I'm a Sucker

There's this Garfield cartoon my co-worker once had posted up in her cubicle. In the first few panels, Garfield is getting together all this equipment and gear to exercise. He gets sweatbands for his head and arms, shorts, a shirt, a new bag - everything he could possibly need to exercise. By the last panel, Garfield, decked out in his fancy workout clothes, is lying on the floor on his back . Despite having purchased all the necessities for working out, he never actually does. Nonetheless he says, "Whew! Now, I'm too tired to work out." It's pretty funny. And boy can I relate!

I am totally one of those people (and I know there are a lot of us out there) that needs to buy a bunch of gimmicky items before I can start an exercise or weight loss program. I am the sucker consumer that is always looking for the easy way to lose some weight. Whether it be an article in a magazine about "Drop Two Dress Sizes by Friday" or some kind of magic pill, I have pretty much purchased it all. I'm quite sure I could have purchased an entire GYM, maybe a Gold's franchise, with the money I spent on "tools" for weight loss and exercise. And regardless of the money I have spent, none of these things have helped me with being committed to a healthy living regimine.

Not to say that some things haven't been useful. In fact, I'd put them into two groups.

Non-Useful Items:

1. Suzanne Somers' book, "Fast and Easy"
2. Weight watchers member packet
3. Subscription to e-Diets
4. Diet pills
5. Anything Slimfast related
6. Personal training sessions (only because I wasn't motivated to go)
7. Boot Camp (again, I just wasn't motivated, so it was a waste of money)
8. Clothes that were cute but too small for me that I purchased in hopes they would inspire me to lose weight

Useful Items:

1. Food scale
2. Vegetarian cookbooks
3. Sports bra
4. Vitamins
5. Yoga pants
6. Gym membership
7. Braids (this strangely relates because I never have to worry about messing up my hair when I get braids . . . nor do I have to worry about making all Black people look bad when I wear my hair wrapped in a scarf at the gym)

This is something that may not change anytime soon. In fact today, I purchased an issue of "Women's Health" and yesterday I purchased a book that someone recommended that examines the reasons behind unhealthy food choices. Not sure what category these things will go into, yet . . .