I’m starting a fast today.
But not that kind of fast. I don’t
do the whole diet thing. I’ve tried two my entire life. One was a soup diet,
really more of a cleanse, that required that I eat nothing except this rancid
soup for two weeks…I think. I don’t know because I don’t think I lasted past day
4. Seriously, the same stinkin soup three times a day and nothing else. I never
wanted to see that soup again.
The second diet I attempted was the Atkins. I brutally cut
myself off from all the things I love – french fries, bread, chips…so painful.
I was very, very successful with it though. I quickly shed about 15 pounds. In
less than two months. Bam! I just woke up one morning and it was all gone.
Pretty big result for such little effort. Then one afternoon we met up with
some friends and decided to grab a quick lunch before heading to the lake. And
we decide to go Mexican. I knew from the very beginning that it was a bad idea.
I have the willpower of the teeniest, tiniest flea…so this was not going to go
well. On the way there I was rationalizing how I could eat without the carbs
and trying to figure out what I would order. But the minute I sat down at the
table it was over – I went for the chips. Then, since I had already screwed up,
I just decided to forget it and get whatever I wanted.
We made a quick run to the store for some lake stuff and all
the sudden while I’m checking out, something happens. Whoosh –fuzziness comes over me, the room
starts spinning, everything is slowing down – it’s like everything was a slow
liquid. I’m light-headed and dizzy and am
pretty sure I’m about to pass out. I can
hear my girlfriend ask what’s wrong but instead of answering, I stumble out of
the store, vomit into a nearby shrub and collapse in a heap on the curb.
Not my most glamorous hour.
In less than 10 minutes, I was perfectly fine - no problems
whatsoever. I don’t know what it’s like
to have hyperglycemia but there was definitely something wrong with my blood sugar. I
think all those carbs just sent my body into shock. And that was the end of the low-carb diet.
So this is a financial fasting. Which is going to be almost
as hard, if not harder, than a food diet. I’m not going to spend any money this
week. Sounds like an easy thing but it’s probably harder than you would think. Every
month I get spending money and at the end of every month I’ve spent it all.
This is a point of contention for my husband, who hardly spends any of his
spending money and considers himself severely broke if he hits below $150 in his spending
account. In general my philosophy has
been that it’s spending money so it doesn’t really matter if I, ya know... spend it.
But then the other day I was really thinking about it. I get
a decent amount of spending money. Nothing extravagant but it’s enough that I
should probably be embarrassed that I piss it away each month. I’ve gotten so
used to just buying that I really think it’s made me frivolous and wasteful.
But not in a big way – I’m not going on wild shopping sprees. And that’s part
of the problem, I have very little to show for my spending. I am
literally just nickel and diming myself broke.
It’s all those little things that are adding up – daily sodas, eating
out, snacks. I really just go get whatever I want, when I want.
I know that’s not financially smart. And it definitely won’t
be like that when I stay at home. So I’m
trying to be more aware of what I spend. And have a greater appreciation for it too.
Because it wasn’t that long ago that I was trying to figure out how to get all the bills paid and the
thought of "fun" money was foreign.
So wish me luck! It may be a little painful but it's not likely to result in public puking so already I feel like this is a fast I've won...
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