A detour to McDonalds

Yesterday I had a long day at work. I had to go to Piscataway, NJ which is about a 90 minute ride each way from Casa Rockstar when there is no traffic and when driving through New York, there is never no traffic.

My plan was to stop for some dinner on the way home when traffic got the best of me. Fortunately fat guys, including yours truly, seem to know where most spots to eat are along most rides (car and bike). We don't need a fancy GPS to tell us. We just sort of know. Fat guys also can act as a GPS as well but they often give directions based on restaurants: "go down this road and turn left at McDonalds, keep going until you see a Burger King on the left and then turn right after the Bell (Taco that is) and you are there...."

So I'm driving in the car getting hungry. I've been trying to follow my diet as best I can especially since I'm working out much less but I rationalize that I need junk food. Buffalo Chicken Pizza or Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese + garnish (fries, etc) at the arches would do. My mind is now out of control now completely focused on unhealthy food.

And. Lots. Of. It.

There was a sign which shows that there are delays ahead and I find myself in auto-pilot mode pulling into a McDonalds. Sitting in the parking lot, I mentally go from double quarters to a salad with crispy chicken coupled with a crispy snack wrap. McDonalds has some healthy choices in the salad department and I find that their salads help me from time to time as they are premeasured and consistent (one of the real good things that Ronald has been able to serve up).This is a little slightly healthier option that still keeps the food volume high.

As I'm walking to the counter, I convince myself to not get the snack wrap but keep it as an option if I'm still hungry after the salad. Even though crispy chicken isn't as healthy as grilled, I'm not a saint and it is still much better for me than the burger and fries. So I order the southwest salad.

I few minutes later with no salad in sight, the manager comes out and tells me they are out of crispy chicken and that it will be a while since they have to cook more. Rather than hop on the burger bandwagon (which looked real tempting), I got grilled chicken in my salad instead. I left without getting the snack wrap either. This turned my trip to Ronald's house to be the most healthy alternative that I could get there.

When I got home a little after 8pm, I did 45 minutes on the bike trainer followed by a successful five minute jogging test on the t-mill.

What does this all mean? I don't know but I felt good that I chose to step down to the salad, good that there was no crispy chicken, good that I could get my workout in, and good that I could actually do the workout. The workout still hurt physically but it felt good at the same time.

And that's good.