Cake: Having it and eating it

Not much in life makes me happier than devouring a huge piece of a chocolate cake with the help of a good friend. The sweet, soft texture of a perfectly creamy piece (like the one pictured below) is pretty hard to beat. However I am sure I am not alone in allowing myself this delightful experience increasingly rarely as I fight to keep a trim figure and pour myself into my skinny(ish) jeans.

Being a food lover, devourer, obsessive and fiend I do constantly battle with ordering/cooking what I really WANT to eat and what I really "should". A salad is all well and good when watching the calories, but on a rainy day in a cosy pub a glass of wine with a big bowl of sweet and creamy risotto - well the two are just incomparable. And yes I get that celery and carrots and oatcakes are pleasant snacks for dieters. But without their perfect partners of stilton, hummus and brie with grapes respectively...they just seem a little disappointing.

I have recently begun working out, 3 times a week and hating every single second, and I do feel it has meant I can order puddings, select the cheese plate, have a big old bagel with cream cheese and chorizo for breakfast without the all consuming guilt that comes minutes after. My beloved mother has been on a diet for as long as I remember. The Cabbage Soup, the Cambridge, the Atkins - all of them lasting just a few days and resulting in a sharp weight loss followed by a return to her original weight within days (which, for the record, is perfect!). Being a wonderful chef, who cooks for a living, she must find it hard spending her day preparing delicious dishes for her lucky guests.
I have always wondered if I were in the privileged position of cooking for a living, how would I cope with the temptation?

This is just part 1 of my musings on the issue of absolute food freedom vs. staying slim and feeling confident. Would love to hear your opinion...