Final Official Post

I say final official post because I hope I will post on here now and again.  Simply because Lent is over doesn't mean it's effects are, so I will periodically post about how I am finding adjusting to eating now it is finished.

Anyway, here is what I hope some of you have been waiting for!...

Weight Lost...

Start weight = 109.5 Kg - 17 stone & 3.4 pounds

Week 1 = 106.5 Kg - 16 stone & 10.8 pounds

Week 2 = 105.5 Kg - 16 stone & 8.6 pounds

Week 3 = 103 Kg - 16 stone & 3 pounds

Week 4 = 102 Kg - 16 stone & 0.9 pounds

Week 5 = 98.5 Kg - 15 stone & 7.2 pounds

Week 6 = 98 Kg - 15 stone & 6.1 pounds

Week 6.5 = 97 Kg - 15 stone & 3.8 pounds

Total lost = 12.5 Kg - 1 stone & 13.6 pounds

Which is as close to 2 stone as makes a difference!  hee hee.

And here is a before and after pictures...

Before - Taken on the 25th February 2009

After - Taken on the 11th April 2009

Yes I'm grumpy in the first one and yes I am smiling in the second one and i know I have had my hair cut in between the two photos which will contribute greatly to the over all picture difference but it's just a reference to the visual difference, not a scientific facial research photograph.  There is a reason I'm grumpy in one and smiling in the other you know! :-)

To show you a greater difference, here is a photograph taken on the 21st February 2009, just 5 days before Lent started...

Hmm, don't particularly want to be that fella again (nor does Aimee)

Anyway, there you have it, 46 days of Lent, will power and a little bit of faith.  It has been worth it, I have yet again had my eyes opened to how special food is and how we take it for granted.  I've met a challenge and over come it.  I hope I have inspired others to try it, if not this year, then maybe next.  It's worth it for whatever reason you do it.

Mel

HAPPY EASTER!

Yay!  It's Easter and the 46 days of lent are over!

Crikey it's been a bit mental.  Bit long, bit hard, but ultimately worth it.

Well, Aimee is making me a cup of coffee as we speak, and two boiled eggs!  no toast as I don't really want to depend on the white fluff right away.

Last night was a bit bad.  I was out with my girlfriend and others and had a good night, but come midnight I was tempted to have something.

So at one minute past midnight I had a bottle of Corona beer.

I can't say I enjoyed it completely, it was more odd than nice to be honest.  Then when we got back I wanted some food and thought, well, I'll have some chips.  Bad decision.

I had some chips from the take away under my girlfriends flat and it had some "Red/pink" chicken on it.  The chicken was cooked, but it just had this weird dye on it and it tasted like the entire thing was made from Salt.

Then I started to feel sick and very very wrong.

I still feel a bit sick and a bit wrong.  A bit like Morgan Spurlock in Super Size me when he eats that first super size meal.  Except I didn't vomit.  I could have though, it was vile vile food.

Kind of wished I had waited till this morning to have some food, but I do that every year and thought I'd try it out this once.  The having food after Midnight that is.

So.  There you are.  Lent is done and I feel great.  I genuinely do.  I don't have an urge to go back to bread and because I have been off it so long, it will hopefully be easy to ignore it.

Anyway, the eggs and coffee are done now! so I'm off to have some proper off Lent food.

Stay tuned tonight for the weigh out and comparison pictures!

'Twas the night before Easter

And all through the flat, my tummy was rumbling because it had no fat.

Not entirely true.  I'm still pretty pudgy, but none the less feeling like my old self.  Well it's Saturday evening here in surprisingly sunny England (for a change) and I'm where I was when I started Lent, my girlfriends flat in Sheffield.

I am looking forward to tomorrow quite a lot, but I am more interested to see how I handle things after lent has ended.  I just got through watching Iron Man for the first time (not bad - sorta) and in it he wants an "American Cheeseburger" and they give him a cheap ass Burger king Cheese burger.  The kind wrapped in paper.

Now, that got me salivating right away.  I want an American Cheeseburger.  Can I haz cheezeburger? 

I hope not.

Everyone tells me "Wow, you must have great will power".  Possibly, but we'll see what tomorrow brings!.

As for tomorrow, I'll post an, erm, post in the morning as we are heading over to my girlfriends parents for Sunday dinner, so I'll get weighed there and take a few pictures to put up for my final official Lent 2009 post.  You'll get to know how much weight I have lost exactly and see a good old before and after picture.

Not Long Now!

Well, here it is, the last few days of Lent!

It's quite strange to think that it's almost over, doesn't seem like almost 6 and half weeks ago since I started.

I got my hair chopped today which was something I promised myself I would get done for Easter.  It was almost a year since I last had a hair cut so it is quite odd to have short short hair again.  I hope having it cut hasn't lost me my strength!

