Why Rainy Days Are Bad for Weight Loss

As much as I love rainy days, all this precipitation is starting to get to me a little bit. Actually, it’s getting to other people, and they are starting to get to me, with the crappy and sullen behavior.

Must be time to bake cookies.

But I won’t, even though it feels like I’m hard-wired to do so on days like this. It’s that “caretaker” problem I have that equates gray skies with feel-good foods, like homemade peanut butter cookies.

I imagine all along the East Coast, oven-fresh cookies are being consumed in large quantities as workers find comforting ways to cope with these ark-worthy, daily downpours. Fortunately, I have some “lite” hot cocoa mix to take the edge off. Though it’s still in the 70s, what I’m craving is sugar. Sipping something hot, yet sweet and chocolaty helps keep me on track.

It doesn’t help that there are other people in this house who’re constantly looking for something sweet, especially at bedtime. Hands-down, Bobby is the worst. The evidence is everywhere – Hershey wrappers; empty mini-pie boxes, and blocking open the trashcan lid this a.m., an empty container of store-bought brownies.

This, from a guy who’s fairly fit because he helps teach karate four nights a week, but complains because he thinks he needs to lose about 10 pounds. You can imagine how much fun it is to be around such a snackasaurus. Still, if you need more evidence that just because a person looks fit doesn’t mean that he is: His blood pressure and cholesterol are consistently off the charts, thanks to heredity. I mean, I got him a blood-pressure monitor last Christmas …

Much as I hate to admit it, I think I’m also a little sad today. It is the last day of September, and I really, really hate to see this month come to a close. I love, love, love this time of year, and you know how I feel about the ’Bers.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny in these parts, but flooding has closed highways and even school systems all over the state. Wish me luck: I have a meeting at Wake Forest University, which isn’t in Wake Forest – a mere 15-minute drive from my home – but about 100 miles down the road in Winston-Salem.

Hmmm. Sure would be great to pack some peanut butter cookies for the trip, *LOL*. I won’t, of course; been making too much progress. I’ll pack a couple of Luna or CLIF bars instead. Lots of healthy, appetite-suppressing protein and fiber, and that’s how I really want to start the first day of my favorite month of the entire year.

Onward and upward.

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain. ~  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Leslie J. Ansley is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur who blogs daily for TheRoot. She lives in Raleigh, NC.