Last week, it was the Week of Cake.
On Friday, July 1, I conducted a wedding rehearsal, which was followed by a dinner at which they served a bread pudding (technically not cake, but work with me here).
Then on Saturday the 2nd, there was the wedding, and of course after the dinner there was—cake.
Then on Sunday the 3rd, we hosted fellowship time after worship, and since it was my birthday on the 4th, my wife thought it was a good idea to serve—cake.
That afternoon, we drove to my older brother’s house in western Wisconsin to celebrate my mother’s 91st birthday and, of course, they served—cake.
Naturally, there was leftover cake from Sunday, so a typical afternoon snack during the week was—cake (sometimes with ice cream).
Then on Saturday the 9th, we traveled to Lake Sherwood in central Wisconsin and stayed at a cabin owned by my wife’s aunt and uncle. There were close to 20 people there. Naturally, one of them was celebrating a birthday, so we had—cake.
The final straw was Sunday, when we had a cookout to welcome home our 25-year-old daughter (she’ll be living with us for a few months as she establishes herself in the Madison area). For dessert after the cheeseburgers, we had leftover pie from the weekend.
Nine straight days of desserts. That bloated feeling won’t go away. My shirt collar seems tighter than it was a week ago. I’ve known for a while that I could stand to shed a few pounds (okay, more than a few). This week’s orgy of sweets has made it clear to me that I need to make a change.
I know it will be a challenge. For most of my life, I’ve been on the See-Food Diet—I see food and I eat it. While it’s certainly been good, I am seeing more and more that it hasn’t really been good for me.
Two and a half years ago, we put ourselves on a financial diet. Much like our eating, our spending had gotten out of control—little by little, we charged more to our credit cards than we could pay off in a month. There was never a time we couldn’t make our minimum payments, but we didn’t seem to be making much headway. So we set up a budget that put limits on our discretionary spending, targeted our loans and other debts for early payoff, and made sure we put something into our savings account each month. We’re well on our way to being debt-free and also having money in the bank. Quite a change from where we were in 2008!
Our progress in that realm will be inspiration for progress in another. If weather permits, I’m going to go for a long walk this afternoon at a brisk pace. I’m going to stay away from all desserts for a while and will try to be more moderate in my eating.
I’d welcome any “helpful hints” that have worked for you in taking off and keeping off weight. I’ll keep you posted on my progress as well.
The Week of Cake has ended. Here comes the Week (or Month or Year) of Health.
