The battle with ice cream, cookies and pies

     There is a battle of the bulge raging here: me vs. desserts.
     At our seniors residence facility -- we have been here seven-plus months -- the buffet includes all the desserts you can eat, or ever would want to eat.
     Uh, I love ice cream, cheesecake, cookies, pies, cobblers, chocolate, whatever sweets ... but mostly ice cream. I have been told these things contain calories beyond measure.
     Don't love checking my weight on the scales these days.  Don't love knowing that my shirts and pants fit a little tighter.
     Now a member of the "Trinity Ten" -- that is, the 10 pounds people gain in their first year here. And still almost five months to go.
     What to do? Diet? Are you kidding? 
     Exercise? Yes. Doing at least two classes a day -- either water aerobics, yoga/stretching or strength training -- and some days that includes the six-blocks walk to and from the Downtown YMCA.
     Plus, a couple of lengthy walks a week, less than what was an everyday walk (and had been for some 20 years). 
     Honestly, my feet are beginning to bother me some. But I still feel pretty darned good overall.
     Don't feel good when I check the weight. Have I mentioned that?
     Eat smarter? Sure. Less bread (only wheat bread, not white), very little butter, less potatoes (they give us so many choices here), less pasta (aw, heck, love pasta), less pizza (love that, too).
     More advocados, sardines (yes, sardines), salmon. Fruits (and I love so many) aren't bad, if limited. Don't want term limits there, however.
     More salads would be/should be good, right? How boring.

Here is where the ice cream is available daily ...

     About the ice cream ... two big containers every day here, self-serve. Mint chocolate chip, coffee and butter pecan are my favorite flavors, but the vanilla here is so good.
     Chocolate, or a chocolate/vanilla mix, will do. (Nothing will ever beat the hopscotch we devoured a few decades ago. Ask my wife and my friend John about that.) 
     Here they do have flavors I don't care for, so on those days, I'm good (except vanilla is an every-day choice). So the temptation is there always.
     Do they really expect me to skip the ice cream and the desserts? Really?
     There is a somewhat lesser alternative: yogurt. That also is a choice here at mealtime, a slightly better choice. But still, the calories ...
     The yogurt, however, has to be ordered; it is not self-serve. So at least it has its limits.
     (Save my yogurt for the strawberry-banana mix that turns into smoothies in our blender. But even trying to cut back on those.)

... and here is where we are locked out (thank goodness)

     Well, one good thing happened. Soon after the new dining room, the serving staff began putting a lock on the ice-cream drawers -- after lunch, and again after dinner. So, overnight it is locked up, off-limits.
     Hmmmm. Before that lock arrived, guess the security people saw me going down there for a couple of midnight ice-cream runs. OK, it happened.
     But no more. So those extra calories are no longer an option.
     The personal goal here is to lose that Trinity Ten. It requires willpower, which -- honestly -- is in short supply. 
     It requires fighting temptation. Which means passing up those dessert areas, not even looking in ice cream's direction.
     Need to wrap up this blog because it is time to head for yoga at the Y. And when I get back, it will be time to eat.
     Oh-oh. 
     And then check my weight? Forget it. I don't want to count to ten.