Are you giving anything up for Lent?

I have never followed the practise of giving anything up for Lent before, mainly because I am not religious and also because as soon as I deprive myself of anything I want it more

Instead I have often committed to something i.e. one year I committed to be a better Weight Watcher and track my meals for the next 40 days, another year I committed to being more active and walk/run 100 miles over the 40 days of Lent

But with the London Marathon fast approaching (74 sleeps) and my weight yo-yoing the same few lbs I have decided things need a shake up, and while I really do not like the idea of giving things up, I actually think it will do me good, I seem to be very all or nothing where food is concerned recently, eat like an angel for 6 days then eat my body weight in chocolate on the 7th

So this year I have decided to commit to giving up 3 things

1. Alcohol – I can hear many people gasping but for me this will be the easier of the 3 as I rarely drink and my friends know I am on a mad night out ban until after the marathon
2. Chocolate – I can’t believe I am even considering this, I have decided its just chocolate I can’t have i.e. a Galaxy or Dairy Milk, chocolate biscuits and cake, I am still allowed things like protein bars, protein mug cakes etc, chocolate mousse as I would never usually accept these as a good enough substitute for chocolate
3. Fizzy drinks – I am a diet pepsi addict, but need to replace my addiction with water as I am still struggling to drink even a litre of water a day

I hate sharing pictures like this one but I really wanted to record my current shape somewhere & I know a lot less people read my blog than will see my Instagram page, hopefully at the end of Lent there will be a dramatic change (like the BodyCoach before and after pics) and I will be a bit less aprehensive about posting the pictures, although I can’t see me ever wanting to post a photo of me in a bikini or in underwear anytime soon

Have you ever given up anything for Lent, how did you get on, or are you giving up something this year