Although, strictly speaking, this isn’t a religion blog, two important dates in the Catholic liturgical calendar are coming up this week: Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and Ash Wednesday. And Ash Wednesday kicks off the Lenten liturgical season. Both days have implications for Catholics on a weight-loss program, especially if you’re from a more traditional parish or community that observes the pre-Vatican II practice of fasting all 40 days. For non-Latin Rite Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant communions that observe Lent consult with your priest, deacon, or minister on the rules pertaining to your church. (Once you find out, let me know!)
If you celebrate Mardi Gras, it falls under the “diet holiday” rule, especially since the next day you’re gonna pay for it. On the “holiday rule”, you try to eat as you normally do during the day so that, when the party comes, you’re not overly hungry. But when the party comes, don’t worry about tracking the numbers for one night — just enjoy yourself. If you don’t normally do Mardi Gras, you can still give yourself a night off. After all, you’re saying “farewell to meat” for the next 40 days!
Fun Fact: The last time I successfully dieted, in 2009, I started on Ash Wednesday. Although I went to bed very hungry, I felt good about keeping myself honest. It was a good start.
Who has to fast and abstain?
By Canon 1252 of the Code of Canon Law, Latin-rite Catholics from the age of 15 onward are to abstain from meat (except for fish and seafood) every Friday, even though the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (now the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) lifted the penalty of sin in 1966. Abstinence is still required on all Fridays during Lent as well as Ash Wednesday. So now is a good time to experiment with all the fish and seafood recipes you’ve been wanting to try! Meatless pasta dishes also come into play but beware of the carbs.
However, the tricky part is fasting. Fasting is required for Americans 18 – 59 years old, except for people who are ill or for whom fasting could be dangerous, such as type-1 diabetics. According to the USCCB, “When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal.” That rules out snacking as well. So, essentially you can have about 2/3rds of your usual intake on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Unless you belong to a traditionalist community or you’re very close to your goal weight, I don’t recommend trying to fast all 40 days. When you’re obese, it’s tough enough to eat 500 – 900 kcal less than your weight demands without cutting another 500 – 600 out for several weeks. One challenge at a time.
How to budget those calories?
The Lose It! app automatically distributes your daily calorie budget according to a standard formula: 1) Breakfast – 20%; 2) Lunch – 25%; 3) Dinner – 30%; 4) Snacks – 25%. So on a total budget of 2,000 kcal., you could have up to 400 kcal for breakfast, 500 kcal each for lunch and snacks, and 600 kcal for dinner. But note that breakfast and lunch together are 45% of your total day’s calories, about 50% more than dinner. So you have to scale those two down, scale dinner up, or both.
First, though, you have to derive your fasting total budget. Let’s use the 2,000 kcal example:
F = 2/3B = 2/3(2,000) ≈ 1,333
Now, breakfast and lunch together have to be less than dinner, so they must be less than 50% of the 1,333. If we assign 55% (733 kcal) of the fasting budget to dinner, this leaves us 45% to split between breakfast and lunch. Let breakfast be 20% as above (267 kcal) and lunch 25% (333 kcal). This actually gives you more for dinner than on your regular budget, which kinda-sorta makes up for the light breakfast and lunch, not to mention the lack of snacks. So your fasting budget distribution should be: 1) Breakfast – 20%; 2) Lunch – 25%; 3) Dinner – 55%.
“Hey, Tony,” you say, “the rules don’t specifically say to cut a third of your calories out! What if you just drop the snacks?” First, the third off is implicit in the idea that you’re only supposed to eat the equivalent of two meals rather than three. Second, the whole point of a fast is to deprive yourself of food in penance, not simply re-budget how much you eat at any meal. If you want to be a bunkhouse lawyer, it also doesn’t specifically say “no snacks.” So you could have all your calories … but then, you wouldn’t be fasting. Never start a fast by rationalizing your way into eating more food.
Final Notes
Ash Wednesday is supposed to be a day of prayer and penitence, so you should avoid unnecessary activity. For activities you can’t avoid, be sure to adjust your budget and meals accordingly. Drinking lots of water will help stave off hunger pangs. Also, if your country or ethnic or family tradition has the largest meal earlier in the day, swap the above numbers around to suit it.
If you’re interested in traditional fasting, check out this article on the ember days by my Catholic Stand colleague Nicholas LaBanca, as well as this fairly comprehensive article from the traditionalist Fish Eaters blog. For Lenten meal ideas, check out Allrecipes.com, as well as Mr. Food and Catholic Cuisine; you don’t have to settle for Long John Silver’s or Kraft Macaroni ’n Cheese. Also, check your favorite sites for light vegetarian and seafood dishes. Just remember: Fasting twice a year is not nearly as strict a regime as many of the great saints underwent!
[Correction: When published, the post erroneously cited Canon 1251 on the abstinence requirement and posted an upper limit of 59. The provision is in Canon 1252 and there is no upper age limit.]
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