Man Versus Food

"If you can eat all of that, I'll be impressed."

So said the bar manager when he delivered my dinner to the table last night. I just smiled at him. "Prepare to be impressed," I said.

I love food. Not in the way that uber-foodies love it, where they like to use multisyllabic adjectives to describe every childhood emotion that every flavor brings out, but just in general. I enjoy flavors, textures and, on occasion, a nice presentation. But I must admit, there is one aspect of food that always catches my eye: size.

Yes, in true American go-big-or-go-home style, I do love me some oversized entrees. When I watch Man Vs Food, it just makes me hungry. And when I go to a restaurant with giant burgers, I almost always pick one out. Heck, for my birthday last year, we went to a place called Big Daddy's where I got a 3/4-pound burger, with a fried egg on top, and instead of a bun, it had two grilled cheese sandwiches, one filled with bacon, the other filled with jalapenos. And it was glorious.

So last night, we headed out to Brick House to watch the National Championship game. This is a place that I will definitely try again when I'm drinking something other than water, but since I knew I wouldn't spend the money on beer, I could go add a little to my dinner. So, after a chicken appetizer, I got a 2-Brick Gun Show, which is two 1/2-pound patties and two fried eggs (which are rapidly becoming a favorite burger topping for me) along with lots of other stuff. It was delicious. And it was gone, garlic parmesan-crusted tots and all, in about 15 minutes. Probably could have gone faster, but I was watching the game. True to his word, the manager was impressed. He gave me his card. I didn't eat again until this afternoon.

I recognize, of course, that this sort of super-eating is not the best way to go about things, but it's not quite as crazy as it might sound. Today was my seventh straight day of running, and I'm feeling great, but I also need to fuel that work. Using a quick calorie calculator, in order to maintain my weight and function at a high level, I should be eating nearly 3000 calories every day.

Lately, interestingly enough, I'm recognizing just how many calories I was probably drinking throughout the day. Between milk, sugary drinks, soft drinks and beer, I must have been getting a fairly large intake, because now that I'm on water only, I find that I'm hungry all the time.

And that doesn't work for me financially. All the money that I'm saving on beverages is at risk of getting poured into snacks if I'm not careful. So I've decided that I need to more carefully regulate what I'm eating and when it happens. I need to make myself have three well-defined (and well-proportioned) meals, and limit snacking as much as possible. It'll save me money, and hopefully help my body regulate the fuel intake process.

Or I could just eat a 2-pound burger every night.

Tuesday's Run:
6.75 Miles