My housemate, Vicki, and I were having a chat about the end of lent as she has been doing it too, even though she isn't religious she wanted to see what it was like to do it.  She mentioned she was worried about Lent being over soon.  I know what she means.  It's odd to think what it will be like eating the foods you have given up for what seems like a long time.  I told her it is a little odd at first.  Eating something you haven't been eating through choice feels 'wrong' as your brain puts up a sort of mental block when you get offered / go to eat something on the no no list.

The first few times are almost a novelty, take for instance eating toast (as we have both given up bread as part of Lent).  The first time is almost a novelty because you don't actually want / need it but you have some anyway.  The next time is kind of a continuation of that.  And the third time usually goes like this...

You want some toast.  Then you realise you can have some.  So you get all giddy that you can actually have it so you do!  This might sound odd but it's true.  Lent usually lingers on a good while after it has ended but it really makes wanting something and then having it seem so much more outstanding.

Well, there are just 3 more sleeps to go until my first cup of coffee in 6.5 weeks and also a Sunday dinner with meat and gravy.  The Sunday dinner will be nice, but I'm not craving it at all.  Just the Coffee.

MMM!

Last Week!

Oo-er.

What a time of it I have been having lately.  I have had a lot of lent dreams, but they are so subtle that I only remember them days after having them and get very confused.  I had one a few days back where I broke lent a few hours before it ended.  I have also had a mirage of dreams about eating stuff I shouldn't.  So confusing.

Well, as you have noticed, I haven't been posting any shopping pictures lately.  The reason is that I have been doing little bits of food shopping here and there so haven't really got one big picture to put up.

I got 'properly weighed' and tested last Wednesday and had quite a shock.  In a good way.  I'll be posting all the gory details next Sunday which, of course, is Easter Sunday.  It's a bit shocking.

As far as temptation goes, I really wanted a beer yesterday (same as the saturday before) and had another barrage of thoughts about eating a dirty burger.  Grumpf!

Which leads me onto the next bit.

I am really worried about trying to keep my healthy eating from Lent on after Lent ends.  Each years after it is over, I just eat what I want, and Keep Lent as Lent.  However, this year I genuinely want to keep eating good normal healthy food.  But there is a problem.

Since Wednesday I have found myself to be contemplating the end of Lent a lot.  It's as if my body knows the mandatory 40 days and 40 nights have been fulfilled and what am I still doing on this ludicrous fast!  I am starving myself a lot more almost in an attempt to make bad food seem like the only option again, if that makes any sense.

I'm not starving myself on purpose, it's just I seem to be able to go for a very long time without eating because nothing is grabbing my appetite.  Even when I do cook food for myself and eat it, it seems tasteless and I get nothing out of it.

Now, I know his isn't exactly the best thing that I could be doing, but the thing is I'm not consciously doing it, It's just happening.

Yesterday I cooked potatoes, salmon and mushrooms and I enjoyed it abut as much as a plate full of treacle (and I hate treacle).  The only way I can describe it is like if you have a 9-5 job and you have been working 4 months straight and you have a 2 week holiday coming up.  The last few days of the last week you have to work before your holiday, you aren't exactly 'at work' any more and instead, your preempting your wonderful holiday and 14 days of non work activities.

It's a little like that.  I think in all honesty, all I want is a cup of good coffee and be able to use butter in my diet to get rid of the craving, I am just scared I might go mental and devour every fast food place within a five mile radius.

Well, we will see.  I do need to go buy some food as I have little left in the fridge and my fruit rack is a joke (I just ate a banana out of it there now, of which 90% was black goo - I only ate the 10% that wasn't by the way).  So maybe I can entice my mind back into enjoying good food and pretend next Sunday isn't happening so I can continue what this Lent has started for me.

I got 13 days to go!

Sorry for not posting as regularly as usual, Been fasting well and working hard.

Still on the go.  Clothes that haven't fitted me before are now doing so and that means I have a bit of a new wardrobe as a result!  Well, a new wardrobe as in I can wear things I already own but haven't been seen in for quite a while.

Last night was hard.  In fact, all weekend I wanted things I couldn't have.  I really craved some beer on Saturday and then Sunday all I wanted was a cheeky Burger from somewhere.  So I ended up watching Fast Food Nation on DVD and then Super size Me on Google Video just to appease myself that Fast food is not a good idea.

But as is usually noted when watching Super Size Me, it just made me want bad food even more! especially a Big Mac.

It's crazy really when you think about it all for a minute.  Most of us (not all) enjoy junk food to some extent.  You pass any McDonalds and you you will see people inside eating and chatting and if like me, you enjoy the odd one now and again, you know that those people are feeling happy, relaxed and good about everything.  Well, until the sugar low hits them an hour later and they just want more.

