The final period of Lent 2021.

Saturday 3rd April

Ketosis Weight Variance Fat Variance
1.5 76.5 -0.4 13.3 0.0

It’s the last day that I will publish measurements and it’s the last day of my Lent abstinence and fasting. I end with a low fat weight and the lowest overall weight for a long time. When I finished the 100 days of Slow-Carb dieting I was around 76kg. I have not weighed so little for a long time.

I didn’t sleep well though. I woke up around 0330 and didn’t really get back to sleep properly. This was despite walking over 10000 steps going to the shopping centre and walking Luna, and despite drinking valerian tea. I’ve spent the morning reading and resting, and I’m back to normal.

We had trout with vegetables, salad and peanuts yesterday in the late afternoon. I had to work late because I needed to finish a presentation ready for next week. Fortunately I do not have to do any work this weekend and I will now rest until Tuesday when I head off to Northern Ireland to see a customer. It’s the first time I will have travelled since lockdown.

Later today we will have pork belly with vegetables and salad, and that will be our last meal of the Lent period. Tomorrow I will reflect on the last 46 days.

Reflections on Easter Sunday

I awoke this morning at 0530 because our dog decided it was time to go out. Fortunately, I didn’t have to get up to let her out and the duties fell to my wife. I fell back to sleep and woke up just before 9. I made coffee and opened a packet of eccles cakes. Along with porridge, a hot cross bun and Eggs Royale for lunch, I’m feeling fairly energised.

Here are the statistics for the last week. There was a bump early in the week but ultimately I have ended up with my lowest weight and fat measurements in the whole period:

In terms of sleep, the Fitbit says I’ve had two bad nights. Actually I only feel as if I got one night’s good sleep this week.

Overall, in the Lent period my weight has declined, but there was one peak in the middle where my overall weight went up.At the beginning of Lent I weighed 80.7kg and 19.8% of that was fat (15.98kg).

Yesterday (and in fact today where this has been no change overnight) I weighed 76.5kg of which 17.4% was fat (13.31kg). I have lost 4.2kg in weight overall and about 2.7kg of fat. My waist is under 36” again. At the end of the 100 days on the Slow-Carb diet I described early, I was 76kg and my waist was similar. Nine years later and I have managed to get back to an important checkpoint in my history.

It is all too easy to buy lots of things online - particularly digital things that don’t take up physical space. I curbed any unnecessary spend online but actually I still spent a lot considering I was trying not to. I bought some magazines and bought several things online that are probably non-essential. Is sparkling water essential or non-essential? Actually it is not essential. It turns out we have taps in our house and there is a cheap supply of water. But if there is a choice between drinking a bottle of Cava and a bottle of sparkling water, there are no guesses about which is better for you.

I managed to get out most days. When I didn’t it was because I wasn’t feeling well, wasn’t supposed to (waiting for a COVID result) or the weather was pretty horrible. I need to get out and about more. I observed that getting up and walking away from a problem, walking and focusing on something else, often helped with solving the problem. As soon as I can, I need to get back on my bicycle to help with this.

From the point of view of dieting, it wasn’t too hard overall. The most difficult part was the lack of a full cheat day. When we follow OMAD, we usually have the weekends off and if we are feeling a bit under par, have an additional meal of that day.

It wasn’t that tough though. Perhaps I could have had a more traditional Lent. This would have meant more fasting and more religious activities. There is no reason why a healthy person can’t do 46 days on a OMAD diet. I think actually one could drive themselves harder. I wonder if I could have done?

My Muslim friends have a tougher time with Ramadan. Many of them are strict and do not even drink water during the day. When Ramadan falls in a hot month, it can be tough, but they do break fast at night.

One thing that I didn’t limit was caffeine. My coffee consumption increased. We optimised our spending in Lent and I’ve found a cheap but good bean which is delivered every two weeks. I drink 5 cups of black coffee from our espresso machine every day. Beyond that I drink decaffeinated coffee. But here’s the truth - I drink too much coffee and without the alcohol to counter it, it’s probably why I don’t sleep well.

I drank a lot of water and herbal tea. In fact, I drank over 2 litres everyday - on average about 2.6 litres. I have a tendency to drink water during the second half of the day, which means I end up getting up in the night. I suspect this is compounded with the fact that we tend to lose weight by excreting carbon dioxide and water. That said, it is better to be slightly over-hydrated than under.

There were several mornings where I had trouble getting going. Once I was up, it was fine but I felt slightly under par. I remember when I was dieting in 2012 in Boston and New York. During the day I was absolutely fine but getting up and getting going was sometimes a little difficult. It was precisely the same feeling in the morning. It’s simple to get over - you just have to put one foot out of bed, get to the kitchen and get the first coffee down.

I logged into Facebook today for the first time in 46 days. What had I missed? Realistically, absolutely nothing. In early Lent, it was a bit tricky for me because two funerals were being organised on Facebook, but in both cases, someone kindly made sure I had the details. I have Messenger installed on my phone so I’m still able to use that without having to go onto the main site. Similarly, I logged into Twitter and I felt that I had missed even less.

All in all it was a successful Lent in terms of abstinence and weight loss. As I type this, I’ve opened a bottle of Porter (brewed during Lent) and I’m now enjoying a bottle of Mild given to me by one of my fellow brewers from London Amateur Brewers. I’m taking today off. We will have a curry this evening and probably some wine too. I’ve bought some things online too - a grain mill to help with my brewing and two books, but they are purchases that I will use and given the Lent period, I’ve thought about them very carefully.

What next? As the weather is getting better, I need to get back on my bicycle and get some exercise. I need to do some weights. And I need to keep going with my diet. I need to build on what I’ve achieved in Lent and keep the fat off.