Just One More

The most important virtue I have learned this last year is SELF-CONTROL.  The funny part is, we think we have it, but we never use it.  Nothing will test your limits like walking by a Cinnabon when you started a low-carb diet!  Can you just keep walking?  In our mall, I would pass Cinnabon only to walk straight into a Corndog7...does crazy things to a person!

For me, self-control (which will be referred to as SC from now on, because I'm a 2-finger typer) came in to play at Mexican food establishments.  Chips and salsa.  My nemesis.  So we meet again.  How do you eat just one?  Their salty nature calls for JUST ONE MORE.  This was always a true test of SC for me. 

How about the steak house that brings out basket after basket of those hot, freshly baked rolls laced with crack and a vat of sugar butter to drown it in!  I remember after a few months of starting to right we went to a place like this.  I remember holding one of those beauties in my hands, just smelling it, with my eyes closed.  Then I got kicked under the table by my wife who thought my behavior was...not appropriate. 

The true test of SC for me is at IHOP, Denny's, and Waffle House.  It's a really great place to eat a great protein breakfast by ordering an omelette.  Order an omelette and this series of questions always follows...

"Would you like pancakes with that?"

"No thanks"

"How about waffles"

"No thank you"

"Do you like hash browns?"

"I'm good with just the omelette"

"How about some Toast"

"I'm on a low-carb, high-protein diet so I can't really have it, but thanks."

"We have bagels...or grits...I can bring you some oatmeal...or some fruit???"

"Fruit.  Bring the fruit...and my omelette...please"

Somehow I would always stick to my guns and prevail.  Over the last year I have denied a lot of pancakes, waffles, french fries, and cinnamon rolls.  In the end, little by little, SC became more apparent.  I was able to make better decisions and better overall choices.  The hardest part was always thinking "just one more..."  Now, it's different, and I need to lose JUST ONE MORE pound.