Of Chocolates and Will Power

This chocolate has remained on my little chair-side table for the last month and has become a symbol of sorts. For I have been on a bit of a diet.

I say "a bit" because I am going slowly, and it doesn't feel like much of a diet. I have determined that I will have to be on it for a long time to see much in the way of results. It's more like conscious eating, really.

I asked my brother-in-law how he managed to lose weight so easily. Although he never runs to fat as I do, he does seem to have about a 20 pound range. I will see him one time with a little bit of a belly, but he will be as thin as a rail next time.

He told me how he does it — by counting calories.

Despite being on several diets in my life, I have never done that. But it's pretty easy now. If I want to know how many calories in an apple, I can simply type "calories apple" in my space bar, hit Enter and get this result (right). It's not exactly rocket surgery. If it's a search of a specific name brand, various calorie-counting websites will pop up, and one must go to all of the trouble of clicking more than once.

So, I pretty well know after a little internet sleuthing how to keep breakfast to 400 calories and the same with lunch. This allows me to keep my daily intake to something close to 1500 calories. A quick search also informs me that at my age, weight and lifestyle, I will expend about 2000 calories per day, so as long as I keep under that, I will lose weight, albeit slowly. Information is so easy to find now, and that makes the process a lot easier that it used to be — for me anyway.

So, what's the point of the chocolate photo? (Both images are a result of the same snap processed differently.)

Oh, it's just a symbol of sorts: of willpower or what have you. It's just there as a reminder. Mind you, if it were a bag of chips, I would pretty well have lost my mind by now. I like almost all kinds of junk food, including chocolate, but potato chips just about send me over the brink.

Mind you, I still indulge in a square or two of dark chocolate on most days. It's actually good for a body, and I find that it both satisfies and seems to suppress the appetite. I've worked the calories into the equation, so I don't consider it cheating.

I learn to live with the reality that I will never exactly be skinny. My taste buds plus my almost necessarily sedentary lifestyle see to that. But in a couple of months (I started well before Christmas but also took a Christmas break), I have gone down a pant size, and every little bit helps.

So, that's why I have posted a picture or two of a chocolate.