I have been dessert free for almost a week now.  I’d say I was sugar-free but that would be stretching it.  Being dessert free is a rather large accomplishment for me as I have been shoveling handfuls of cookies into my mouth daily (hourly) for weeks.  I am now into the fat pants. Actually, they are even uncomfortable.  I was just feeling really good about sweatpants when a friend reminded me of a Seinfeld episode where George Costanza said that wearing sweatpants in public is like saying you’ve given up.  I’m not quite there, thank goodness.

Back in November I was writing about needing to get back into shape.  And I was doing REALLY well – for about a month until Thanksgiving came and I convinced myself that one, well, maybe two, slices of pie wouldn’t be that bad.  Then the annual Christmas cookies arrived from Mom (God Bless her!) and my daughter wanted to make our own – for tradition sake, of course.  There went the best of intentions.  As my friend Lisa Parry recently said, “Have you ever talked yourself into a bad habit that you know isn’t good for you? (Justified it)  Then when you’re ready to let it go you get someone else to talk you back out of it.  What funny creatures we are!”

I am not sure why I am the type that needs to let things get really out of hand before I’ll do something about it.  I’ve had people I’ve coached ask me how many times will it take before they learn their lesson and all I can reply is “as long as it takes”.  In any situation the choice is between what offers the greater reward or the least pain.  As long as my pants were comfortable, I could “justify” one more cookie.  Thank goodness I decided to stop before the sweats got too tight!

So this week the desserts.  Next week the breads.  I have to play these mind games with myself, taking out one thing a week, or I start to panic.  I could do the desserts just fine and don’t anticipate the bread being too bad.  And if I keep moving in this positive direction, in a few months I’ll be strutting the beach in my bikini again.  Hmmm…that in itself makes me grateful its winter!