Lent

Hey everyone! I decided to give-up Pretzels, Peanut Butter, and Gum for Lent! I eat these things on a regular basis, so this will be hard. Secretly I'm happy to give them up, because I over eat all of them! Here's to Lent, a struggle, with benefits!

I'm not catholic, but I was raised catholic until I was 6, so I still do give up something for lent by choice. My family converted to church of Christ, but it's my distant family who are stil catholic; and I respect the religion :)

For lent, I am giving up Coffee, rockstars, monsters, and vitamin water. (or limiting myself to onle ONE of ONE of those per week. and I mean ONE. Like...I would have to choose the ONE I want over ALL. haha. But I'm trying to totally give them up for lent, so yeah.......wish me luck!) I drink those WAY too much. lol good luck to everyone else!

I'm not really religious, but I like the idea of giving something up for 40 days. Last year I managed to give up chocolate, and it was the first Easter Sunday since I was a kid that I've really looked forward to! This year I'm going to do it again, helps me to resist the temptation of easter eggs that are already in the stores, in their bright, shiny, delicious looking wrappers...

And I had pancakes for dinner (savoury ones) on Tuesday night. Yum! 

I'm giving up ice cream for Lent.  Its my binge trigger food and I've been having a lot of issues controling myself lately.  Plus my birthday is right after Easter, so I will have a celebration! :-)

I'm giving up Lent for Lent!

I can't decide and am afraid to eat anything until I do. 

It used to be all that Easter candy that I love, jellybeans, marshmellow eggs, chocolate rabbits, etc.  oh and Cadbury eggs.

I'm not a big candy person, so that wouldn't be much of a sacrifice.  I think my late evening snacking.  Yes,  that will be it. 

With the exception of special occasions, company, or being away from home I will stop eating by 7:00 pm, except for 100 calories at bedtime, which helps me sleep.

I tend to wander into the kitchen during commercials at night and nibble.

Good luck to the rest of you.

does anyone else think its funny that you're encouraged to eat fish on fridays during lent, because you're not supposed to eat meat on those days?  no wonder people are so confused as to what vegetarians eat

I'm giving up . . . <gasp> . . . CANDY!  It is my major food weakness . . .

Original Post by luvtraveling:

I'm thinking about giving up caffeine. I'm down to one can of Diet Coke every morning. But I'm afraid of the headaches I've gotten in the past when I've given up caffeine. I guess I have until midnight to decide.

One year I gave up the drive-thru. I was still allowed to eat fast-food, but only if I went in. Interestingly, I could never be bothered. Big money saver too, as it turned out. I've already pretty much given up on fast-food for nutritional purposes anyway.

Maybe I should give up frozen entrees. That would really be a sacrifice, since that's my week-day lunch. But it's probably impractical. I have pretty much given up processed foods other times of the day. I cook "real" food for dinner much more often since I joined here.

Hmmm. I think I've already pretty much given up everything except maybe caffeine. 

I gave up caffeine for Lent a couple years ago.  For my morning beverage, I started substituting some skim milk instead.  The best part was that the increased milk consumption also killed my desire for chocolate as well.  Random side effect, but definately not one I minded.  :)

Being on a vegan diet, it is hard to give up anything that is food related.  So I give up other things.  This year I'm giving up anger and gossip.  Anger is easier than gossip...trust me.

Lent is a time of making a sacrifice for God. Our sacrifice is to bring us closer to God. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us, and so during Lent Christians make a sacrifice that will provide us time, thought, and prayer.

That being said, I will give up my time each week to attend mass, I will give up my time each night for prayer and thanksgiving, I will give up my time for adoration (this is a Catholic thing which many people might not know what I am talking about), and I will give up my time for the Stations of the Cross.

I have not found myself giving up this time enough during the year, and now I intend to focus on it for Lent, and for God, as this He is the reason we are supposed to make a sacrifice in the first place.

I too, like many have already posted, might try giving up diet soda, artificial sweeteners, etc. I'm not very religious but I might also try to become religious once again. (I used to be very religious and attended church every Sunday until a lot of things happened to me that made me question God, faith, etc.) Maybe I'll try the church thing too...starting tonight. :) We will see.

I am going vegan for lent. I'm not really a catholic, I was raised Christian, my husband is a non practicing catholic, but I like the idea of lent. Going vegan is something I aspire to be and admire in others. My husband the wonderful comedian he thinks he is said he is giving up sex, lol.

i'm not catholic either, but i partake in lent along with my catholic friends. i'm giving up non-nutritive sweeteners and granulated sugar. not sure what i'm thinking... i live on diet coke.

I'm a non-denominational Christian living in a city that is mostly Catholic (if only by birth) so Lent is a big deal around here. I, personally can't get into it. I tried doing some research on Lent but I'm not big on tradition, and my heart just wouldn't be in it. I really don't care to do something just because people have been doing it for 1800 years or so. I just don't get it. They mentioned Lent at my church this last Sunday, as they did last year but I just don't get it. I wish I could participate, but it just doesn't mean anything to me. Maybe I'll do some more research and something will click for me, but to me it just feels like an empty ritual, which I'm sure is not what it was meant to be.

I used to be more religious than I am, so for Lent I'm definitely going to make a concerted effort to be more dedicated to my religion: ie. going to church every Sunday (as much as possible), praying regularly, all that jazz. I've struggled with what to give up for Lent, because I'm given to eating issues, and don't want to trigger myself/relapse in the name of religion. It would be much too easy of an excuse, I'm afraid. I know too well how my own mind works. I've decided to give up bingeing. I considered giving up snacking, then decided that going for 5-6 hours between meals without anything would not be doing my blood sugar any favors. And God doesn't want us to harm our bodies in His name. Then I thought I would give up dessert, but there really isn't a lot of that in my house anyway, so what kind of sacrifice is that? So bingeing it is. I'll allow myself to eat three square meals a day, and a few snacks in between (as my calories will allow) and that's it! That's my Lenten resolution.

Just a reminder ....

Please avoid threatening other members, making inflammatory comments or posts, or using foul language.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss Lenten practices as they pertain to weight loss/weight management goals, (i.e., what people are "giving up" or doing for Lent)  and NOT as a general debate on Christianity or Catholicism.

MOLLY

Giving up shopping, frivolous cab rides, alcohol and smoking on weeknights.  This will be my toughest Lent to date.  Yikes!  But I really think that’s the point, isn’t it?  And I think it will help me to stay super focused on what I need to do to lose weight.  And hey, with the money I’ll save I’m going to buy personal training sessions.  Not many, but enough to get me into the darn gym to begin with…lol.  Been a member there for 9 months and have never been.  At $90 a month, I could have gone to Hawaii for a  week!  Geez!!! Can you add things to lent?  A friend was telling me that she was going to start walking daily for lent.  I thought you were supposed to give something up not make it like a resolution and add something to your life?  Confused?

Give up something, add something, just do something that is a sacrifice for you.  I really love popcorn and eat it every day, so that's what I'm giving up.