I went to an iftar dinner on Saturday night.

Funny how the topic of weight loss so often comes up during Ramadan.

You’d think with the long days and the not eating that you’d lose a lot of weight during Ramadan.

In fact some people gain.

All the fancy dinner parties.

At this party on Saturday night this rather slim lady started complaining about the way her tummy pooched out a bit. Okay, when she sat, yes, it pooched a bit, but she was by no means fat!

And then another lady who’s down right skinny said, “Oh yes, I’ve gained so much…blah blah blah.”

It actually made me feel rather annoyed.

It’s happened at other times too.

I remember going to a school overseas and the librarian who’d invited me had had two kids, so again, there was the tiniest pooch in her tummy. And she was going on and on with this stick thin lady about how they needed to lose weight.

This in front of someone who really does try and has failed repeatedly to shed pounds!

And who is yes, I’ll admit it, I’ll come right out and say it, FAT!

So I’m listening to these skinny people talking and I’m thinking if they’re so disgusted with their teeny tiny pooch, what does that say about me?

And yet it seems to be a womanly past time to complain about weight.

I confess to doing it too when I was younger and dumber.

Now I’d give a lot to be the size I was back when I was complaining!

Honestly it’s depressing.

And when I’m depressed I just want to say, “Hang it! Let’s eat!”

But these days I don’t and still the weight doesn’t want to leave.

sigh

It’s one of my biggest struggles.

We haven’t been doing the fancy dinner party/iftar thing for a long time.

We spend the nights of Ramadan eating mostly simple food and keeping mostly to ourselves. Praying, reading Quran, contemplating God, that kind of stuff.

My husband has set up a KIVA group called Helping Hands International.

We’re planning on helping a thousand people with micro-finance interest free loans. Finally got a royalty check for The Roses in My Carpets. It took a while to earn out the advance they’d paid me and I made my first loan through KIVA. I plan to make two more by the end of Ramadan, insha Allah.

I’m going to focus on educational projects, helping people pay for educating their kids.

Oh doesn’t it feel good when I click on that ‘donate now’ button.

I urge everyone reading to follow suit. Give yourself the gift of knowing you’ve helped someone out!

And remember, it’s a loan and KIVA loan recipients have a something like 99% repayment rate and you can always get your money back or (which is better) donate it to someone else who needs help!

On another note I got a strange phone call on Saturday morning. A lady was planning one of those iftars and she asked if I’d come and do some storytelling for the kids.

I thought to myself, “It feels weird.”

And yet she was willing to pay my normal rate.

I told her I didn’t feel good about it. That I presented to larger groups.

Now I’m thinking that I should do it in the future. And perhaps just donate whatever money they give me to KIVA.

Then it wouldn’t feel like I’m cheapening what I do.

Wish I had kept her number.

Oh well.

Coming to this decision will come in handy for future engagements insha Allah.

Well it’s 5:20 a.m. and time to get ready to go to the gym. I exercise while I’m still hydrated and then come home and take a nap till noon. The days are long! By the time I wake up I still have about nine hours of the fast remaining.

Oh well.

Fasting is for God’s sake and He says He will reward it.

It’s not about losing weight, although really, that would be nice.

Over and out.