Surviving V-Day

Well. It’s here. The hardest day of the year for dieters. V-Day. Valentine’s Day. The day on which your lover is supposed to lavish you with affection at least partly in the form of fancy dinners, chocolate, champagne or edible aphrodisiacs…help!

What’s a dieter to do, then, when faced with this barrage of culturally sanctioned pigging out? I decided to do a bit of research to prep for this year’s V-Day. Of course, I came across all of the usual stuff you’d expect…bubble baths, lingerie, a single red rose…all very valentiney, yes, but – apologies to those of you out there who enjoy this stuff – too corny for me. Honestly. I couldn’t pull it off with a straight face, and my husband would probably call 911 if I tried to.

But that’s not to say my husband and I don’t still love each other. We do. Deeply. But we’ve never been into that traditional romance-y type of expression. We have, in the past, given each other chocolates for V-Day though, because we both like the stuff and, hey, it’s traditional, right? But this year, no chocolates. No dinner at a restaurant. This year I’m giving the Hubby a gift certificate for a private lesson at the U of C rock climbing centre. We took a couple of courses there years ago when our eldest was a baby, but we’ve since let our belay certification lapse. I know he really wants to climb again; and he wants to teach our daughters to climb, too. To do that, we’ll need to pass the belay test again. So that’s my idea for a personal, caring gift for my husband. Time alone with me, doing something we both love, and, best of all, it’s the opposite of fattening, since climbing is not a bad form of exercise!

But if rock climbing isn’t your thing and you still don’t need the temptation of a box of chocolates around, (did you know an average-sized box of chocolates accounts for 48 Weight Watchers points? That’s more than double my daily points allowance!) what might you do? Well, in my research I came across tons of suggesitons, most of which fit into one of three main categories:

Cheesy Romantic Ideas
Either a single red rose or a ridiculously large (more than one dozen) number of roses. All this says is either "I have no money" or "I have too much money" and "I don’t know what you really like, nor do I have the inclination to find out". Of course, if red roses are what you really like, then it’s a thoughtful gift!

A box of chocolates. Ditto to the above for same the reasons why.

Lingerie or underwear. Depending on the size, colour and configuration of said lingerie, this is bordering on being in the next category…

Cheesy Erotic Ideas
Any kind of underwear with parts missing (that’s all I’m gonna say) falls into this category. If I got or wore anything like this, it would be accompanied by an eyebrow raised so high it would meet my hairline, and the sarcasm meter would be off the scale.

Anything from an adult store. Anything.

Couples massage. What is that all about? Call me stodgy or old-fashioned, but the idea just weirds me out in a vague, nebulous way.

Really Clever Ideas
Hire a personal chef to come to your house and cook a healthy, diet-friendly but exotically delicious meal for two on V-Day.

Empty out the heart-shaped candy box and replace it with something else that your honey likes. The person who suggested this said her hubby filled it with sushi. Not my cup of tea, but you get the idea.

Get your partner something he/she has been wanting but would never get for him/herself. It doesn’t matter what it is. Maybe it’s expensive golf balls or a newly released hardcover book or a designer shirt. Whatever it is, the point is pampering your loved one with something they really want.

Anyway, however you choose to celebrate it, I hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day!

P.S. I lost 1 pound last week. That puts me at 51.8 pounds down, and 11 more to go until I achieve my goal weight! Thanks for sticking it out with me.