Excessive

Excessive

It is not unusual for me to set conflicting goals for myself. Since my Peace Corps Days, one of the items on my list of ‘must dos’ for my visits home has always included: eat a tub of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream in one sitting. My ‘must do’ list is indelibly written, so this trip is no exception. Besides the necessary family business I needed to take care of, my main goal on this trip is to not gain 5 kilos (11 pounds)—like I did during last summer’s visit. Trying to get back in shape after my last stint in the US was so hard, and I do not want to go through the pain of shedding that many kilos again… at least not so soon. See the dilemma I’ve been facing since last Wednesday? Eat Ben and Jerry’s. Not gain 5 kilos. I’ve got to achieve both objectives. Failure is not an option. See how difficult I make my life.

In order to achieve my healthier goal, I’ve been hitting the road every day. I’ve put in some decent mileage since I arrived last Wednesday, including a good, long 20km run yesterday morning. Today I added the gym to my list of activities. I almost talked myself out of the gym visit. In fact, I did; I parked outside of the gym, but started the car again and left—briefly changing my mind. However, after intense negotiations (with myself), I prevailed and convinced myself to go back to the gym. (Complicated, I know, but that’s a usual decision-making process for me.) The compromise: if I had a good workout, I would go to the Piggly Wiggly and buy that pint of Ben and Jerry’s, go home and eat the whole thing while watching episodes of He-Man and She-Ra I downloaded (for free!!!) from iTunes today.

That’s exactly what I did. Ben and Jerry’s Mud Pie coupled with 1983 animation make a fantastic evening. Now that I can tick that item off of my ‘must do’ list, I’ll go down to the next item: pecan waffles from Waffle House. (See how difficult I make my life.) I’ll give myself a couple of days and a few more runs to burn off the 1080 calories from today’s success.