Zumba vs. Chicken Fried

All right. Confession time.

My cravings aren't sweet. I don't cave at the sight of doughnuts or candy. Cakes, brownies, and ice cream hold no lasting pleasure for me. Even my mother's chocolate chip cookies, while amazing (indeed, they are the best in the world), do not reduce me to a slavering blob of humanity. No, my palette responds to the savory things of this world -- the cheesy, the greasy, the batter-dipped and trans fat-laden.

Hello there. My name is Becky, and I'm a charter member of Fried Foods Anonymous.

I suppose I'll probably always hold that membership. And while my tastes have started changing this week (something I didn't believe would actually happen), there is still so much weakness when it comes to the fried goodies. Take this past Thursday for example: the week had gone really, really well so far. I'd kept up with my points and even managed a couple 30-minute walks around a major outdoor shopping center here in town. Around 5pm Thursday afternoon, I'd already finished my walk and was browsing around Barnes & Noble for awhile before meeting my sister for Zumba later in the evening. It was supper time, and I knew that I needed to eat enough to get me through an hour of aerobic dancing. (If you've never been to a class before, imagine that Richard Simmons and Ricky Martin had a love child. That's what Zumba is like.)

Anyway.

Mistake #1: I didn't leave the house with a dinner plan already in mind. The Fiber One bar I'd packed in my purse had since been eaten. Given that I was already out, it made no sense to go all the way home for food and then go back out. So there were too many choices.

Mistake #2: My emotions picked out the meal. After finally settling on Chick-fil-a, I walked in intending to get the grilled chicken sandwich and either a cole slaw or fruit cup. But my resolve wavered upon actually looking at the menu. And the smell...

I caved. It was my usual -- a Chick-fil-a sandwich (no pickle) and a medium waffle fries. And it was great...for the first two or three bites. And then a couple things happened that I didn't expect. One, I felt so guilty for caving in to something so trivial. And two, it actually didn't taste as good as I'd thought. Apparently, my tastes have changed more than expected this week. It actually got to where I didn't even want any more after about half the meal was gone.

Mistake #3: I didn't stop when my body said stop. I couldn't throw out good food! I'd paid money for this, and I was going to finish. So I did. But again, it wasn't as good as I'd thought it would be. There was a slimy residue on my tongue, and I don't think I've ever felt dirty after consuming a piece of fried chicken before. It was very disappointing.

My saving grace that night however, was Zumba.

It's really not as horrible as it sounds. My sister, a mutual friend, and I arrived at the church about 10-15 minutes before the start of class. We got our water bottles and found spots together in the (very) crowded gym. I was both excited and nervous. It helped that there was such a variety of people attending this week. I still had visions of high school aerobics where 99% of the people involved had never been overweight. But there was such a range of women -- in both size and age -- that I felt immediately comfortable. And the instructor seemed like a really nice lady. By the time the music started, it was too late to run (even though I did briefly consider it), and so I flailed along as best as I could.

Thankfully, I had a really great time, for all that it had nearly killed me. After an hour of sweating and moving in ways I've never moved before, I'd gained 14 activity points -- effectively beating off that chicken sandwich with the proverbial stick. We hobbled out to the car and joked about how much pain we were in on the way home, but at the same time I wondered if this was really worth that pain. The sweating and burning, the cutting back. Those nights when all I want are cheese puffs or fries but have an apple instead. The worry that maybe I'm not doing enough. That I won't have lost any more weight the next time it's checked. I hope it's all worth this.