Resisting The Cupcakes --OR-- Why Starbucks Is Part Of My Workout Routine

Every morning on the way to work I head to Starbucks to get my daily coffee fix.  It's a part of my morning routine that I look forward to every day - it doesn't add too many calories, I enjoy exchanging a few jokes and pleasantries with the baristas, and the coffee gets me ready for a busy day.  All in all, it's a harmless guilty pleasure. 

But....as I stand in line each morning, I inevitably end up gazing in loving admiration at the baked goods, for which Starbucks is legendary.  Some are year round staples, and some come and go with the seasons (alas, the peppermint brownie has gone the way of the Christmas decorations and music) (not that I care, because of course I've never had one) (yeah, right).  This year the peppermint brownie has been replaced with cupcakes.  Red.  Velvet.  Cupcakes.  Yum.

**short break while I wipe the drool off my keyboard**

This morning as I was blatantly ogling looking at them while I waited for my coffee I thought "Why on earth do I do this to myself every morning?  One day I am going to give in and it won't be worth it.  Then I'll feel guilty, probably binge as a result, and have to work extra hard to relose the weight I've gained.  I just could buy a pound of coffee, make my drink at home and not have to worry about this temptation."

Hmmm.  ShrinkingJill, you've got a good point there.  Why not set yourself up for success rather than failure?

Then I considered Judith Beck's thoughts about strengthening mental muscles - the giving-in muscle vs. the resistance muscle.  Every time I eat something that wasn't in my plan, I'm strengthening my giving-in muscle, and every time I'm faced with a choice and stick to my plan I'm strengthening my resistance muscle.  When we don't work our muscles, they atrophy.  You wouldn't do biceps curls every day until you had the biceps of your dreams, and then just stop working them, right?  You'd keep doing those curls to make sure the muscle stays exactly the way you want it to be.  So it goes with the resistance muscle...if I don't challenge myself regularly it will get weaker. 

So, I'm going to think of my morning Starbucks excursion as my daily resistance muscle exercise.  My chance to start the day off right by saying NO rather than YES.  Some people start the day with situps or pushups right after they jump out of bed - I'm going to stare down those cupcakes every morning and show them who's boss.   Me.

Starbucks!

Oh Starbucks, how I love your latte.  The creamy foam, the bitter coffee, the sweetness of the syrup.  Nobody does it better.

My usual drink is a tall nonfat vanilla latte (or is it vanilla nonfat tall latte?  or tall vanilla nonfat latte?) and I pretty much start every day with one - I stop on the way to work, say hi to my fave baristas, and then relax in vanilla bliss in the car for the rest of the drive to work.  The 80's station on XM makes the experience complete - nothing beats rocking out to 'Livin on a Prayer' prior to a long day of meetings.

But...I don't think I can afford 160 calories for coffee every morning, no matter how much I love it!  So this morning I'm going to try to ease my way out of the latte habit.  New drink: tall nonfat Cafe Misto with 1 shot of syrup.  This still gives me 6 oz of milk plus my sweet vanilla fix, and comes in (according to the website) at about 80 calories. Hey - that fits in with my morning 80's theme!  I think this new partnership was meant to be.