Ramadan 2016, Day 5 – Hotel Iftar

Yesterday afternoon a friend called and invited me to join a bunch of people at Iftar at a hotel, one of those ones with the lavish buffets. I went and just kept telling myself to take it easy and not stuff myself, something that is not easy to do when you break your fast surrounded by food.

So we all sat and chatted while we waited for the announcement of the end of the fast, drank some water, ate a few dates and some soup, then my friends went off to pray before returning for the meal. When they got back we wandered around to see what was on offer: there was a huge salad area, a variety of sushi, pasta station, lamb, roast beef, tons of traditional entrees, a huge dessert area with crepe station, all sorts of cookies, cakes and treats, a chocolate fountain . . . OM NOM NOM NOM.

*sigh*, I wound up stuffing myself.

I had been pretty good so far this Ramadan about not going overboard with food but, dang it, it's really difficult for me to not go crazy when I break my fast at a buffet, especially when there's so many tasty things available. My stomach is clearly stronger than my mind. The only minor upside is at least we had to leave just before 8 so my friends could go to tarawih prayer, not that an hour or so wasn't plenty of time to pack the food in. I joined my friends at a majlis after the prayer and while there was plenty of snacks and treats around I didn’t have any just because I was so stuffed from iftar.

The struggle to not gain weight continues. I'm sure I will be going to at least a couple of more hotel iftars and sohours over the course of the month. Next time I'll try loading up on salad first.