Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

In my last post, I wrote about how my love for Man Food-- hamburgers, meat, steak, etc-- has suffered since this whole diet thing started. Burgers are one of my favorite foods. I love making them, I love getting them at cookouts, and I love ordering them hot off the grill at great restaurants. Hand-packed ground beef, medium rare, topped with BBQ sauce--for me it doesn't get any better. One of my favorite days last summer was when I attended the Burgerfest festival here. It's one of the cravings that has never really subsided as I've cut out bad foods (or all foods it seems like) from my life.

As a reward for how well I have been doing and how hard I've been working, I decided I was allowed to treat myself to a juicy, delicious burger on Tuesday. Some friends and I were gathering to watch the Celtics game at one of my favorite places to order a burger. For the entire day on Tuesday, I walked around work with a Cheshire cat grin on my face thinking of my upcoming dinner. There might even have been a time or two when I had to wipe drool from my mouth as I thought of my first bite.

Because I had planned out my splurge, I made sure to keep an eye on what I ate for the rest of the day. I told myself I would also only eat half the bun and have just a few tater tots off the plate before giving the rest away. It was a good idea in theory.

When I got my burger, I decided that I was in it to win it and enjoyed the entire thing--both halves of the bun-- and all of the tater tots on my plate (luckily, this restaurant is cheap when it comes to their side portions so there were only about 12 tater tots). It was everything I had been waiting for and more.

As the pink juice from the burger dripped down my fingers with each bite, I couldn't help but appreciate the moment. In all honesty, I don't think a burger has ever tasted so good. I savored each bite knowing I wouldn't be able to order another one of these for a while. Before, because burgers are my favorite, I would order one almost every time I ate out. Now whenever I eat out (which isn't that often) my meal consists of carefully chosen grinders from Subway (aka turkey or veggie sans cheese) or something involving lots of lettuce.

The next day I suffered from a burger hangover. I loved eating something so filling and substantial and greasy that it was hard to get back into my routine. My can of tuna mixed with 1 tablespoon of Miracle Whip and accompanied by celery sticks tasted like sh*t. Hopefully lunch will be a little less disappointing today since I'm more than 24 hours removed from my burger high.

Excuse me, I have to go wipe the drool off my chin now.