I made some goals... at Burger King

The biggest part of portion control is knowing whats in your food, or at least the caloric, fat, and dietary fiber content in order to figure out the Weight Watchers points. That's why it's easier when counting points to eat at a major chain than a mom n' pop restaurant because most major chains publish the nutritional information of their food.


So, on my "cheat day", the one day a week I pick to use the 35 extra points each person on the plan gets to use , I usually look for places where I can get my junk food fix without exceeding my points for the day and my extra points combined.


So tonight, there I was in Burger King, a couple of those loss-leader Double Cheeseburgers on my tray and a "medium" coke to wash them down with.


It was as I was in the middle of my second one that I realized aside from finishing Timberman and losing weight, I needed to come up with some more concrete plans and goals in order to be successful. I think my thought process was naturally timed to coincide with the ingestion of all that "greasy goodness" (Am I overusing quotes? Nope, I didnt think so).


So I started thinking about it as I finished my meal and went home to rest. I was still thinking about it 2 hours later as a packed my bag full of workout stuff, put on my new Tri shorts, grabbed my recently arrived tube of That Butt Stuff, and headed off to the gym. Just because I got to eat like crap today doesn't mean I got to take the day off from the gym. Recovery day was yesterday.


1100 yards takes me a little less than 35 minutes right now, including the slower warm-up laps. Between that time in the pool, 20 minutes on the bike, and 20 minutes on the track, I came up with a few high level goals to augment the ones I had already set:

• Make working out more than just about Timberman. As part of my "This is who I am, not what I do" approach to exercise and healthy living, I need to focus on the idea that this is a lifelong change, not just a countdown to a goal date
• Be able to drive past McD's, BK, KFC, etc.and not feel like it'd be awesome to go in, every time I drive by. Seriously, do they put crack in that stuff. Sometimes the cravings can be overpowering!
• Be able to do 50 situps in a row. My belly fat is my biggest health risk and my biggest competition detriment.
• Be able to do 1 pull up/chin up. Because seriously, I don't think I can even do 1. After I do one, we'll set a larger goal.

While a couple of them are very much mental things, a couple are physical ones I can tackle as part of Ironman training. I need to spend some more time coming up with an approach or plan to reach those first couple goals.

The sad part was, when I got done at BK, I was full, but I regretted immediately having eaten those burgers. Maybe I'm catching on faster than I thought.