Do or Diet

Connie feels stuck at Whit’s End and prays for a larger purpose in her life. Then Ricky McLean, an endlessly cheerful personal trainer from Campbell College, explains that his work inspires healthy change. The college has created a training scholarship: an applicant must coach three friends, each of whom must lose at least ten pounds within five weeks. Connie sees the opportunity as a possible answer to her prayers.

She asks Whit, Bernard, and Wooton to become her clients. All three praise her idea until they realize they will have to diet and exercise. Whit claims to be too busy, Bernard insists he needs no change, and Wooton admits that dieting frightens him. Connie leaves disappointed and pretends the idea was never important.

Guilt quickly changes their minds. Whit realizes that he regularly prays for Connie’s future but is unwilling to make a personal sacrifice to help her. His doctor has also warned him about high cholesterol. Wooton knows he could become healthier, and Bernard reluctantly admits that his own doctor has told him to lose weight. They decide to enter the program together.

Connie prepares individual nutrition plans, holds daily meetings at McAlister Park, and adopts patience and perseverance as the group’s motto. Whit follows the plan with lean food, salad, fruit, water, and regular running. Bernard counts the water used in instant macaroni and cheese as part of his daily intake, while Wooton counts a cherry on a sundae as fruit. Both men struggle even to begin a one-mile jog.

Rather than quit openly, Bernard persuades Wooton to take shortcuts. They hide instead of completing a run, secretly eat snack cakes, and decide they can ignore some rules while still losing enough weight. At the two-week check, Whit has lost six and a half pounds, Wooton only three, and Bernard less than one.

The poor results make Connie doubt her ability and propose ending the effort. Wooton admits that he and Bernard have not followed her program and promises that they will commit for the remaining weeks. Bernard is far less enthusiastic, but he agrees. From then on, they exercise seriously and follow the menus, even while joking about reducing their weight by shaving hair, clipping nails, or removing unnecessary body parts.

Their hardest test comes when Joanne brings chocolate-and-peanut-butter brownies to Whit’s End. Bernard and Wooton try to distract Connie and steal two. The plan fails, but Bernard escapes with one brownie hidden in his pocket, and Wooton chases him all the way to Trickle Lake. By the time they stop, they have accidentally run about two miles.

The brownie is crushed, sweaty, gravel-covered, and marked by shoes, yet they still consider eating it. Then Wooton remembers how much Connie has worked and how disappointed she will be if they cost her the scholarship. Bernard finally throws the brownie into the lake. Their loyalty to Connie becomes stronger than the craving they have indulged for weeks.

At the final weigh-in, Wooton has lost twelve pounds and Bernard exactly ten. Whit, however, has lost only nine despite following the plan faithfully. Because all three clients had to reach ten, Connie does not receive the scholarship.

Whit feels responsible, but Connie knows that healthy progress sometimes reaches a temporary plateau and requires continued effort. She also admits that although she enjoyed parts of personal training, she cannot imagine doing it for years. Her fierce desire for the scholarship came mostly from wanting to become someone important, not from a lasting sense that this work was hers to do.

Whit compares her uncertainty to a plateau of its own. Connie takes the advice she has repeatedly given the men: remain patient, persevere, continue seeking God, and trust that His direction will become clear at the right time. The experience has not been wasted. All three men are healthier, Wooton has discovered that fruit can taste good without cheesecake, and even their celebratory visit to Whit’s End ends with everyone choosing smaller or lighter treats.