Lent - anyone doing anything?

[Stormy]

A couple of things for the e-herd:

1. Today is Ash Wednesday. For us Catholics a day of fasting (one meal only, and maybe a couple of small meals if necessary) and abstinence (from all meat except fish/seafood). How do you handle this if you are training? I did cardio this morning, and a protein shake, but I know I'm going to be hungry later on. I hope I'm not doing too much damage to my metabolistic "fire" but I feel strongly enough about this.

2. What are you either giving up or doing in the spirit of the season? I'm giving up the potato in all its forms (mashed, baked, fried) except for the yam, and trying to rev up my cardio as the season gets warmer. I'm also going to eat homemade soup and salad for the one lunch a week I go out and donate the money I would have spent to a local soup kitchen/buy food for the local soup kitchen.

[CinnamonGirl]

I'm a relatively new Episcopalian, and I haven't observed the fast you mentioned, Stormy. I will go to the Ash Wednesday service this evening at 6:00.

I'm giving up sweets for Lent.

We (hubby and I) usually go to a Lenten book study. The only really sacrificial thing about it is that I lose about an hour of sleep time on Tuesday nights. While this may not seem like a lot to you, I normally have to get by with five hours of sleep during the week. One other additional thing I do during Lent is to help cook and serve the Passover meal our parish has during the last week of Lent.

[Tom]

Really, the fasting thing is not that big of a deal. It's only 1 day a week, and you can eat all the fish you want. Given the existence of protein powders, there's no reason you even need to miss your target protein intake. Sure it's not optimal for muscle building, but it won't kill you either. :)