Fighting Cravings at Logan’s Roadhouse

I decided to treat myself to dinner last night, and since O’Charley’s was closed for remodeling I settled for Logan’s Roadhouse. I was in the mood for a big juicy ribeye steak and something green.

Logan’s is a bit noisy for my taste (especially during happy hour!) but I figured I’d be in and out pretty quick.

I’d eaten light all day – just two eggs and two pieces of sausage – so I was nice and hungry, and ready for a big early dinner.

The minute I opened the menu I felt the cravings creep up on me. I took a deep breath, ordered water to drink and asked the waitress to go ahead and take the rolls (away, far far away, lol). That’s one of the perks of eating out alone. You don’t have to smell or see anything on your table you don’t want to eat, or watch someone ENJOY it in front of you. 😉

I was insanely proud of myself. I ordered a huge ribeye steak with caesar salad and steamed broccoli. And ohhhh-my-goshhh it was beautiful when it arrived!!

Apologies for the poor lighting. If you’ve ever been to a Logan’s Roadhouse, you know I didn’t have much to work with there. 😛

Anyway, the unfortunate thing is that my steak was too rare. In hindsight, I should have just eaten it anyway. It was a gorgeous piece of meat. I let the waitress take it back for just a wee bit more time on the grill, and ate my caesar salad.

When she returned with my plate I knew right off it was NOT the same steak. (Let’s not forget I took a picture of the first one, above – and trust me, it was definitely not the same steak lol.) While it was cooked just like I wanted (medium) it was all grisly and chewy. And look, I’m not one to complain – I can clean my plate with a good ribeye steak, fat and all. But this second steak was just plain inedible.

All said and done, third steak on the grill, I had eaten my salad and about half the broccoli… and by this time I’d been there for about an hour. I was just over it. It was loud, dark, and I was ready to get out of there. Mind you I was still fighting the urge to order an 1800 calorie dessert and watching people devour hot rolls all the way around me… 😯

The manager was kind enough to bring my THIRD steak in a to-go box, and refused to let me pay. I tipped my poor waitress $10 – she really made a serious effort to bring me a nice meal – and I headed out.

I decided to swing through the Starbucks drive-thru on my way home to get an Iced Coffee. I ordered slowly and methodically, forcing myself NOT to say “and a blueberry muffin” lol. Geez, what is it with the cravings?!

I ordered my coffee with heavy cream and sugar free vanilla, and sucked it down like a liquid hot fudge cake! That took care of my cravings. 😀

I had some of the steak later, after a seriously intense hour at the gym with my girl friends. All in all a good day, and I avoided the nasty cravings and the desire to just give in and totally binge. It’s been a stressful week, so I’m seriously patting myself on the back for that.

You might say I have willpower. But the truth is, I’m just disgusted with myself this week, and the idea of not feeling fat outweighs the idea of a deep fried cheesecake…

Logan’s Roadhouse is awesome for low-carbers, by the way. Their steamed broccoli is really, really good. Unlike some restaurants where the broccoli tastes like everything else on the plate, theirs actually tastes like fresh steamed broccoli. And you really can’t beat Logan’s for a great steak. Even if it is “third time’s a charm” some nights. 😉

Although, I have to admit, I don’t care if I even look at another steak for awhile at this point. And I still have about a third of that steak in the fridge…

I’m curious how you deal with YOUR cravings? I have to really focus on days like that and just force myself to order the right things, and NOT order the wrong things. And keep almonds handy. Almonds are good. Very, very good. lol.