I made it!

I didn’t realise that there was such a thing as blogger’s guilt – it’s the same sort of feeling you get when you haven’t replied to a chatty email, or haven’t called a good friend in ages. I have once again been neglecting my few devoted cyberspace followers, and I once again apologise. If it’s any sort of excuse, I have been working a lot, and I did spend one evening when I fully intended to blog indulging a bad mood instead.

You may be pleased to hear that I made it all the way through the Ramadan experiment without cracking once! The last two days were spent at work, so I didn’t focus on food so much, but I will admit that by the end of the last few days I was starting to feel a bit fuzzy headed and out of it – the way I always feel as a warning that if I don’t eat soon a faint is coming on. My Muslim friend came round on the second to last night and cooked me a lovely big dinner and we had a good long chat about how I had found it. He was a bit jealous I think, that I got to stop in 24 hours, and he still has a week or two to go. “You gonna do the whole month with me next year?” he asked, only half joking, and I had to admit that I didn’t really relish the idea. It was a fascinating week and I learned a lot, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing to inflict it upon myself again; I have a whole new level of respect for anyone that can and does keep it up the whole month, however, and I wish him the best of luck.

On the final day I had a two hour gap between jobs, during which a group of us Debenhams folk decided to go to Wetherspoons and get a big pub lunch. I was VERY tempted to give up early, especially since my breakfast had once again been very small and long ago. Some of them already knew about my experiment, while others were very confused when I just ordered water from the bar (bottled, with ice, may as well treat myself). So we got to talking about it. They were all curious about why I had chosen to undertake this and how I had found it, and seemed impressed with my efforts and dedication. “I couldn’t do it for love nor money,” said one of the girls just before the waiter came round and held a plate of scrumptious looking garlic cheese bread right under my nose...

The thing I was asked about most over the course of the week was weight loss, usually by my female friends, who were clearly working on the logic that less food must mean less weight. Weirdly enough, I actually gained! Not anything significant, but I weigh myself every morning as a habit, and it was defiantly creeping up incrementally. I suppose this is down to big meals late at night, or my body absorbing more from my meals because of the gaps between them, as well as less exercise due to the office job. But then my weight fluctuates anyway, so it might have just been a coincidence.

The other effect it had on me was on my wallet – it’s amazing how far my weekly budget can go when it’s not being spent on chai tea lattes here, a brownie there and expensive fizzy drinks. (I’m defiantly a Volvic convert, and will be choosing it over Pepsi more often in the future.) Of course I was still eating my evening meals, but I had stocked up the week before, so very little had to be bought in. And with less snacks consumed throughout the day, I had to spend less on them as well.

Apart from that, I’ve just been working and chilling really. Today is the first day off I’ve had all week, and tomorrow will be off as well, but after that I’m running around again until Friday! Oh to be young, working and sociable! I’m hoping to spend tomorrow letter-writing (to release some of that guilt), so if you’re expecting one keep an eye out for it, and if you’d like one let me know! Until next time guys, hopefully it won’t be long!