Day One: Charity Cake Sale

Ah, the pitfalls of being an American in a British Office. At both of the UK offices I’ve worked at Cake Sales for Charity (Charity Bake Sale for my US friends and family) have been a major part of office culture—and something to get very excited about. Usually timed to coincide with a tea break, it’s lovely. Americans—think morning donuts and coffee to celebrate someone’s birthday.

I’ve decided to work on a calorie counting principle (this is what Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers do—so most foods would be allowed, as long as you had enough daily calories to eat said food). Of course, the point of this is to say—really there are X amount of calories in X, well, I won’t be having that anymore. It’s all about portion control and eating a better diet and getting more exercise. Simple, in theory—but much harder to execute.

Of course, we just so happen to be having a Charity Cake Sale on the first day of my new: Tight T-shirt Diet (TTD for short). So, I’m sitting at my desk—trying my best to be good, when a lovely and slim coworker says:

“Charity cakes don’t have any calories.”

(I assure you, they do.)

“It would be wrong NOT to buy a cake for Charity.”

(True, but it would be wrong to buy a cake when you’ve given up buying cakes for health reasons—oh, and on DAY ONE of a new diet!)

“Why won’t you buy a cake for charity? That’s hard-hearted, Jenni.”

(I’m happy to give the charity up to £5.00—I’m a publishing minion, this is my lunch budget for the day! I’m just not happy about having a piece of cake on DAY ONE for the new diet.)

My reply: "I’m happy to give money to the charity tin—I just, don’t really need any more cake. I clearly eat far too much."

Sympathetic clucking of tongue and head tilt. “Then what’s one more cake—for charity?”

Headdesk! Of course, one more cake would mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. I will be doing this for a while so there will be treats and there will be slip ups, but I feel strongly that Day One needs to go, well as I mean to go on. So, no cake—even though it’s all over the office. I have donated to the charity, but this week, I’ve been good. Next week is my husband’s birthday—I’m saving my cake for then!