I have some clients that work in sales and spend a lot their time “wining and dining”.
Some of them eat almost every single meal at a restaurant.
While I can tell you that a client with this type of lifestyle is not always a favorite of most personal trainers, I like a challenge, and I’ve come up with some killer strategies for successful restaurant eating.
You can read 11 of them right here:
1. Choose the right restaurant. On our recent trip to Mexico we discovered the unadulterated evil that is the all-inclusive format. Our dinners were “a la carte” and quite reasonable, it was at the breakfast and lunch buffets that things really came off the rails. Wherever possible, go with cooked to order over a buffet. Can you make good choices at a buffet? Absolutely, if your the type of person who can stand in front of a delectable smorgasbord of delicious food and say “no” to pretty much everything.
Look for places that include more detail in their menus, maybe even nutritional information.
2. Stick to the plan. If it’s your “one night a week” or your cheat day or something like that, go nuts. But if you eat out a lot, try to keep the pattern of complete meals consisting of a lean protein, complex carbohydrates, and fibre. Salmon, sweet potato, veg. That’s the kind of thing you’re shooting for.
3. Don’t show up hungry. This might seem a tad contradictory at first. Weren’t we always taught not to eat before dinner because we’d “spoil” our appetite? The larger problem is missing the frequent meals and snacks I recommend to keep blood sugar balanced and stimulate metabolism. If you show up overly hungry, you’re that much more likely to dive into a bread-eating bonanza, or fill up on appetizers.
4. Don’t drink your calories. Liquid calories ain’t free. They provide little in the way of nutritive value or metabolic boost but add up to a lot of extra points in your “calories-in” column. Try sparkling water with lemon or lime instead. If you’re in a situation where you feel it’s necessary to drink, order one, propose a toast so the person your with sees you drink, then push it to the side and get down to business. That’s why you’re there, isn’t it?
5. Watch the appetizers. Especially avoid anything fried, breaded or dipped. If you feel tempted, you can ask to have the bread removed from the table. Just know that some appetizers come with more calories than your main course!
6. Sauces on the side. Always ask for sauces and dressings on the side. Avoid the thick and creamy ones. Dip, don’t pour. As much as they contribute to the taste, most sauces and dressings pack a huge whallop of calories and fat that your body will soak right up.
7. Don’t be afraid to make special requests. My friend got Denny’s to make him an egg white omelet. I think that pretty much says it all. You don’t get unless you ask. Most places are happy to oblige. The last time I was at Starbucks the person in front of me ordered a “Venti, sugar-free, non-fat, vanilla soy, double shot, decaf, no foam, extra hot, Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha with light whip and extra syrup”, and then sent it back when he discovered the ”whip” wasn’t light. Don’t be too shy to ask for something as simple as to have your vegetables steamed instead of fried.
8. Ask how it’s prepared. For goodness’ sake, you have a right to know! I know something else: they won’t tell you unless you ask.
9. Sloooooowwww Dooowwwwnn. That says “slow down.” We metabolize better when we eat slowly. In addition, there’s a bit of a lag time for a neurotransmitter to make it to your brain and inform you that you’ve eaten sufficiently. You’ll be much less likely to overeat if your eat slowly. This rule applies everywhere, not just in restaurants.
10. More veg. Ask for a second serving of vegetables or salad instead of rice or potatoes, especially in the evening. In this way, you are filling up on fiber, but eating a lot less calories and carbs overall.
11. Desert. Go for a bowl of fresh berries and fat-free yogurt. This is a great-tasting, low-calorie and low-glycemic index alternative to eating something sugary. Plus, you won’t feel as left out if other people are enjoying desert. Get hooked on the long-term high of feeling sexy, and forego the short term buzz of eating sweets.
Remember, nothing tastes as good as fit feels.
If you don’t believe me now, get really fit (I mean like in the shape of your life), and I’ll ask you again.
And before you start saying “that all sounds good , but I can’t do any of that stuff,” think again. I want you to dump that nonsense because it’s holding you back. What you can and can’t do is entirely your decision. It’s not anybody else’s. So dump the head trash at the curb where it belongs and get on with the business of getting fit!
That’s all for today, have a great week and I’ll touch base next week from Dublin, Ireland!
Live Strong and Healthy,
Conor Kelly
EVOLUTION FITNESS – PERSONAL TRAINERS TORONTO
(416) 220-7883
P.S. Our next outdoor boot camp at Rosehill Reservoir near Yonge/St.Clair starts June 11!
Designed to boost your metabolism and jump start your fitness program, it’s 4 short weeks that I know you’ll love!
Register by going here:
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Fitness Trainers Toronto: “Fat-Burners: Are they effective, or a waste of money?”
Back when I started working out I had a really bad case of Silver Bullet Syndrome. Allow me to explain.
