Guess What?!?

If you’ve been reading my blog for very long, you’ve probably heard something about some of my food fears (as ridiculous as “food fears” may sound). The fear-foods are ones I’ve labeled as “bad” and I’ve convinced myself that I don’t really like them. Sometimes it’s true, sometimes not. I’ve overcome quite a few of them…pizza (which I discovered I like), normal amounts of bread (delish!), things like that. But there’s one that’s been quite tough. Let’s see if you can guess: I had a couple home-made ones over the summer, but the concept of ordering one at a restaurant? No way. I can’t even remember the last time I ordered one. But I wanted to. How silly is it to be so petrified of a food that you can’t go out with friends and order one? It’s really quite silly. And annoying! So I made it my goal, grabbed a few fantastic friends, and headed to Red Robin to order a………

BURGER!!!!!!!

Believe it or not, I actually ordered a burger! Now, it wasn’t anything extravagant…just a plain old cheese burger…but that’s not the point. And I didn’t come close to finishing the whole thing, but again, that’s not really what matters. What matters is this: I ordered the burger. I ate half of the burger. I ate fries. I went home and had cake and ice cream (we were celebrating my birthday). And I didn’t beat myself up about it.

The burger was on my mind all week. I kept thinking about how I would feel…how I would react. I even had a dream that I FORGOT to order a burger when we went out! Fear that I would feel a need to restrict myself the next day, or work out really really hard threatened to overtake my excitement about this huge step I wanted to take. The enemy taunted me, trying to get me to back out. Even while scanning the menu at Red Robin, the Garden Burger caught my attention, and for a moment, I was tempted…you see, a Garden Burger is “safe”. But I wasn’t there for a wimpy little Garden Burger…I was there for a BEEF burger!!

That night, any time that I heard that nasty little lying voice, I simply ignored it. Or told it to shut up. There was no way in…uh…you know where 😉 that I would let the enemy ruin my super-awesome-fun-stride-taking night! And for the record, I succeeded with that.

As I went to bed, I was pleased with how the night had gone, but it wasn’t until the next morning that it hit me just how amazing it really was. I looked in the mirror, expecting to be discouraged and dissatisfied with how I looked…but I didn’t feel that way at all. Quite the opposite, actually! The feelings of needing to restrict surfaced, but I didn’t want to do it. Wait, did I just say I DIDN’T WANT TO!?!? OHMYGOSH! A bit later that morning as I told a friend that I ate half of a burger and some fries and didn’t feel bad, I got really excited…almost giddy! And I felt proud.

This, my dear friends, is a huge victory. And a huge defeat for my bad friend. And this?

the end result

This is a half-eaten burger!

P.S. I’m probably not gonna go burger crazy, but I’m not gonna lie…this burger was pretty tasty!