My Progress - Lent (Part 4)

I made a pact to God and myself to give up rice and eating after 6pm; because I knew that these two things were the hardest to give up. I can say however, that to date Sundays were my hardest day. You see, it is the norm for me to eat throughout the day sometimes until I go to bed. My new trend is drinking tea throughout the day, lol.

Lent ends in five days and I have been reflecting on how funny it is for us to say that we cannot do something or cannot live without something; when the truth is, it is our fear of the unknown that prevents us from trying or letting go.

I have learned a lot these past 5-weeks one of which is that I  am more resilient but more importantly that I have great self-control, a quality that is often hard to sustain. I have learned that having self-control becomes easy if the end goal is one that you, yourself have agreed to. One must be willing to live through the constraints and resist the temptation that comes with the decision made.

that strength comes with the determination to succeed and the will power to make it no matter what.  This journey has left me with great life lessons and I will share some with you:

1) when making a life change decision we must be able to pay the price to achieve it

2) no matter how hard  try manage your well-power the temptation to cheat or partake

3) keep track of  the incremental accomplishments, it makes a difference your progress will propel you forward

4) give yourself time to reflect periodically as some days will be harder than other

5) have confidence in yourself, alway be positive and self-motivated

6) don't believe that stressing is necessary, remember you are human and discomfort will come be that too will pass

No matter the journey life changes are important to propel us to the next stage in our life cycle. We must  commit to the changes we have made and work through the constraints as hard as they are.

My Progress - Lent (Part 3)

Okay, remember this is new to me; providing ball-by-ball commentary on what I eat.  But I am trying I am sure by day 10 I will get it, lol.  Here goes...

Day 2 (February 11, 2016)
This the day after work and my first day of work after Ash Wednesday.  I commenced the day praying, as I usually do, and then I started to thinking about breakfast.  I was so feeling for porridge and fried dumpling and so I proceed to Juci Patties. Juci Patties sells the best dumpling and porridge you can ever taste.  Breakfast was divine.

My days are usually long and where I work the tuck-shop does not have a lot of variety, it only sells snacks.  So at about 3 pm when my stomach started to rumble I ran to the tuck-shop and the only thing of interest was Nissin chicken cup soup. So bought it and that was for lunch.  Remember this is not a dieting activity, I am just doing Lent. The remainder of the day was I just did coffee. I left work at 7:00 pm which is a record breaker, lol.

Day 3  (February 12, 2016)
Okay, so I stayed home do to care trouble and I can tell you that as soon as I wake I hungry.  When I am at home,  however, I usually start off by drinking coffee and I proceed to that.  Remember that I had a dumpling in my bag from the day before and went for it.  It was cold but really good.  My step-daughter and I decided to cook stew chicken and food.  In Jamaica, we call yam, banana, coco, sweet potato, excreta food.  I cooked up a storm and finished at 3 pm. We ate and I took a nap and work up at 5:30 pm and had seconds. No, I don't know if my body is operating on the premise that I can't eat after 6 pm but that is what happened.  The rest of the night was spent watching "Everybody Hates Chris" sipping coffee.

Day 4  (February 13, 2016)

Today is day 4 and I am home, mom did breakfast I did not partake.  I did my coffee and had  Otaheite Apple  and coffee. The best breakfast every.  I went to sleep, yes on Saturday and Sunday I usually rest and so I woke up at about 4:30 pm, hungry as hell and headed out for KFC, tasty.  A little secret that I must let out, I have been exercising every day for the last 4 day and I will keep you posted on that part of this journey.  You see my father says that I am not committed to being healthy, I use to weigh 124 pounds and since 2002 my I have been consistently gaining weight. I now weigh 241 pounds.  I am not doing this to loose weight but I say my father smile when he saw me exercising for 4 consecutive days.  I am happy for that.

Well, tomorrow is Sunday, let's see how that day goes.

My Progress - Lent (Part 2)

I  started the day by just cleansing my thoughts.  Yes, my thoughts. I reached out to every person in my life who had me pondering.  I sent them a text and expressed my truth.  It was a very emotional but a very relieving process. I felt light less conflicted. 

It was a great start point on my journey through Lent. 

Having completed this task, I prepared breakfast, saltfish fritters and Nescafe. Yes, I so love coffee. The meal was so divine; I enjoyed every piece of it.  But I forgot one of my processes for Lent taking pictures to share with you.  Please forgive, this new to me sharing my day and thoughts. I will endeavour never to forget.

I added another criterion to my Lent list; no eating after 6 pm.  Let me tell you, this is even harder than cutting rice from my diet. I am a late eat, after hours is when my creative juice kicks in and so does my appetite. 

Well, even as I type I can hear my stomach rolling as it is accustomed to receiving food at this hour, lol. But I am not going to concede; I am a strong girl and I can do this. 

Day 1 done, here goes day two.

Lent - Part 1

I was christened a Catholic and as such, I have an appreciation for Lent. The ability to abstain represents our own sacrificial offering to God; as it was during these 40 days that Jesus Christ  travel the journey to the cross were is to shade he gave his life to so that we could live and be forgiven.

This is my first time, actually participating in Lent and I want to share my journey with you.

During the period of Lent, I will be giving up rice.  Why rice? Well, it is my favourite starch. I eat rice any time of the day with or without protein. I even make rice porridge, tasty.

Oh yes, I will be giving up red meat, that is Lent 101, LOL.

Trust, I don’t know, I do not know how,  I am going to do this!! But I must

I must let you know that in Jamaica for lunch;  most restaurants prepare only rice  as a starch to serve (white rice, rice and peas, callaloo rice, etc); which means that I will have to prepare lunch and take it to work.  This will be a mammoth task,  as I work 12- 15hours most days, plus I am going to school, SMH.

Well I am committed.  I will do it this and I will keep you posted.  I will also take pictures of my meals and share it with you. 

Tomorrow is Lent people, so here goes!!!!