A reader writes:
I can't figure out how to make fasting not about losing weight! As you know as an American woman we struggle so much with eating/exercising/body fat etc. I am going on retreat this coming weekend and was thinking of attempting a fast. But it always turns into this thing about how much will I weigh afterwards etc.
I got this note some time ago, but since Lent is coming up, it seems like an especially relevant question. Obviously, unless we are exempt, we are required to fast according to the Church's rules on certain days, no matter what our motivation. Here is what the Church says about required fasting:
The law of fasting requires a Catholic from the 18th Birthday [Canon 97] to the 59th Birthday [i.e. the beginning of the 60th year, a year which will be completed on the 60th birthday] to reduce the amount of food eaten from normal. The Church defines this as one meal a day, and two smaller meals which if added together would not exceed the main meal in quantity. Such fasting is obligatory on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The fast is broken by eating between meals and by drinks which could be considered food (milk shakes, but not milk). Alcoholic beverages do not break the fast; however, they seem contrary to the spirit of doing penance.
Those who are excused from fast or abstinence Besides those outside the age limits, those of unsound mind, the sick, the frail, pregnant or nursing women according to need for meat or nourishment, manual laborers according to need, guests at a meal who cannot excuse themselves without giving great offense or causing enmity and other situations of moral or physical impossibility to observe the penitential discipline.
But my reader is talking about voluntary fasting on other days. Is it worth doing if you're thinking about your waistline?
First, I'd like to point out that even a nutritional dunce like me knows that short-term fasting is a horribly ineffective way to lose weight. You will shrink a little at first, but then you will level off as your body struggles to survive. As soon as you stop fasting, you'll pack those pounds right back on again. So, there's that.
There are plenty of legitimate, non-vain, non-spiritual reasons for wanting to lose weight : to be more appealing to our spouses; to be more attractive so we can do our jobs more effectively; to be healthier and more energetic so we can enjoy life more and serve others better. Catholics do not disdain the flesh! We respect our own bodies, and consider bodily health and beauty to be good things, if not the highest good.
Also, if we are slaves to food in one way or another, then self-mastery is an admirable spiritual goal.
But what if we are already reasonably healthy and attractive, and just want to lose weight to be supermodel thin, or to make our chubby co-workers feel bad, or something like that? Obviously, we shouldn't be using fasting for that, and we probably shouldn't be striving for that kind of weight loss with any method, quasi-spiritual or not.
But assuming that, like most Americans, we can just stand to lose a few (or more than a few) extra pounds, is it really so terrible to take advantage of fasting to achieve spiritual and physical goals at the same time? I would argue that mixed motives are not only excusable, they are inevitable. God doesn't require us to have absolutely lily-white intentions when we make sacrifices.
Think of it this way: I know I should be patient with my kids, but sometimes I blow it and lose my temper -- most often when we're at home. Now, if I'm at the playground and other moms are watching, I find it a lot easier to be patient and gentle. Not the best motivation for being a nicer mom, but it's still a good thing: The kids have more fun, it's edifying for any onlookers, and I get a little reminder that I can control myself if I want to, which may help me control myself next time, even if nobody is watching.
In the same way, God can certainly bring about all sorts of spiritual fruits from fasting, even if the person fasting has mixed motives.
Now, if you are interested in fasting as a spiritual exercise, but are concerned that vanity will blot out any benefits, there are some ways around it. Here’s one example: I can’t fast when I’m pregnant. If I curtail my meals as proscribed, I would pass out (which would not be not good for the baby I'm carrying, or for anyone in or around in the car I'm probably driving). So instead of cutting back on the amount I eat, I will eat only according to nutritional value, and only eat foods I don't especially like.
You can get creative in a similar was if you are undergoing a voluntary fast. You know, better than anyone else, what you want to eat. Sit down and figure out what you can cut out or replace. You can deny yourself all sorts of pleasures without actually losing weight!
Something else to consider: there are many, many different reasons we acquire the eating habits that make us overweight. There are so many emotional and psychological factors that can feed into the problem. If worries about food issues constantly occupy your thoughts, it couldn't hurt to ask a priest or spiritual director to help you untangle your thinking -- or, at very least, to pray about it. Yes, God cares about this stuff. For some people, overeating is harming their relationship with God; but for some people, dieting is harming their relationship with God.
Food and God and Americans -- what a mess. Overall, my advice is that, if you're just too concerned that you're Doing It Wrong when you fast, then do something else, instead. There are many, many penances and exercises in self-denial and self-control that we can take on, during Lent or at any time. Lauren Gulde gives us some good tips for how to have an intentional Lent; and Nick Senger offers 101+ ideas for other types of Lenten fasts.
