I'm finally making an effort to diet and lose about 20lbs which I've packed on since getting married.

Problem is that living and working at home and having 8 other people in the house there is always food in the fridge and the freezer.  When I was hungry I got into the habit of getting up from my desk and eating something.  Then come family mealtimes I'd eat again.

When I lived in Australia and was single my fridge was empty.  I lived in tinned Tuna and Sweetcorn.  Only when I was really hungry would I bother to eat because it was an effort to go to a local diner or buy anything.  My sloth, and lack of easy access to food, kept me thin.

It's going well so far, but my method has been simply to tell myself that feeling slightly hungry is normal and re-learn the discipline of waiting until mealtimes to eat.  It has not been particularly difficult for me because I am a determined person when I latch onto a goal.

At mealtimes, I have a moderate serving about 50-70% less than I used to eat.  I leave the table, still slightly hungry, and go and do something like rewire a lamp or sewing to repair the kids clothes or clean their shoes, or some other household task.  For about 30 mins I want to eat something else, but I fight through this, then after 30 minutes I don't think about it much at all.

I don't eat at all between the last meal of the day and bedtime.

Now I am moderately hungry but it is not driving me to distraction.  I made a coffee this morning and had a square of chocolate.  Before I would have 6 squares.

I've lost 10lbs over the last 3 weeks.

V2 did away with fish on Friday.

The 1983 Code of Canon Law specifies the obligations of Latin Rite Catholics [Eastern Rite Catholics have their own penitential practices as specified by the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches].

    Canon 1250  All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the entire Church.

    Canon 1251  Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Canon 1252  All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence; all adults are bound by the law of fast up to the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance.

    Can. 1253  It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.

The Church, therefore, has two forms of official penitential practices - three if the Eucharistic fast before Communion is included.

Abstinence  The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Moral theologians have traditionally considered this also to forbid soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted, as are animal-derived products such as gelatin, butter, cheese and eggs, which do not have any meat taste.

On the Fridays outside of Lent the U.S. bishops conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the US to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing.

Any quotes from Saints or bible in regards to food and moderation.