Has anybody seen my willpower?

I often delude myself that I am trying to lose weight. And then I have a day like today.

Everything started off fine. I ate a healthy breakfast of oatmeal cooked in hemp milk with a pinch of salt and a few drops of maple syrup. Usually that tides me over until lunch. Usually.

Our friend Jess's tangy lemon tart tempted me into eating my third dessert of the day (and yes, I did have seconds, and yes I did have whipped cream on both slices)

The trouble began when I emerged from my office at around 9:15 a.m. to fill my water bottle in the kitchenette. There I found a block of dense, dark brownies taunting me from inside a nest of tinfoil. Our intern Erin brought it in because she didn't trust herself with all those brownies at home, especially knowing that the recipe consumed half a pound of butter. The crisis of dietary conscience that ensued was very short-lived. I cut a "small" chunk, then another, then another--each chunk larger than the last. I managed to stop myself there (assuming you don't count the "crumbs" I continued to consume every time I came out to refill my water bottle).

Another of our interns had a birthday. So around 4 p.m. the office headed off to Morse Farm for maple creemees (soft-serve ice cream for those of you not from Vermont) in lieu of cake. If not for the fact that I ate the brownies earlier, I'd congratulate myself for sticking to a small cone with maple sprinkles. Licking at my cone, remembering the post-breakfast brownies, I resolved that I would skip dessert that evening.

As soon as our dinner hostess and friend Jess showed me the picture-perfect, raspberry-topped lemon tart that she'd made for dessert in honor of Joslyn's birthday (which is two days away), my no- dessert resolution disappeared faster than a block of brownies in my office kitchenette...

It's not easy being an award-winning eater, but somebody's got to do it.