Candy Coated Fatty Reality

I've always joked that I didn't have a sweet tooth... I had 6. I still stand by that claim today. I've morphed from having 6 sweet "toothes" to a full fledged Junk Food Junkie. My weight has steadily fluctuated over the years, from skinny in high school, to pudgy (right now) to down right huge (just after college til about a year after moving to Edmonton.) An irritating realm of my reality is the fact that I have skinny potential... If I stopped eating so much junk! (When I graduated from high school, I was 123 pounds... I don't think I've hit that mark since. I'm trying though! I hate the spare tire around my middle and feeling like the Michelin Man when I look in the mirror! I'm not as huge as I used to be, but I'm a few pounds off my graduating weight goal!)

Fast food - I'm not as bad as I used to be. My main fixation is Wendy's. I prefer their burgers to most of the Fast Food Nation. (McDonald's, hands down has the best fries - just my opinion.) Frosties - who doesn't like a malt??? (They used to have a malt shop in one of the malls where I grew up. So sad when they shut the doors.) I don't know why, but when I lived in the Kootney region of BC, there wasn't a single Wendy's to be found. How sad was I at the time??? Great for my waistline though =0) I've decided to try to get more healthy, so I've scaled back the consumption of Wendy's. I also love a good gravy... Thankfully, Wendy's doesn't carry gravy. I've worked at not one, but two, A&W locations... One was located in Creston, BC just on the side of the highway. If you ever venture in, check to see if they still have the plaque with my name displayed on it. There was a "mystery shopper" that came through while I was on shift, I didn't take the order but the girl who did got a perfect score. (It was almost 10 years ago I worked there, I wouldn't be suprised if it's been taken down.) The second was in Vernon, BC, also by the side of the highway. It was one of the busier locations in Canada I was told, due to the Funastic Slow Pitch Tourney every year. We'd have line ups out the door and drive thru was lined up around the block. After witnessing a large fry coming down the chute.... On fire, it helped in cutting down the drive-thru urge.... (And damn it! A&Chuckle U has gravy!!)

When I was about 15, I worked in a bakery... As a sugar addict, not such an ingenious place to work. I loved the donuts. I'm quite particular about cake icing, certain ones believe it or not... I do not like and I can't tell you why. The icing they used in the bakery was the disliked kind. (A Duncan Hines chocolate cake with Duncan Hines chocolate icing on the other hand? I'll save ya a sliver... If you're lucky.) I didn't last long at the bakery... I gained at least 20 pounds while I worked there... Luckily I worked there a day a week or that could've turned more tragic!

Chip and Pop Parties... I wasn't a big bad ass in high school, and quite frankly, I hung out with the "goodie goodies". (Looking back on it, my friends were more along the lines of the smart kids rather than the straight edges they sometimes could be.) They didn't drink, or do drugs, or party like it was 1999 while their parents went away. We had "chip & pop" parties... A huge part of my massive weight gain about 8 or 9 years ago was pop/soda. While in college, I would easily put away 2 - 3 litres of Coke a day... Sugar buzz, sugar buzz... And it went straight to my ass. Dill pickle chips and Doritos Sweet Chili Heat, my two faves..... (And I could easily put away a big bag like no body's business.) When I moved to Edmonton, Coke was a luxury I couldn't afford often. Now, I can't handle much more than a can(355ml) of Coke, and a small bag of Dilly chips is good enough for me. (Easily lost 15 pounds straight off the hop, simply by reducing my Coke intake.)

"The Ice Cream Man is Coming! The Ice Cream Man is Coming!" I know this is my Mum's biggest down fall... Don't get me wrong, I like ice cream but it's not usually the first thing I reach for. I like me an ice cream sandwich... DQ Ice Cream cake or Blizzard, twist my rubber arm..... Mmmmmmm...

I used to curse certain times of the year... You know the main ones with the "good" candy... Like Easter and Hallowe'en... Now a days, the Easter lines have blurred though...(Luckily Hallowe'en hasn't followed suit.... Yet.) You can find Cadbury Mini Eggs when it isn't Easter or Christmas. (They're the same, just different colours - don't let them lie to you!) A new one that I've just found - about a month ago - is Cadbury's "Twisted" bar... Basically, it's a Creme Egg in bar form... Not as good as the egg though, but if you need the sugar shock value, it's there. I still look forward to Hallowe'en, not for the mini sized chocolate bars that you can get year round though... I love Hallowe'en for the molasses candies. (You know the ones - the ones that look like poop candy, I believe they're called "Kisses".) I miss being young enough to go Trick or Treating though... You got to dress up, act silly, and burn off a calorie or two before gorging on the sugary sweetness. (Regular, year round candy.... Also a big fan...) There are only 2 candies I can think of that I've got an aversion to... Candy Canes/Mint flavoured candy... And black licorice, probably for the reason you think too.... (Yep, a lil overindulgent with the Sambuca.)

My weight has always fluctuated.... Most times I was pudgy and I've come to terms with the fact that I have the ability to change things... The only way to do this is to eat less junk. Around my 10th birthday, I got a card with a cheque and a note from my Grandpa. The note said something along the lines of "Don't spend it all on Candy!" See, even Grandpa knew about the 6 sweet teeth settled in my face. (And I can thank him for the fondness of the Easter Creme Egg....)

It's not always about me, maybe it's time to put down the fork and get off my ass before I don't have much of a choice... (And I weigh enough for there to be two of me!)