(Cartoon from ralph the robot.)

Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday". It refers to the last night of eating fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lent season, which begins on Ash Wednesday.

Now, I am not Catholic, and I don't celebrate Mardi Gras... but I do recognize Lent. To a degree.

This past week my eating/exercise took a turn for the worse. Perhaps it was our first date out for Valentine's Day, or perhaps it was the fact that Clark was working more/had more homework so it was hard to cook a good dinner. Regardless of the reason, it has given me much more motivation to recognize and stick to Lent this year.

Now, when I saw I "recognize" Lent... I do my own thing. I pick a few things that I think should be given up and that's what I do. Sometimes it's really difficult, as it was meant to be, and sometimes it's just little things I need to work on.

For example, one year I gave up sugar and things containing bleached flour. It was EXTRAORDINARILY difficult, but I survived and lost a lot of weight because of it. One year I gave up coffee and failed miserably. One year I gave up candy, excluding chocolate. I did pretty well. Last year I was pregnant, so I have to admit I didn't do much.

This year I intend to give up:

*Fast Food
*Ben & Jerry's
*Coffee beyond one cup a day
*Pizza

I decided that pizza didn't count as fast food. Lately Clark and I have been giving in and, if dinner doesn't get cooked, we order pizza. So, no more of that.

This year, I intend to also take some personal things into account.

*Stop caring so much what other people think. I know who I am, my circumstances, and how my life is going. That's all that matters. (This obviously applying to strangers and such who always look at Clark and me judgmentally.)

*Stick to my daily devotionals. (I've been really bad about lacking on my personal time with God and then "catching up" in one day. I really need to focus on having time each and every day dedicated to God.)

*Stay positive and motivated with my exercise/dieting/etc. (I've been really down lately on myself with how my eating has been going and such. I really just want to stay focused and positive.)

So, even though tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, I am not going to indulge in everything I am giving up and such. I may give in and have an extra cup of coffee or something, but I guess we'll see!

What are you doing for Fat Tuesday, and are you giving anything up for Lent?