I was a small kid. A musician in high school, I used to wear my hair long, with a leather jacket and ripped jeans. Because of my flowing locks and diminutive stature, I’d even been mistaken for a girl a couple of times.
I had zero self-confidence. My fantasy was to be big and strong. I saw building muscle as freedom from fear, anxiety, and loneliness. And I was completely obssessed. I craved results.
But I was always looking for that silver bullet. I was looking for that one thing, that one program, that one routine, or that one supplement that would deliver me the body I wanted. I searched much, but achieved little.
The desire for that one-shot wonder, which could also be called a need for instant gratification, does nothing but line the coffers of snake oil salesmen and misleading marketers.
It’s the reason some infomercials make millions of dollars per hour. It’s the reason weight loss supplements are a multi-billion dollar a year industry. It’s also the reason so many people line up to play the lottery each week (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Real, lasting transformation comes from being willing to change your habits. It begins with a new lifestyle. How you integrate your training plan with nutrition, and an adequate recovery strategy is what will determine how quickly and how permanently you achieve results. It’s about delayed gratification, and it’s an ongoing process.
Simply put, it’s about the journey, and not just the destination.
Statiscally, most lottery winners will lose all their winnings within 18-24 months. Also, most weight loss programs fail, and people who are overwweight are much more likely to pack on even more weight than to take it off.
I believe a big part of the high failure rate is this Silver Bullet Syndrome. Because I’ve been through it myself, I know it can be tough to correct.
Usually, when someone who is not a part of our program asks me about supplementation prior to asking about training and nutrition, it’s a sign that there’s something “silver bullet-y” going on.
“What can I take to burn fat?”
“Back up a second, what are you doing to burn fat?”
There is no supplement that burns fat. All supplementation can do is help create more favourable conditions for burning fat, you’ve still got to supply the work!
Have I made my point strongly enough yet?
Now that we’ve covered the fact that fat loss success has mostly to do with your overall training and nutrition protocols, we can talk about fat-burners, and whether there’s any benefit to taking them.
The term “fat-burners” typically refers to a category of supplements known as thermogenics.
These are compounds that will help elevate the rate at which your body utilizes fat, usually by artificially raising overall body temperature or encouraging catecholamine output (catecholamines are your body’s fat-burning hormones).
Back in the day, the most popular fat-burner was the ECA stack. The ECA stack is a synergistic combination of ephedrine, caffeine, and aspirin. Many of the world’s best bodies were created with this stack. To this day, the pages of fitness magazines are chock full of male and female fitness models using the same trio.
They’d probably prefer you not know that though.
Most modern fat-burners on the market today came about as a result of the popularity of ECA.
It was on the strength of this combination that one of the world’s best-selling supplements, Hydroxycut, rose to prominence. The truth is, when combined with a solid nutrition and exercise plan, the ECA stack works really well. That’s why so many pros use it.
The only problem was, ephedrine started getting a lot of really bad press. It’s like any other drug, if you abuse it, there will be side effects. A few people died. Most famously perhaps, was a pro football player. He also happened to be 360-pounds and training hard in 40-degree weather, but ephedrine took the wrap.
It wasn’t long before the politicians took up this negative publicity and turned it into a ban on ephedrine. The ephedrine was removed from thermogenic cocktails such as Hydroxycut.
The problem with that, from a fat-burning standpoint, is that ephedrine is the active ingredient in the ECA stack. The caffeine and aspirin are mostly just enhancing and prolonging the effects of the ephedrine.
Nowadays, “fat-burners” like Hydroxcut mostly contain high doses of herbal caffeine. They’ve added other ingredients which they claim make the new formula better, but I’ve seen little evidence to support those claims.
That being said, I’ve mentioned before that caffeine can amplify the fat-burning effect, especially in a non-habitual user. For that reason, we’ll often recommend our trainees consume a bit more caffeine on “protein days”. See my special report on Swimsuit Readiness for more details on Protein Days.
Here’s the point. I believe you can mimic the effects of Hydroxycut and other fat-burners currently on the market simply by drinking a good, strong cup of coffee.
Considering what is being charged for those products nowadays, I consider them to be largely a waste of money.
It would perhaps be a different story if they stilled contained their most active ingredient.
Let me make something perfectly clear. While I have personally used the ECA stack in the past with great results, I do not use it currently, nor should you take this blog post to mean I recommend it. Use at your own risk!
Get your nutrition together first, focus on effective training methods, and we can talk about some supplements that might be helpful to you. The magic is in the process. When you discover the cure for Silver Bullet Syndrome, you’ll be that much closer to solving your weight loss woes.
Live Strong and Healthy,
Conor Kelly
EVOLUTION FITNESS – PERSONAL TRAINERS TORONTO
P.S. Last chance to join us for our FREE Turkey Busting Workouts next week and get your FREE gift!!! Get all the details and register here:
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