I’ve been going to a gym for about 9 months now. I started going because I needed to run and I couldn’t run on an icy sidewalk when it was 4 degrees outside. But I was lured over from the treadmills to the weights; I got a personal trainer and started lifting in earnest. It’s been a big change in my physique since then. I might be skinny, but I’m sure as hell not scrawny.

My trainer is not only a great trainer, but a neat person. We talk between sets, about all sorts of things. One day we started to talk about food, and it came up that I bake. A few days later I brought in an extra cupcake for her. She shared it with one of the women who runs the gym, D___, and they both raved about it. “So good, and vegan too! Really!?”

I knew that I could spread the magic, even in a small way. So a few weeks later I brought in two cupcakes, which were promptly snacked up. I’ve been doing this for months, bringing in cupcakes, cakes, muffins, cinnamon rolls.

That’s right. I bring vegan baked goods to a gym. I feel bad when I see D___ on the stairmaster because I know that she’s working off my cupcake.

My next challenge is the guy who runs the gym, who is a real bodybuilder and not inclined to such frivolous snacks. When I offered him a cinnamon roll, he said “it’s high protein and low sugar right?” I can’t compete with an Energy Bar. Yet.