Forty Days in the Desert!

[Fragile Bird]

Five days down, 35 to go.

I help run our coffee service after mass on Sunday, and we serve Tim Horton’s timbits with the coffee. Americans call them donut holes, I think. We also sometimes have cookies and cake, and today we had chocolate cake. No cake for me, or chocolate timbits. And it turns out there are a couple of us who’ve given up chocolate for Lent.

I mentioned this to our parish priest, and he laughed and said they never told him as a kid that Sundays aren’t included in the prescribed sacrifice days. If you’ve given something up (giving up meat is a fairly common sacrifice) you’re allowed to eat that item on Sundays. If I ever knew that I’d forgotten it. However, as I said, while I’m doing this during Lent I’m not doing it as a religious thing, so I am not going to eat any chocolate on Sundays in any event.

[Erik of Hazelfield]

My girlfriend and I have now started our challenge (a bit late, I know). Porridge for breakfast, diet powder shake as a snack, cold smoked salmon and melon salad for lunch. All good, but I know I will get very hungry soon. 

[Fragile Bird]

5 hours ago, Erik of Hazelfield said:

My girlfriend and I have now started our challenge (a bit late, I know). Porridge for breakfast, diet powder shake as a snack, cold smoked salmon and melon salad for lunch. All good, but I know I will get very hungry soon. 

There are things you can eat that are low calorie and filling. Lots of vegetables. A good serving of cauliflower, boiled sweet potatoes, a salad with chopped red or green peppers, carrots, radishes, cucumber etc. Add a can of tuna to the salad.

[kairparavel]

On 2/17/2024 at 10:23 AM, Spockydog said:

I spent the early part of my life believing that Easter Eggs represented the giant stone that Christ rolled away from the entrance of his tomb. 

 

On 2/17/2024 at 6:56 PM, Spockydog said:

That's what they told us in primary school. And so, at the end of Lent, we all painted hard boiled eggs in bright colours and gathered atop a hill on Easter Sunday, where the eggs were rolled down the hillside. At the bottom of the hill, you would collect your egg and wipe off the white dog poo, before being forced to eat some kind of revolting, slightly-off, sacred egg of Christ.

 

 

United Church of Canada, baby! My favorite church visit of the year until adolescence. 

[Castellan]

On 2/15/2024 at 10:53 AM, Fragile Bird said:

So if you want to suffer over something with me, sign up and go for it! Giving up chocolate isn’t like giving up cancer sticks, but we can grit our teeth together!

When I considered myself a chocoholic, I could never understand people who say they are chocoholics and then say they have have chocolate in the fridge. If I buy chocolate, it ends up in me, not a fridge, and pretty damn quick. I seem to have aged out of chocoholism, though. I can now pass it by, amazing!

I will join you by trying to eat sensibly, which I pretty well do, but do it more consistently and no lapses, so that maybe I will lose a small amount of weight. Also I will resume my morning walks which have fallen by the wayside.

 

 

[Fragile Bird]

A whole week without chocolate! I can’t remember the last time I did that. Week two starts today.

[Erik of Hazelfield]

Totally agree on the “not being able to keep chocolate around” thing. Just after my last diet ended it was Halloween, and the weather was so rainy almost no kids showed up, so I ended up eating all of the candy myself. And now I’m suffering from the consequences of my gluttony. If I had to choose a deadly sin, that’d be it for sure. 

[Fragile Bird]

On 2/19/2024 at 6:26 AM, Erik of Hazelfield said:

My girlfriend and I have now started our challenge (a bit late, I know). Porridge for breakfast, diet powder shake as a snack, cold smoked salmon and melon salad for lunch. All good, but I know I will get very hungry soon. 

I was just rereading this, and I wanted to mention a couple of things I came across on the internet regarding porridge. I assume oatmeal? I chop up half an apple and add it at the start of cooking, and later sprinkle some cinnamon on it. And the other suggestion I came across was with regard to adding some protein to that breakfast by stirring in a tablespoon of peanut butter at the end. Weird, I thought, but not bad at all.

[LongRider]

11 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

. And the other suggestion I came across was with regard to adding some protein to that breakfast by stirring in a tablespoon of peanut butter at the end. Weird, I thought, but not bad at all.

I've done that, it's good, but I had to learn not to put in too much PB.  Oatmeal is something that takes additions like this very well.  Slivered almonds in oatmeal are delicious, other nuts and seeds are also good.  Dress oatmeal up, it's yummy.   

[Erik of Hazelfield]

The particular oatmeal I eat is made of fibre enriched oats, chia seeds, quinoa, almonds, cinnamon and dried cranberries. When I cook it I add some frozen blueberries and eat it with a milk-resembling pea drink. Pretty good actually. 

I basically get all the recipes for everything I eat, which is the main advantage of this diet. Do exactly as it says and you will lose weight. No counting calories or anything like that. 

The hunger though. I have no trouble refraining from the sweets and drinks because I just don’t have them at home, but it’s hard to resist eating more when I’m still hungry. 