It's like we have been enslaved to like this crap en masse and have to try ultra hard to resist it.  I was thinking there now how hard it would be to give up something other than food for lent.  I mean let's say I decided to give up driving.  There goes the ability to do a lot of work as I generally travel with equipment to jobs.  If I wanted to give up talking, well, you can imagine how hard that would be!.

But in the society we have today, you either have a car, use public transport or don't go anywhere unless you can walk it.  We almost have to communicate verbally all the time or be limited to what we can achieve.

What I'm trying to say is that we rarely have a chance to do what we want in life.  And I mean 'Truly' do what we want without being limited in some way.

I always remember my History teacher in Secondary school teaching us about the history of Medicine.  He told us that at certain points along the timeline, Humans took a path at a junction and continued along it, came to another junction and continued along that one until we are where we are today.  Today we have hospitals, certain methods of making people well, surgery, Kaemotherapy, brain scans and so on.

Who is to say that is the right way?  why shouldn't spiritual healing or some other form of healing be in place of what we do today?.  He said just because this is where were at with medical skill doesn't necessarily mean it's the right place to be.  We could have taken the wrong path somewhere back in time.

And it's true for todays status on pretty much everything.  Who is to say a money based society is correct? who is to say Internal Combustion Engines are correct? why should we still depend so much on animal instinct? Why do we all wear clothes?

I know this might sound funny or even pointless, but it is just something I have been thinking about a lot recently and how Lent is a good chance to shed all the things we have been 'given' by society and think for ourselves.  Just because it's there doesn't mean we have to take it.

Just like I am on lent and have given up eating a lot of different types of food.  Just because the general populous stuffs their face 2 times a week in McDonalds doesn't mean I have to.  Yet, showing one of those families that I prepare fresh food and eat little each day might be as bizarre to them as it is to me going to McDonalds for my Food twice a week.

Jesus was in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights (for arguments sake, lets say that is how it was) and he ate Locusts and Wild Honey.  No clothes (spare what he had on him) stones for a pillow at night and his faith.  Nothing else.  I always imagine how focused and unattached from society he must have felt.  But better still, how 'free' he must have felt also.

We are never truly 'free' from our society, and I doubt we ever will be.  Don't get me wrong, clothes, cars, computers, the internet are all great, but is that just my thoughts because I have never given anything else a chance?

Hmmmmm.

Oh well, back to work I go.

Week 4!

Well well well!  Week 4!

Isn't this all nice and shiny?  Lost a little teeny weeny bit more weight this week but not as much as last.

I'm still missing coffee (even though when I smell the beans it doesn't make me dribble as much as the smell of the actual made coffee).  But still couldn't give a flump about diet coke, bread, meat blah blah blah.

Which is good.  But as I was saying to Vicki the other day, it might be easier this year because I'm in a house where people generally eat well anyway so it's not like I'm surrounded by temptation.  Also, writing this blog is helping (I think) as I guess it's a form of a diary which is good for a mental detox anyway and I suppose being addicted to certain foods is all in the head!

Right, back to more work and then tonight I am cooking my vegetarian chilli con carni! (sp)

Food! Glorious Food!

Ah,

Shopping day!  MMmmmm.....

Big shop this week, lots of everything

Well, still going on.  Put a shirt on I hadn't worn for a while and it was baggy on me!.  Good grief.  I must say, I am kind of shocked at how I have become accustomed to good food and actually look forward to eating now.

I mean, I have always looked forward to eating, but never to this sort of food.  And nary an additive in Sight!

3 Weeks down, 3.5 to go!

Wow,  here I am in the third week of lent!

Well, I haven't had too many lent dreams since starting and in the past week I have lost some more weight, quite a bit considering how much food I have been eating.

This year I have been super strict on what I can and can't eat.  So many canned and even dried soups include some kind of milk or egg white, it's insane!

feeling good all the same mind you.  I do miss coffee.  At the mere smell of it I go all doe eyed!  I caught a whiff of my housemates one morning as she made some before work and I think I looked like the big shark in Finding Nemo when he smells blood after trying to give it up.  Ha ha.

I was chatting to my house mate Vicki today about what I miss most and she says she doesn't miss much at all.  Especially cheese! which is insane for her as she would just about eat anything cheese-esque.  She likes cheese.

I like coffee.

Oh well, only 3 and a half weeks to go!

I really don't want to gorge on all the stuff I have not been eating on Easter Sunday.  I wouldn't mind keeping it to a coffee, a sunday dinner with meat and maybe an easter egg.

I wouldn't mind keeping off bread, diet coke, fast food and milk to be honest, but we'll see.

My friend Roy told me a good idea he does.  He eats as healthily as he can when he's at home, and then when he goes out for food, he has anything he likes.  Such a good idea as it's not like everyone eats out every day (unless your Woody Allen) and I guess if temptation isn't there, it's easier to ignore the crap (food).

