The Damage is Done

Dessert in France

So many people begin the new year with serious diets and/or exercise regimens. I have the philosophy of easing into it. It’s all part of my wish-o-lutions as opposed to resolutions. And I know the bounty of food left over from New Year’s Eve isn’t going to disappear overnight and I cannot, in good conscience, throw it away.

So we portion out the chocolates and the wine over the days between New Year’s Day and Martin Luther King Holiday, which we are observing on Monday, January 17. That makes this the weekend to tally up pounds gained and the appropriate way to address them.

Apprehensively I approach the bathroom scale. Wearing nothing but a thong, I put each foot gingerly upon it, as if I will weigh less if I sneak up on it. I am expecting the number to be huge. In my mind I am recounting every meal that I have reveled in, beginning with the two weeks I spent in France in October. The bread and cheese and desserts, oh my! Then I work my way through four family birthdays in November along with Thanksgiving which runs right into the start of Christmas and holiday parties. Visions of canapes, country ham biscuits, duck, brisket, fried chicken, coconut cake, chocolate truffles, creamy salads, all flash through my brain as if a slide show from the Food Network. This is bookended with New Year’s Eve and champagne overload. Oooh la la!

My scale is digital and the numbers pop up, ever increasing, until settling on the final accounting of my heavier self. I am not displeased. Yes I have gained, but only five pounds. Given that I gained two during my trip, that only leaves three gained during the holidays. Not so terribly bad, not nearly as much as expected.

But it must be dealt with!

The weather has been too cold, icy and snowy for outdoor activity. In fact, today is the first day in over a week that we are expected to reach temperatures out of the 30’s and it will only be in the 40’s (Fahrenheit). However, that should be sufficient to sneak in a walk. A little less wine, fewer sweets, more protein and vegetables and perhaps dragging out a few workout DVD’s here and there, and I should have those pounds shed pretty quickly.

Then I can work on the extra pounds I wish to lose that I’ve been collecting since I turned forty. Those are the ones that really bother me, the crafty, resistant rascals that don’t want to budge. They like it here, have invited their friends over. They like it too and refuse to leave. The strangers, the five new guys, they won’t be difficult to kick out. But the ones that have made a home here will require a little more work to remove. I’ll keep you posted on the results as they happen. Hopefully, I’ll have nothing but positive news to report.