The First Step

I have a problem, an addiction really. But the first step to change is to admit we have a problem right? Ok, then here it is…I, Theresa, admit I am powerless over cookbooks and that my life has become unmanageable. There, I did it. Phew. What a weight has been lifted. Now I need to lay that at God’s feet and pray for restored sanity.

Seriously, I own WAY too many cookbooks. No one needs as many cookbooks as I own. No one cooks THAT much. Heck, I’m not even that great of a cook in the first place. Geesh. I told myself a couple of months back that that was it….no more cookbooks. I fell off the wagon and bought another one yesterday. WHY!?! Because it promised me low-fat, healthy alternative recipes for all of my favorite foods. Yea right.

I used to buy all the cookbooks that just had umpteen gagillion recipes of scrumptious, decadent culinary temptations. The kind that once you prepared them and experienced them the physical response was almost that of a torrid love affair including the guilt. But, now that I am trying to lose weight and get healthy I have had to store those romance books away and replace them with “light” cooking cookbooks. Yep, no excitement, no guilt and NO pleasure.

My problem doesn’t end with cookbooks. A friend brought up recently about owning thousands of dollars worth of exercise equipment. Ummmmm…..guilty… same thing here. I have dozens of exercise videos, books, weight loss programs, free weights, stepper, treadmill, universal gym, stationary bike, ski machine, pedometer, ankle weights, multiple Wii exercise games and count it….zero…ambition to use any of them. It is like trying to purchase my way into fitness. The only exercise I get is in the shopping. And heck, a lot of that is done online. :p

Now, do you see the contradiction in my life? I am a frugal person who SHOPS for fitness. Hey, but I paid cash. LOL Bob and I have rationalized those expenditures as an investment in our health. Well that investment tanked like the rest of the economic world of late.

Ok, so none of the fault lies with the cookbooks and the exercise equipment. The fault lies with me. I have made the investment in these items with a goal in mind so why haven’t I then acted on it? Perhaps I was hoping to find the goal on a clearance rack at 40% off? Oy. I have these tools available to me. I also have a wonderful support group of ladies that could not be purchased because they are priceless. So, Theresa, what are you going to do? Funny…..I suddenly stopped typing. What is the pause all about Theresa? Afraid of the work maybe? Afraid of that kind of commitment? I’m great at starting things but horrible about finishing…that explains why I’ve been married three times…chuckle, chuckle, snort. What I am going to do is count my blessings that I actually HAVE these tools available to me and stop taking that and my body for granted. If our bodies are temples I’ve been treating mine like an outhouse. Bad, bad Theresa.

So, today, I promise myself to be better to myself. Starting today I will begin to exercise at a minimum of 3 times a week. Any kind of exercise at all as long as it is moving and for at least 45 minutes. That includes dancing. I’m the type that gets that groove going with some good tunes and grabs the hairbrush to use as a mic and bee-bops around. OH DON’T ACT LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER DONE THAT! That is FUN exercise. AND, I will look into my new cookbook and pick a recipe to use for tonight. It may not be a torrid, guilt filled love affair but I’ve grown rather fond of a stable, predictable romance anyway. It is far more long lasting.