Well, anyway, that's too much diet talk right there, which f course isn't what lent is based on.

I watched a film called Zeitgeist the other night, which is a real hard hit if you believe in God like I do.  For those of you who haven't seen it, it's an atheist's dream of a film as it totally debunks the existence of God, Jesus and all the parables told in the bible.  And the Bible.

I won't go into too much detail about it here as you need to watch it more than read my description of it.

I mean, I love film too, so I watched it with interest, but the subject matter was against my belief.  Sort of.

By sort of I mean that, yes I went to church and know of the stories in the bible and what the Christian faith is based around, but for me (luckily in some sense) I believe in the core of any religion, faith.  Faith in humanity and some form of unknown entity which many would call God.

Whether that entity is the Sun (as described in Zeitgeist) some unknown force in the universe that put all this here or something else, I believe all the core elements that are tought to us through the bible.  I also believe the bible shouldn't be taken as a straight 1,2,3 description of what went down, rather something to take something good away from.

Sorry of any of that makes little sense, I am trying to keep short what I am getting at.

I just think if you have faith in an unknown factor, it keeps hope and dreams alive in people.  Too much of the bible is taken literally, which knocks people right off the idea from the get go.  You know those people who go "That's Rabbit food! I'm not a bloody Rabbit!" when you give them a healthy salad? well, to me, it's the same when you casually mention religion and someone goes "Oh yeah? Jesus?, explain to me how he turned water into wine? or tell me how he fed 5000 people with 5 loaves and two fish...yeah, you can't! - load of rubbish that there religion".

People love to focus on the black and white facts when religion isn't that.  I believe it's a personal thing, and you can believe without going to church, or, if you find it comforting, you can go to a church and celebrate your beliefs with like minded people.

Maybe I am all wrong, but it's what I have believed for a long time.  Just the very fact there are so many religions kind of proves that it's a personal thing and that it exists all over the world.

It's when it's used as an excuse for war, or to make money, that is just using religion as a tool, which I feel is wrong.

So yes, maybe some facts in the bible are based on a roman, greek, whatever, mythological character based on the study of the Sun, but it's hard to ignore the fact all the good things which have come from that (of course there are bad, as I have mentioned above) things which are never mentioned in the news and media.

Anyway, the movie is pretty hard hitting as I say, but it's also easy to throw facts at people and expect them to believe it, like a conspiracy theory, you need to research it yourself to know if it's true or not.  Which I would do, if I was arsed.  Which I'm not, but it did make me think.

Anyway, enough religious talk for now, I need some sleep! 

Sunday Sunday...

No signs of cracks yet. Although I have been out of my routine of eating for the past few days. Seem to be only eating one meal a day. Which is odd because I would normally be lowering my fridge and cupboard contents about now.

Don't know if this is due to my stomach shrinking or if I am just running on empty without noticing it. Well, I want to make a nut roast today if at all possible so I am going to see if I can make that and a ton of roasted vegetables.

Fish Supper...

One week one day and I finally got time to go and do some food shopping.  I went a little nuts but I bought some seriously wholesome food, food I am terribly excited about eating (and that's saying something!)

(note the orange juice barely made it back unscathed)

I don't know why I display my food like that for you all, I guess it looks so good I had to take a photo of it.

Anyway, got some fish to celebrate loosing weight and popped for salmon steak, only ordered one, but when I got to the till, realised they had given me two! ah well, I'll celebrate in a few days again!

Feeling so terribly good.  I feel like someone is pumping sunshine into my body.  Not delirious, just feeling so 'awake' and 'able'  which must sound odd, but I feel champion.

Well, better go check the fish and tatties.

Headache gone

I woke up this morning sans headache!  felt groggy though, like my body had been spring cleaning itself during the night on a cellular level.

Haven't really had any cravings today, just happy I can do stuff without a pumping pain in my head.

Had some musli with cranberries and rice milk for Breakfast after my Berroca.  Then had some lemon and honey with hot water.

Just had some couscous with cooked vegetables (mushrooms, long pepper and onion) and some soy sauce.

Now on my second 'coffee substitute' of the day and it's all good.

Got a lot of work on and a very untidy room so best get back to it and get everything organised.

Going out tonight to meet a friend so just water and ice for me! still, I'll make more sense sober.

Ps Thought I would just add I did a 'life expectancy test' last night just for fun, but tried to find the most comprehensive one that was free.

I did 2 versions, one on lent and one on regular diet, here were the results...

Off Lent: 69 years

On Lent: 77 years

The biggest changes I could make to my lifestyle to give me more years was A) loose weight which would give me a massive 5-15 years more life! and B) Cut back on work by working 5 instead of 6 days a week I could give myself 2 extra years!

Try it out for yourselves, if only for a bit of fun (we could all get hit by a bus tomorrow)