What do you think? How do you find the balance between doing something for God and doing something for your bod?
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I’m really happy you wrote about this today. I have the same issue, that I think my fasting from some food for Lent doesn’t count because it’s inevitably about weight loss. Well, here’s another thought: Perhaps the Voice that tells me it’s selfish is the Evil One who doesn’t want me to fast? Because really, I hear that voice and I don’t fast (except as required). I never take on the voluntary fasts, which are extremely hard for me, and which would therefore bear good fruit for me and probably others, as well. Hmmmm, food for thought!
As someone who at one time suffered from a fairly severe eating disorder, I think your advice is spot on. When I was recovering from my E.D., I did things like fasting from cereal (my then-favorite breakfast food) and forcing myself to eat a bagel instead. No real difference in calories, but I didn’t enjoy it as much, so it was certainly a sacrifice. The only thing I would add is that if you have serious emotional/psychological/spiritual issues surrounding food, weight, and body image, spiritual direction often isn’t enough. A good therapist who believes that the body and the soul are intrinsically united can be an effective instrument of God’s healing in ways that often a priest/spiritual director simply cannot. I am a functioning adult today entirely due to God’s grace, which was give to me 1) through the Sacraments, 2) through prayer, and 3) through the counsel of my therapist. All three were necessary for my healing, and I think that’s probably the case with most people.
I’ve always struggled with mixed motivations—or, more truthfully, the wrong motivation—for fasting, despite my genuinely wanting the fast to be for God. So years ago I came up with the idea of praying that I would NOT lose weight during Lent despite my fasting (I usually do the Good Friday type of fast every day of Lent, and I oftentimes fast from all food on Good Friday and Ash Wednesday, so the natural outcome would be to lose weight.) God seemed to have answered my prayers, because I seldom lose any weight during Lent anymore, starting with that first year I prayed not to. I guess God knew that I needed to pray for such an outcome to keep my mind and heart on Him. This year I’ll be praying the same, but I’ll also be praying that if it pleases Him to help me lose weight, then He allow me to continue the discipline I develop during Lent AFTER Lent is over and to help me lose weight afterwards.
Great article. Sometimemes it’s just a contest to see if vanity, sloth or gluttony will win. Just be thankful when there’s a loser!
ok, second try, I lost my first post.
But I just wanted to add the concept of “purifying your intention.” When we find ourselves doing the right thing for a less-than-perfect reason, sometimes the answer is not to stop doing the good thing, but to do it still and ask God to help us purify our intention, that we may want to do it for the right reason.
So if I am being patient with my kids because others are watching, the answer isn’t to be impatient with them so that I am not tempted to pride, but to be patient while acknowledging my littleness and weakness and asking God to accept my small efforts anyway and Our Lady to add to them her prayers. I like to think of Mary as the mother who, after her child has gathered some scraggly weeds to give to Daddy, ties a beautiful bow on them and sets them in a lovely vase and gives them back to the child to give to Daddy.
*Disclaimer, I know nothing about eating disorders and am only talking about normal sorts of imperfect intentions, not areas of illness.
One year, early in my marriage, I decided to give up wheat for Lent, because bread had really become a problem for me. (My work had frequent Baguette and Brie receptions, and I got to take the leftovers home, and… yum!)
The fast did result in weight loss (my main treat was gone!)....BUT the weight loss resulted in a baby!!!! So…
Sometimes, God works with our mixed motives, understands that we’re trying, and ends up rewarding our pathetic fasts with an unimaginable blessing…..
I applaud “For God or Your Bod”. At first I found it odd, but now I’m awed my thinking was so flawed. My diet has been a fraud: eating meals that were thawed, ground beef by the wad. But from now on my cole shall be slawed, my fish shall be scrod, and my waist not so broad.
And for all this, Simcha gets the nod!
This is one of the most practical, helpful, things I have read in many a day. Thank you so much, Simcha! I always worry that I will be fasting for precisely the wrong reason. And that this represents actual opposition to Lent!
Your analysis of this “pickle” is truly, wonderfully, helpful.
Thank you!
One idea I had: no weigh-ins until after Easter. Just one tip from my forthcoming book: “The Lenten Diet: 40 Days to a Better You!”
I have found that even if my intentions are a little vain, fasting indeed drives away demons and brings a peaceful freedom I have never felt with anything else. It is amazing!
I give up sweets every Lent by habit from childhood.I don’t really care all that much about sweets-except for liquorice-but just as soon as I give them up I miss them & am always offered sweets much more frequently than the rest of the year.It never fails.
