Tammy v. O'Charleys

I have to blog about my victory tonight.  I successfully went out to eat at a really tastey restaurant and I totally kicked its butt!  If you have eaten at an O'Charley's, you know what I'm talking about....soft, fluffy rolls, broccoli cheese casserole, chipotle chicken tenders, cajun chicken pasta.  You walk into this restaurant, and you can plan on spending at least 2000 calories.  Did I mention the ooey gooey caramel pie?

The only way I survived this trip was the fact that O'Charley's is kind enough to put their nutrition facts online.  Gotta love the iPhone for its awesome internet access.  I scoped the menu for a long time, then decided on the 5 ounce sirloin with asparagus and a cup of chili.  The sirloin only had about 260 calories, the soup had 150 calories, and the asparagus about 50 calories.  And, I didn't eat one roll.  I didn't even look at the rolls!

Score:  Tammy 1  Restaurant 0

I really think this whole diet thing is 80% mental and 20% physical.  What I mean is for the longest time, I couldn't get through one single day trying to eat healthy.  I would starve to death, even when I really wasn't starving.  I just had to eat sweet stuff while at work....chocolate in particular.  And at night, I had to cheat and eat chips or something.  My mind was what was ruining my "diet" attempts.  It's kind of like that with running.  There is a huge mental aspect to running.  It may hurt like hell, your lungs on fire, your knees screaming at you to stop.  But, you just push through it.  Then there are days when you just give up and go home.

For some reason, a switch got turned on somewhere in my brain.  A switch that turned off all the negative dieting thoughts and turned on my willpower.  A switch that suddenly has me saying no to "bad" foods.  I have only been eating 1400-1500 calories per day and I haven't even really been hungry.  Today, in particular, I went a long time without eating (not on purpose), and normally I would be going crazy throwing a fit starving, but I wasn't.  I didn't feel hungry.  And when I got to that restaurant, instead of eating all the rolls and ordering a huge meal, I kept my cool and ordered what I was supposed to.  And this time, I didn't eat off of Eric's plate, lol, something that I am severely guilty of doing on a regular basis.  This is all a mind game, and I'm winning right now.  I just hope that switch doesn't get turned off somehow!