Today is Ash Wednesday. The begining of Lent.Who will join me in fasting basically you can have one full meal a day without meat, and then two smaller meals that if combined together will still be smaller than the one full meal. Drink water only. And pray for longer periods than normal.
Amen
+1
Already given up alcohol.
Fish on Fridays, too.
On Lenten Fridays, I fast from about 8 to 5 pm.
I was raised Catholic and I would end up in the ER by noon if I tried that whole fasting thing now.
The emphasis was on āno meatā and āno snacksā when I was a kid. Itās not possible for me to get enough protein without eating meat (or unreasonable portions of lentils and chickpeas) and I need to snack all day to keep my blood sugar steady. Again, or I would end up in the ER.
Also, the amount of times āno meatā justified a giant pot of mac and cheese for dinnerā¦ and apparently my momās favorite lent fasting dinner was fluffernutters (on wonderbread of course!) as a kid. My parents were fantastic role models of how one sits in quiet contemplation and prayer while abstaining from meat and delicious foods during lentā¦
Sign me up. Iām on two meals a day and zero praying myself as my ānormalā routine so I think with some minor adjustments I can do lent. No more passive waiting for an angel of god to come into my life and cast down enormous satan for me. I could do jujitsu on him directly myself. Thats it, no chocolate + hit the vegetarian buffet. Seriously though, I think this is a good idea. I did an extended walk over the break thinking that it would shift my belly but absolutely zero difference. So the adjustment on the intake side might be the thing.
Yeah, donāt do that if youāre diabetic or something I agree.
The general theme is just to live humbly and healthy for lent.
Iām in Brazil right now. For some reason the Marti Gras celebrations go through Wednesday.
I will join you.
Praying can be similar to meditating it helps in life I think. I actually pray to calm me down, think about any wrongs I may have done and try not to do them again (Repentence). I also thank God for everything that went right. Iām a theist so I pray not meditate but I doubt the two are that far off each other.
Ok so day 1 prayer was like. OK, yo God, what should I do now? God is like: tidy the house. Iām like OK that sounds reasonable, thanks God! Its pretty good cause now I donāt need to motivate myself to tidy the house. So far so good with the praying.
Iāll probably get around to the āsorry for the things Iāve doneā at some point, after God sorts out the more immediately practical day to day logistics 
Well I donāt want to go to deep into praying techniques on this thread , as there is praying and there is praying.
I have two basic kinds (Well three but I wonāt go into that one.)
The first is ritualistic praying like for example āOur Father who art in heavenā¦ā
The second is like what you did , just general conversation, giving thanks etc . And, I would say cleaning the house is very much day to day logistics.
Only until midday 
Found a few years ago that the Rosary does this for me.
The priest at Ash Wednesday mass mentioned Reconciliation and how it relates to ashes given, and he hoped most peopleās last Confession wasnāt in eighth grade.
More priests are reminding church-goers of this important Sacrament.
I have a Rosary . Iām not actually Catholic. Iām non denominational. I think the Rosary is very useful.
For anyone partaking in Lent. So far I have not drunk alcohol, and skipped lunch. In fact I just have breakfast, skip lunch and salted crackers for dinner. I do have eggs at breakfast, with high fiber oats ļ¼ and non dairy milk.
I just accidently drank some tea which Iām trying not to during lent due to the caffeine.
Anyone else ?
So I guess this is the second day of lent. I got back to God with a progress report on the house tidying and God recognised my progress and said keep going. I mentioned what the next direction would be and God said to do one thing at a time, but flagged the smoking as next to go. I had given up successfully since October, and was even contemplating the next step which was to give up the coffee. However I relapsed during an emotionally challenging situation which I experienced during the CNY. I need to renew my resolve to break from the smoky Satan again. God tells me that this is a no brainer and that the help of God will be forthcoming as I sit through the cravings again.
I want to know, is there any expectation to follow lent, and what spiritual or physical benefit can I get from lent?
March 28-30 will be important dates for those observing lent this year.
If you want to be a stickler for the rules, starting yesterday, fasting and the no meat policy only strictly applies every Friday until March 29. Any days out of those in these next 40 days, you are free to fast or lessen meat intake.
As a Catholic growing up in the Philippines, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Black Saturday are pretty interesting and solemn days of lent observance. We call this the Holy Week. Itās also during these 3 consecutive days that we do not eat meat, except seafood. Old folks, kids, and those with medical conditions are exempted. I think itās pretty nice that as a kid, I grew up with this kind of practice that for 3 days I canāt have chocolates/junk food or even drink soda. I was forced to eat veggies, fish, fruits, and keep quiet. We werenāt even allowed to play outdoors and had to watch a lot of Superbook reruns and bible stuff.
So when Easter Sunday finally comes, it really does feel like Christmas again. You can eat anything you want (like a cheat day lol) and all the noise is back!
No real exact path/expectation to follow, as most Christians know what happens to Jesus during his final week (starting with Palm Sunday) before dying on the cross for all mankindās sins and then rising from the dead.
Youāll get more spiritual benefit out of Lent as you read how it transpires, although fasting may help some people lose some weight, depending on how often itās done.
I think lent stems from the same origins as spring festival. It is a clearing of the ground that allows rebirth. In the Christian religion it leads up to the sacrifice and rebirth of Jesus which brings spiritual salvation. As a kid for me growing up the main point was that you do not eat any sweets during lent. Then at Easter you get an avalanche of chocolate eggs: whatās to argue there? Overall it wasnāt as important as Christmas but it was definitely on the calendar, and we were always told - not very convincingly - that it was in fact more important than Christmas. Perhaps you could call it the Christmas of older people: an opportunity to rediscover the essence by shedding the accumulated clutter.
āWe have tested and tasted too much, lover-
Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder.
But here in the Advent-darkened room
Where the dry black bread and the sugarless tea
Of penance will charm back the luxury
Of a childās soul, weāll return to Doom
The knowledge we stole but could not useā
Itās lunch time now and my body is starting to crave lunch. Iāll have a salt cracker and water. Itās ridiculous how weak is my resolve but Iāll check in tomorrow morning.
People who obser
People who observe periods of fasting like Lent, Ramadan, various Hindu and Buddhist special periods of abstinence, often report heightened awareness of the pitfalls of materialism and the benefits of refocusing your life.