Thank you. I’m pregnant and with the muddle brain that comes with pregnancy was really having a hard time figuring out how to fast during Lent. When I’m pregnant, I cut out all sweets and junk food (really and yes it is quite difficult) and only drink water. Your suggestion to eat what I don’t like is exactly what I needed. I’m off to look for recipes using cabbage, kale, and onions. Yum
If someone fasted and lost weight and realized that he did mostly just to lose weight, then that could be an occasion to contemplate one’s own vanity.
“There are plenty of legitimate, non-vain, non-spiritual reasons for wanting to lose weight…”
All the reasons listed are vain.
Vanity does not mean what most people think it means, however, Scriptuer and the documents of the Church require a proper understanding of the words being used to grasp the meaning of what is written: http://nonpeccabis.blogspot.com/2011/09/vanity.html
@Victor - LOL! (Although I’m not too sure about your point….) :)
I’m exempt. And because I eat like a bird I don’t feel the need to fast. So what to do for Lent? Since my mind is prone to wandering I feel the need to pray the Rosary with greater devotion.
Paul begins Galations 3 by saying “O foolish Galatians!” Apparently they had been diverted from faith-filled living to vain compliance with legalism, religious rules, and dietary requirements. For his entire apostolate, Paul argued against such rule-bound justification.
“Having begun with the Spirit, are you ending now with the flesh?” He asks them. “Did you experience so many things in vain - if it really is in vain.”
God is talking to each of us - every day, all the time. The best thing we can do for him is hear his Word. Listen and obey.
Make the fast a prayer in unity with those who have very little to eat in 3rd world countries…walk in their sandals…and give the money you might have spent on yourself to charity. In my mother’s generation, during the Depression and during the war, they just didn’t eat meat of any kind except on Sundays, if they could even afford it. They didn’t eat in between meals…my mother said they all lost weight but it was never for the sake of losing weight. It was an accepted Church position.
I’m 6’3” and 225 lbs. lots of ex gymnast muscle, little fat. BUT…last May I was 262. It has been great and Christian losing 37lbs. because I helped my health chances into the future. I rescued myself perhaps from all sorts of trouble in the future. It feels great rescuing your self from possible sickness. I have five more pounds I want to lose which are the hardest to lose. Buy the old fashion type scale….some of the digital ones give you a different answer when you can on and off and on again.
Dieting is not fasting but it’s Christlike because you are rescuing someone from future sickness….yourself.
Very good read! Thank you for sharing this post. Since we were kids, my mom always taught us the importance of fasting during lent and that sacrifice is for God alone and not for anything else. I am glad that my Mom made us understand this clearly. Up to now, we fast during the lent and we are well aware that it is something that we do only for God.
Heh - I finally have a priest where I can to go confession and confess “eating Cheetos” and he gets it. Is eating Cheetos bad? No. But when it’s about eating Cheetos instead of, say, an apple, which results in my being irritable and cranky with others, well…. Or when it’s about eating Cheetos as comfort food instead of dealing with the emotional problems God actually does want to help me with, well…. I’ve come to realize that food is a gateway for sin in my life. It doesn’t mean I cannot enjoy it, but I have to be aware of how, why, and when, or there will be consequences harmful to me and to others. Fasting is one of my best weapons against satan, and it does remind me that food does not have to control my life. Thank goodness! (Now where is that bag of Cheetos that I need to eat before Wednesday….?)
Very good read. Thank you for sharing this post. Since we were kids, my Mom always taught us the importance of fasting during lent and that sacrifice is for God alone and not for anything else. I am glad that my Mom made us understand this clearly. Up to now, we fast during the lent and we are well aware that it is something that we do only for God.
Cathy, but when is a bag of cheeto’s just a bag of cheetos? I get very apprehensive to be in a position where I have to think through food choices so exhaustively. Why not: I’m hungry, I eat; Not hungry, don’t eat? Doesn’t that work anymore?
I’m seriously considering cutting off my leg for lent. I live such a sedentary life that I will hardly miss it. And all that hopping around will be so edifying to the people at work and church. I’m just afraid that the effects will be permanent - but they’re doing such amazing things with lasar surgery these days. I can store it in the refrigerator until Divine Mercy Sunday.
I just have to decide which one.
victor - LOL!!!
When I fast for religious purposes, I pray that I will not lose weight…it is a hard prayer, but it has worked, with only minor disappointment that God chose to answer that prayer. However, fasting before last fall’s election left me feeling very unhappy at the outcome.
Its easy, Fasting without prayer is dieting.
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