that, so far as I can tell, refreshes only once daily, at midnight. Does it count as a Lenten sacrifice if external factors prevent you from it anyway? And if there is a way to refresh pageviews midday, don’t tell me, not now, anyway!)

But it fascinates me that, in a way, “giving up snacking” is an arbitrary decision — especially what with everyone saying God doesn’t particularly care if you sacrifice snacks, all the more so if your motivation is to some degree the worldly one of weight loss — but nonetheless, I am able to “flip that switch” and, well, not eat sweets for 6 weeks. The no-post-dinner-snacking, too — it’s clearly nonsensical, after all, to snack when you ought to just go to bed anyway — but I am able, during Lent, to tell myself, and really feel, that it’s just not an option, in a way that I wasn’t able to, for all of the fall and even after New Year’s, and for multiple prior years even when I’d tell myself that this is the year when I’ll make a real effort so that I’ll be able to fit into my regular clothes rather than picking up yet another pair of vanity-sized jeans at the thrift store.

Maybe it’s just that Lent is time-limited, and it’s easier to do something on a time-limited basis, but I don’t think it’s just that. In a way, it feels like Lent, and the idea of giving something up, is a gift, by virtue of the fact that I am able to do so, when I wouldn’t at some other time of year — whether for weight loss, or to free oneself, even if temporarily, from a habit or an activity that’s perhaps not bad per se, but still not healthy, either.

And when I give up something for Lent, even if I’m told that it doesn’t “count” and I should be saying rosaries instead, it still feels like a real commitment in a way that “I want to lose 5 pounds” doesn’t. Commitment to God? To myself? I don’t know.

And giving something up is, let’s face it, a lot more concrete and do-able than “I’ll pray more,” or read the Bible, or the like — because, with the “doing” sort of Lenten resolves, procrastination gets in the way pretty easily, when, of course, you can’t procrastinate a “not-doing.”

What’s your experience?

Uncategorized

Lent

Previous Post

March 5, 2015

The Jane Tax Plan

Next Post

March 7, 2015 "Worse than death"?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Revelation, how many elders sit on thrones around God's throne?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Twelve Twenty-four Seventy Seven