Sweet Temptations

Despite Cher's opinions to the contrary, getting older does have its benefits. At least it does for me. A former people pleaser, I no longer obsess about gaining everyone's approval. While I can't escape my natural tendency to worry, a few decades of experience have made it far easier to keep things in perspective. Best of all, I feel like I've learned a thing or two on the way to all these wrinkles. So, okay. Those are the good things. What's not so great is my body's insistence on displaying every calorie I ingest in places that are decidedly further south than they used to be.

Don't hate me but I used to be one of those people who could eat pretty much anything she wanted without the needle of the scale moving much. I should have appreciated that gift more. I should have embraced my good fortune before it ran out.

Most of the day, I'm in control. I'll make myself oatmeal or shredded wheat for breakfast. Then, I'll heat up a bowl of soup or toss a nice salad for lunch. So far, so good. Dinner's not much of a problem either. I've cut back on red meat, ditched the bread and loaded up on veggies. No, meal's are not usually the problem. It's when the sun goes down that my food demons come out to play. Take tonight, for example. All it took was a grocery store flyer with a picture of a chocolate chip cookie for me to pull out my trusty Kitchen Aid and mix up a batch of warm, gooey disks of temptation. Oh, I said they were a belated birthday treat for my husband but he and I both knew better. There was no doubt where those puppies were headed once they cleared that oven door. A cup of tea and one episode of Project Runway later, I had consumed seven of them. Seven.

So, now I'm about to sit on a giant rubber ball, make my way through one hundred crunches and twenty minutes of weight lifting in the hopes of undoing what I just did. There's got to be an easier way. Throwing out my mixer? Cancelling my newspaper subscription? No. I'm just going to have to avoid the combination of television and a comfy couch. Going to bed earlier might just do the trick. I wonder how my hubby will feel about an eight o'clock bedtime. At least, he'll finally be able to get his fair share of the cookies.