Give up chocolate for Lent

I did it! I never thought I could go that long without chocolate – I have surprised myself.

I did end up substituting other treats to ‘feed the need’. A whole lot of caramels and licorice, along with Starbuck’s trail mix cookies. So much for losing weight by giving up chocolate :-)

Still, feeling very proud of myself.

After a day or two, it actually wasn’t that bad. I just knew if I had to make a decision, I had to avoid chocolate. There was usually another option available. And I knew I would have chocolate again at Easter.

The hardest day was my daughter’s 7th birthday. We have a traditional birthday cake – angel food with chocolate whipped cream icing. I have had this cake for my birthday every year since I was one – it is my favourite! This year I made the cake then couldn’t have any. I salvaged the situation by cutting off the crusty bits of the angel food cake before I iced it – that was my ‘piece of cake’.

Good luck to all who try this next year – it can be done!

...with only 4 days left. I was done in by a stressful day at work and two kids from the local junior high who had to sell their last few World’s Finest Chocolate Bars. Of course I told myself I would put them away for a week and then eat them, or give them to my kids. NOPE, did not happen. Oh well…got farther than I ever did before and there is always next year.

How’s everybody doing? Does it get easier with time? It’s kind of hard around here with the chocolate bunnies in all the stores. I also wonder how other people manage to enlist their spouses’ or flatmates’ support. In my case, I lately saw a knife, smeared with chocolate, on the kitchen table. Apparently my boyfriend has smuggled a jar of nutella into the apartment. That’s sweet. Forgetting the knife, not so sweet…

I’m doing okay without chocolate, even when we went to the movies and M&Ms made the rounds. But I’m afraid that I’ve found an unhealthy substitute – Milchschnitte, which is kind of like a sponge cake with a filling of cream. Well, apparently most of us have weird cravings…

.. and I can’t visit this site/thread without starting to think about you-know-what in all its shapes and flavors. Grr!

Isn’t St. Patrick’s day half way through the 40 days this year? I admit to eating a few girl scout cookies last Sunday, but I read somewhere that Sunday did not count in Lent. Oh well, that was my excuse. I am back on the wagon. I have been grumpy and moody lately and desparately wanted the seretonin rush of a chocolate bar, but I resisted. Seems like a lot of us are eating peanut butter…is that strange?

It’s been 11 days without chocolate and I’m feeling really good.

All went well at work, as much coffee as usual and just one or three cookies. But tonight I had a c~e pudding by accident, just grabbed it from the fridge and went back to the computer and had half-finished it before realising what I was doing. That should teach me to give up eating in front of the computer/books/tv.

I’m still hanging in there!
I did this last year, and managed to survive. I remember that I was really frustrated and annoyed that I couldn’t eat chocolate, but it doesn’t seem as bad this year. It’s really weird because it’s not like I cut down on the amount of chocolate I ate over the last year. Take today for example. I had a bar of chocolate in my bag from last week which I hadn’t opened, and I wasn’t even tempted to eat it. Strange. Maybe it’ll get harder the longer I resist it

3rd day without chocolate. I have a migraine from withdrawals, but otherwise doing ok and gaining confidence.

2 full days without chocolate. Aside from some headaches, it hasn’t been as hard as I thought. I have been chewing a lot of gum to get through the tough times.