Live,Laugh,LoveLife

As I was thinking about the title of my blog, I decided that the reason I chose it is not because I am an eternal optimist, I just always feel that any situation can always be worse than what is actually happening.  For example, I am in a constant state of Battle of the Bulge.  Now, I know this was a historical battle and I mean no disrespect, but my bulge battle is personal.  It is personal with my constant cravings, endless “watching what I eat,” and conversations with others fighting their own personal “Battle of the Bulge.”   My mom often says,” you’re at that age.”  But, what if I don’t want to be at that age?  I really want my twenty year old metabolism back.  But wait, that would mean I would have to be twenty again.  Do I really want to be twenty again.? No, not really.  I am enjoying life.  Middle age has its advantages.  For instance, I know for sure that I can walk into a crowded restaurant or bar with girl friends and will definitely have a night out with the girls.  No one is going to bother me.  I also know that the waiter is being nice to us because he wants a good tip.  No pretenses.  Additionally, at my age, I can go to the gym in my baggy sweatpants if I want instead of a cute workout outfit because, let’s face it, no one is going to care.  So, after a night out, which ends at about 9:30p.m. nowadays, is often followed by a trip to the gym the next day, because, after all,  a night out comes wih dieter’s regret ,and, even the best diets recommend exercise  One only has to look at any  social media site to see countless diets toting their benefits for weight loss.  The most recent diet, and my favorite, is the chocolate cake for breakfast diet.  Time magazine recently posted an article that chocolate cake before 9:00 a.m. was actually good for the waistline and health.  The article claimed the sugar is a jump-start of energy and the flavonoids are beneficial.    Because the chocolate cake is eaten before 9:00 a.m., the calories are burned easily throughout the day.  This is my kind of diet.  So off I went into the kitchen to make a batch of dark chocolate brownies ( I know it is not a cake but I was thinking “transfer” and would receive the same effect)  to be eaten before 9:00a.m. the following morning.  As the brownies were baking, I kept thinking how wonderful it will be to have such a delicious treat with my morning coffee. Delayed gratification would be so, well, gratifying.  Twenty-eight  minutes later the dark chocolate brownies emerged from the oven.  They smelled absolutely heavenly to this chocoholic.  I began thinking about how I would enjoy one each morning for a few days.  My girlfriend, Vicki, often joked about  how I used to bring a chocolate treat to lunch every day years past, well I was so anxious to start the tradition again, but now for breakfast instead of lunch.  So, as I stood over those brownies waiting for them to cool, convincing myself that it must have merit if it was printed by Time magazine. I decided that one little taste for quality control  couldn’t hurt.  Because, after all, even the best diet emphasizes portion control.  So I tasted a brownie, gave in, tasted another, and reminded myself that any diet is only as good as the will power of the person adhering to it.  Ahhh, will power is highly over rated.