Dropping lbs for Jesus

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, and my Facebook feed read like a live-action roll call for the Catholics in my life. The topic was, of course, what to give up for Lent.

While many used the occasion to sign off of Facebook, swearing 40 days of social network exile, I found with some degree of predictability that the most common Lenten observances seemed to pull double duty as diet measures.

"Giving up sweets for Lent!"

"No more bread 'til Easter!"

"Gym everyday and NO dessert!"

With each post I realized: I am a bad Catholic AND a bad dieter.

I don't think it's a stretch to say that for many of us, Lent is less about Jesus' isolation in the desert, about sacrificing and offering it up for the souls in purgatory, and more about shedding excess winter weight before putting on our decidedly less bulky and forgiving spring clothes. Well, maybe I should just speak for myself. For years, mostly when I was at my heaviest, I would give up chocolate or dessert, imagining that 40 days sweet-free would be the kick start I needed to finally lose weight, catapulting me into a slinky dress in time for Easter. Who wears slinky dresses on Easter, you ask? Those who have perfectly observed their no-sugar rule and earned the body for it, I say.

Can you tell I've starved myself for 40 days?

I can't recall if I ever actually made it through a season of Lent without messing up. It wasn't that I'd cave-- I generally have good will power when I try-- but I'd forget, my dessert ritual being such a devoted ceremony. I'd be scraping at the bottom of the bowl of ice cream before I remembered my promise, and with some degree of resignation I'd think, "Well, there's always next year."

This year, like the last few years, I am not giving up anything. For me, making Lent a part of my diet plan seems disingenuous. Not that I judge others who do it-- but for me it would be less about God and more about losing the ten pounds that are currently making me a mental case.

And, let me be honest...I have given up a lot in the past few years, including: alcohol, buffalo wings, diet coke, credit cards... did I say alcohol? The choices are getting slim.

So, I am attempting to do a good deed every day. Today, my plan was to give up a seat to an old lady on the train. Because neither of us had a seat, I had to first attempt to get one and then give it to her. Of course, when a seat opened up, she beat me to it, and my plan was foiled.

Oh well. There's always next year.