Day 115: Thin Mints

Since arriving in Herat, I have been pretty consistent about working out. My usual routine is to wake up around 5AM, call Sue and the kids, and then go run on the treadmill for a few miles. I usually follow this by a some sit-ups, a few minutes on the weight machine, and some stretching.


The exercise has been good. The diet, however, has been poor. For example, the other day I received a package from home in which my mom had sent a box (16 count) of rice crispy treats as well as some Werther’s candies. The box of rice crispy treats was gone within 24 hours. The candies were finished off by the next day. Add to that a bowl of ice cream and a cookie at dinner, and suddenly, all of that time in the gym was doing little to shrink that tire around my belly. If anything it was growing larger. Now don’t get me wrong, I think a little extra cushion around the mid section is alright. It happens to the best of us right? But right now, I don’t have a good excuse to let it keep growing. The gym is next to my room, I sleep well every night (no kids to wake me up), and I have plenty of time. The only real excuse I have for not tightening up the abs is a lack of effort and self control.

Anyway, I came to the conclusion that I needed to get control of my life. So I put together a spreadsheet to track my daily food intake, running distance, number of sit-ups, current weight, etc. There is an individual column labeled “treats”. My goal is to write “none” in this box as much as possible. Yesterday I was perfect. I ate well, I exercised, and had no treats. Today, I woke up, ran 3 miles, lifted some weights, and ate a healthy breakfast. At lunch I was feeling weak and almost broke down and grabbed some dessert. However, at the last minute, I used some self control and had an orange instead.

After lunch, on my way back to the office, a colleague asked me to help carry back some packages from the post office. The packages were filled with box after box of girl scout cookies. There were 3 cases of thin mints. Now Sue can attest that my ability to resist thin mints is limited at best. I remember well last year being asked a few times, “where are the rest of the thin mints?”. My responses ranged from, “uh....” (while looking dumb), to “where are those kids?”, to “what would you like me to make for dinner, sweetheart.”


It was the ultimate challenge...thin mints vs. self control. The battle raged within me for some time. Finally, I found the courage to walk away from the cookies and instead I grabbed some bottled water. Victory, I thought...well at least for now.

The experience has caused me to add another element to the side of my blog entitled “No Treat Tracker”. It lists how many days I have been strong and avoided treats. It is mostly for my own motivation but you might find it interesting to follow along and see how long I can make it before the battle of the thin mints is lost.