I love Runza. I don't know if it's because of the childhood memories of going there with my family many, many Friday nights and spending what felt like hours playing on the playground at one of their locations, or the association with the Cornhuskers, or just the fact that the food is so fantastically delicious, but I would eat there every night and never get tired of it. This is something of a problem considering the fact that it's a whole bunch of calories that I don't need and supporting them because they are a huge supporter of Cornhusker athletics isn't a great reason to eat there (even though in my mind, it totally is). Proof that it is a problem: as I was writing that sentence, I realized that Matthew and I have tickets from the Husker game we went to that include a free offer from them and thought that would be a good reason to go there. Yikes.
In any event, with my goals to lose weight and eat healthier plus not spend as much money on pointless things, eating out is something (seemingly) easy to cut out that will help in all areas. I've done just fine for the most part. There are a whole bunch of restaurants I would love to go to that I have no problem in the world saying 'no' to. But when Matt and I are at home looking at the semi-thawed chicken that we don't really want to cook for dinner and we both kind of just look at each other silently daring the other person not to say it, it is almost impossible for me to deny myself the opportunity to have a gloriously delicious cheeseburger (ketchup, mustard and pickle are fine, but no onion please), crinkle fries with a side of ranch, and a lemonade. (I'm so predictable it's pathetic.)
I'm fortunate that even with my far-too-frequent indulgence in Runza I haven't put on any weight. I just haven't been losing as much as I should be because, as you might imagine, fast food (even the super-fresh and extra delicious kind they serve at Runza) has a lot of calories and other bad things in it. Since I obviously have a problem (for example, all this post is doing as I write about how terrible it is that I eat there all the time is making me want to eat it more), I need some motivation from somewhere to make myself stop.
I was thinking about it the other day on the way home from work and I decided that I'm going to give Runza up for Lent, as it would obviously be a great sacrifice for me a great test of will. The only problem with this decision is that Lent is still a couple of months away and I would still like to lose almost ten pounds before Christmas. The obvious solution is to give up Runza for Advent. Matthew and I are going to be making several changes in our spiritual lives for the upcoming season but I thought it would be appropriate to make this change as well. It'll take a lot of will power and some divine intervention, but if I could give up soda and almost all other restaurants plus make the decision to start going to the gym multiple times a week, there is no reason I can't cut this out of my diet. It'll probably be way more of a struggle than it should, but I can be very, very stubborn if I want to be. As a reminder to myself, I'm going to make a bunch of notecards that have my next goal weight on them and put them places I'll look whenever I think about going to Runza or eating anything I shouldn't.
I also have to remember that doing the exercises Matt's trainer planned out for him will be of no use if I continue to consume 1460 calories (SERIOUSLY? HOLY CRAP. YIKES YIKES YIKES.) in one sitting. I should have looked that up a lot sooner. Maybe instead of writing my goal weight, I'll just write that number all over the place. Wow. As much as I love their support for Nebraska football, it's more than a little difficult to continue to blow my daily calorie count on one meal.
Even though Advent doesn't technically begin until Sunday, I am going to attempt to find a way to control my desire to eat Runza for every meal for the next 25 days. If I do make it through the 25 days, instead of immediately going out and getting Runza, I've decided to reward myself by buying this:
Instead of rewarding myself by making it through the majority of December without Runza by immediately going there and eating nearly 1500 calories in one sitting, I've decided to reward myself by buying this guy. Manner is my favorite treat from Austria and it's not easy to find in America. It's also something that I can make last and won't regret indulging in, bits at a time. I'm sure I'll find my way back to Runza sometime in January, but I think I'd rather have this instead as I've had my eye on it for like, a year.
Hopefully my strength of will and the prospect of a giant bag of Manner Schnitten is enough for me to make it through the next month without Runza. Wish me luck!
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