Over the course of the summer I’ve managed to shed an unnecessary 30 pounds and for the first time in over a decade, have seen the scale read under 200 pounds.  Without resting on the counter.  It has been an unplanned side-effect of the riding as fitness hadn’t been one of the drivers to keep riding.  I’ll take it though.

I was complaining commenting the other day that some combinations of my riding gear seemed more prone than others to funnel the fall wind down my back when Adam correctly noted that “that’s because your shirt doesn’t fit you anymore – it’s too big”.  He’s right – it doesn’t, and it is.  That’s pretty cool and that it was noticed by someone else is even more rewarding.  In typical Adam fashion however, it should be noted that while I’ve lost 30 pounds, he’s lost in excess of 60.  That’s amazing.  Really.  And it looks good on him.

There’s always the thin end of the wedge lurking just around the corner though.  The thin, deep-fried, sugar-coated edge of the doughnut wedge.  Tomorrow is doughnut day – nemesis day.  It’s threatening to derail my sub-200 progress entirely.  Earlier in the week I wanted some fat-laden dough-circles in the worst way.  They were haunting my every waking moment, driving me to distraction.  And why?  Because I’d had one two on Thursday, followed by some of the home-made cookies in the pantry on Friday, the rest of them on Saturday and Middle-Monster’s icing-coating chocolate birthday cupcakes on Sunday.  And pizza.  And hotdogs.  You see what I mean by the thin end of the sugary wedge?  When it comes to doughnuts, one really is the loneliest number!  Luckily my laziness trumps my appetite – I’m unlikely to cycle to the nearest Tim’s for a doughnut.

My food consumption wasn’t all bad over the weekend however, but it was…unusual.  I was sitting at the table feeling lifeless and worn out after a morning of single-parenting the monsters, trying to sort out this craving I hadn’t been able to satisfy.  Then it dawned on me.  I wanted pickles and not just any pickles.  I wanted Bicks Polskie Ogorki pickles specifically.  What makes that so odd is – I don’t eat pickles.  I don’t not eat them, they’re just not something I ever put in the shopping cart.  I pinged Trace and asked her to pick some up on the way home.  I fished them out of the bag the moment she stepped in the door and proceeded to eat half the jar.  She thinks I might be pregnant.

And then there’s the staple, my favourite, my stand-by.  Smooth peanut butter – oh how I love thee.  In the morning, in the evening, when I’m up or down, peanut butter is the perfect food.  None of this organic, processed-by-envirocherubs-in-an-outdoor-unfactory stuff either.  Gimme the gluco and the hydro and the addiditive and the preservative.  In a kitchen over-flowing with organic whole foods in one stage or another of becoming award-worthy healthy meals, it is the one commercial food I refuse to relinquish.

What about you – what’s your wedge?  What are you unwilling to sacrifice?

If you’ll excuse me I think I’ll go get some PB now…and another pickle.