Lent Revisited

So, I went hard core and planned to give up:

* meat
* dairy
* eggs
* alcohol
* sweets
* Facebook
* and I was supposed to work out regularly

This is what I did:

I had a few bites of fish but no red meat or poultry. It was really hard at first but then I rediscovered MorningStar Farms. These are really, really good. I eat them with grilled onions, avocado, tomato and I even the rice cheese tastes good on top! I will be eating these regularly. Going meatless also forced me to cook vegetables in interesting ways and I learned some great recipes!


I had a milkshake and occasionally some dairy would pop up in something baked. I missed cheese a lot. There is nothing like a slice of New York Style pizza. Nothing. And I love me some ColdStone. Have you had sweet cream vanilla with Oreos and almonds? Ok, then you understand.

I didn't eat any eggs and didn't miss them at all.

Alcohol was a toughie sometimes--especially when I went out with friends. O'Doul's is a great substitute if you are in the mood for a beer but my problem is I am not really a huge beer drinker to begin with. I like wine and they don't make non-alcoholic wines do they?

Sweets was hands down the hardest. thing. ever. I can't even say I really succeeded here. I mean, I didn't eat any obvious sugary sweets--like ice cream or donuts or candy (well, except when I got the milkshake when I had strep or when the squares of dark chocolate when I was PMSing or the Giaradelli bar when I was in a bad mood) and somewhere along the way I decided if it was made without refined white sugar it was ok--or if it was vegan it was ok, or sometimes I just flat out forgot (like when I put sweetened non-dairy creamers in my coffee). So, yeah.

Facebook wasn't hard after about a week. I almost want to close down my account so I won't go back to my twice-a-day-obsessive-inbox checking-status update posting-no-make-that-five-times-a-day-lame-time-wasting-addiction that I had. It made no sense and it added little value to my day, but there are people on there with whom I have no other way of communicating--like my old friends from when I went to high school in Nigeria. I guess I won't give it up completely.

And finally, working out. Wait, did I say sugar was the most difficult? Scratch that. Working out is where I failed miserably. I can count the number of times I worked out on one hand. :(

One week until Easter. I have been looking forward to it. During the tougher days I kept thinking how great it will be for life to get back to normal, to be able to order anything off a menu or pour myself a glass of wine after a rough day-- but what I realize is that I don't really want to go back to my "normal life". Believe it or not, I think I might actually like this new lifestyle. You see, at first I would go hog wild on Sundays and eat everything in sight but then I noticed a pattern. I would feel like crap and the horrible feeling would last thru Tuesday! It's not worth it. Realistically I know I can't stay a vegan--and truthfully, I don't want to--but I will eat like this often. And what I will now focus on are the two things that were the most challenging--sweets and exercise.

To begin with I am going to continue to ignore all the treats in the teacher's lounge. I work at a place with a lot of nice people. When they go on a trip they bring back a treat (this week: salt water taffy); when it's someone's birthday they bake a cake (this week: homemade yellow cake with chocolate icing); when there are meetings they set out the leftovers(this week: brownies);when they want to say thank you they bring in something edible (this week: Dunkin' Donuts); to celebrate a new month there is a breakfast (this month: bagels, fruit salad, egg casserole, hash browns, baked goods, juice, coffee--and this was a lighter version of the normal breakfast). I kid you not! All those things were in the lounge this week--salt water taffy, cake, brownies, donuts, and a full-on breakfast. And I was good. From that whole list all I had was...



Yup. A cup of coffee (and there is a banana in my school bag). I ignored all of those treats!! Why? Because it was Lent but clearly I can't go back after Easter. What I don't get is why the pounds haven't been falling off?? What's up with that?

So, yeah, the focus after Easter will be on laying off of sweets and working out. It's spring! A time for renewal and growth, fresh and new things! Plus I still have 17 pounds to lose.

Anyone else doing something new for spring?