Yesterday I discovered Wendy’s is offering a spicy guacamole chicken club sandwich for a limited time. Normally, this would be cause for celebration. But my discovery came on the same day I swore off fast food for the next six weeks.
Wendy makes great fast food. But her timing sucks.
In general, I’m not a big fan of swearing off foods completely, and instead try to use moderation. For me, swearing something off creates a bigger craving and obsession, and then when I fall off the wagon I wake a week later from a food coma with a car full of empty burger wrappers and dried ketchup on my face. Not to mention that feeling of having a rock in my stomach and no energy to workout.
But I’m working toward a goal. On May 5, I’m planning to run two laps of Tough Mudder Vermont in one day. And with my first lap, I’m hoping (doubtful, but hoping) to qualify for the World’s Toughest Mudder event. If I can run the two laps, it will be 20 miles, 60 obstacles and 14,000 feet of elevation gain.
The thing is, I HATE running. Eighteen months ago, the idea of running three miles made me sick. I only started running because I got talked into signing up for a Tough Mudder last year, and I was so afraid of running the course that it accomplished what nothing else ever did — motivated me to run regularly. A year-and-a-half later I can confidently tell you: The runner’s high is a complete myth. Running sucks.
But still I run, motivately slightly by a sense of accomplishment, but mostly out of fear. And with my Tough Mudder x 2 Challenge looming in May, I’m trying to be in the best shape I can be. To do that I’m trying to discipline my diet by giving up a list of foods for the next six weeks. Those foods are:
-Fast Food
-Beer/Wine
-Desserts (Ice Cream, Cake, Etc.)
-Pizza
-Buffalo Wings
-Popcorn
-Cookies/Crackers
-Dunkin Donuts (a piece of me died as I wrote that)
-Soda
So Wendy can tempt me with her limited-time spicy guacamole chicken club sandwich all she wants. But I will stay strong. And if that sandwich is no longer offered six weeks from now, I will be physically stronger for this (albeit psychologically damaged). But, if the sandwich is still around, a week after Tough Mudder I’ll be waking up from a food coma surrounded by Wendys wrappers with dried spicy guacamole on my face.