[kissdbyfire]

On 2/21/2024 at 10:25 PM, LongRider said:

I've done that, it's good, but I had to learn not to put in too much PB.  Oatmeal is something that takes additions like this very well.  Slivered almonds in oatmeal are delicious, other nuts and seeds are also good.  Dress oatmeal up, it's yummy.   

I don’t like porridge so I never cook it. But I mix the oatmeal w/ nut milk and different things and put it in a small (portion-size) glass tupperware or jar and leave it in the fridge overnight to eat for breakfast the next morning, when I add fresh fruit, nuts etc. It’s delicious! 

[LongRider]

15 minutes ago, kissdbyfire said:

It’s delicious! 

I eat steel cut oats which are a different process that the flaked oatmeal.   Steel cut oats need to be cooked; I just boil some in water till all the water is absorbed then eat.  There is no difference in nutrition or flavor with steel cut, but I have found it's their texture that I really like, something I can chew on.  This thread is showing how versatile oatmeal is.   Let's eat!

[Fragile Bird]

On 2/23/2024 at 10:14 AM, kissdbyfire said:

I don’t like porridge so I never cook it. But I mix the oatmeal w/ nut milk and different things and put it in a small (portion-size) glass tupperware or jar and leave it in the fridge overnight to eat for breakfast the next morning, when I add fresh fruit, nuts etc. It’s delicious! 

I’ve never tried making the overnight oats even though some friends love them. Maybe I’ll try now.

On 2/23/2024 at 10:34 AM, LongRider said:

I eat steel cut oats which are a different process that the flaked oatmeal.   Steel cut oats need to be cooked; I just boil some in water till all the water is absorbed then eat.  There is no difference in nutrition or flavor with steel cut, but I have found it's their texture that I really like, something I can chew on.  This thread is showing how versatile oatmeal is.   Let's eat!

I finally bought some steel cut oats and was shocked to see how long they took to cook. Texture, yes!

eta: I actually came here to say I’ve been having such a craving for chocolate the last couple of days. Nothing I’m using to satisfy the craving is really working. Ugh.

Edited February 24 by Fragile Bird
Sp

[kissdbyfire]

9 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

I’ve never tried making the overnight oats even though some friends love them. Maybe I’ll try now.

I love overnight oats. B/c they don't get soggy like porridge but they also take some of the flavour of whatever you add on with the nut milk/milk. One of my faves is a little brown sugar and cinnamon, then the next day I just add a sliced banana or strawberries or whatever fruit I fancy atm. Yummi! 

[LongRider]

28 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

I finally bought some steel cut oats and was shocked to see how long they took to cook. Texture, yes!

Steel cut oats are also a good choice for overnight soaking, then cook the next day.  

[Spockydog]

And here's me thinking the term Overnight Oats was just a new fangled marketing strategy to make the idea of porridge a little less revolting.

[DanteGabriel]

On 2/21/2024 at 8:25 PM, LongRider said:

I've done that, it's good, but I had to learn not to put in too much PB.  Oatmeal is something that takes additions like this very well.  Slivered almonds in oatmeal are delicious, other nuts and seeds are also good.  Dress oatmeal up, it's yummy.   

Mmmm, never thought of peanut butter but I bet that would be great with sliced up bananas, which is my usual oatmeal addition. We also do steel cut oats, which my wife introduced me to. I grew up on Quaker rolled oats.

Being New Englanders, we usually sweeten our oatmeal with a bit of maple syrup. And blueberries when they're in season.

Edited February 25 by DanteGabriel

[HexMachina]

On 2/17/2024 at 10:24 PM, kissdbyfire said:

Already? 

In the UK Easter chocolates appear as soon as the Christmas stuff is out of the shops. Generally beginning of the new year

 

On 2/17/2024 at 11:56 PM, Spockydog said:

That's what they told us in primary school. And so, at the end of Lent, we all painted hard boiled eggs in bright colours and gathered atop a hill on Easter Sunday, where the eggs were rolled down the hillside. At the bottom of the hill, you would collect your egg and wipe off the white dog poo, before being forced to eat some kind of revolting, slightly-off, sacred egg of Christ.

 

 

At our school we always did an egg painting contest, which is how I first realised, walking around and looking at some of the masterpieces others had created, that I have not a since artisitc or creative bone in my body

[Erik of Hazelfield]

Two weeks and two kilos down, three to go of each! Still hungry all the time. Some people get angry when they’re hungry - I get slow. Lose focus. Speak slowly. It’s probably quite painful to watch.

How’s it going, @Fragile Bird? Still keeping off the good brown stuff? 

[Fragile Bird]

On 3/4/2024 at 8:23 AM, Erik of Hazelfield said:

Two weeks and two kilos down, three to go of each! Still hungry all the time. Some people get angry when they’re hungry - I get slow. Lose focus. Speak slowly. It’s probably quite painful to watch.

How’s it going, @Fragile Bird? Still keeping off the good brown stuff? 

Didn’t have any chocolate until Easter. And now the stuff tastes too too sweet!

I also gave up Westeros for the balance of the time left, and didn’t miss it.

I may give up coffee for a while, or dramatically reduce consumption.

Sounds like you made great progress! I swear I can look at something fattening and gain weight.