Friday, April 11, 2008

TGIF...Restaurant Eating

After a couple of days of being in meetings, it's great to get out and enjoy the Toronto wind and rain (note the sarcasm). I came out of those intensive Mastermind sessions with more motivation and drive than before.
While I was in yesterday's meeting, I got an email from my mom asking me to come to a party at a buffet restaurant. I respectfully declined. As much as I love spending time with my extended family, nothing good can possibly come out of eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet, no matter how disciplined you are.

If you do have to go out to a restaurant where you know temptation may get the best of you, here's what I do to make sure my hard earned results don't go down the toilet...

1) Get a workout in to jack your metabolism up. Before we go out, I try to do a quick bodyweight circuit before I jump in the shower. I've got a chin-up bar mounted in my door frame, so a typical circuit would look like this...

1) Jumping Jacks x 25
2) Prisoner Squats x 25
3) Chins (or Stick-ups if you don't have a bar) x 10-15
4) Lunges x 20
5) Close Grip Push-ups x 20

I would do 2-3 circuits trying to beat my time on each successive one.

2) Eat something and drink lots of water before hand. If you're going to a place like a buffet, make sure you ingest something healthy before you leave. This will give you a "full" feeling and hopefully you won't chow down on the deep fried calamari and chicken wings. Even a protein shake would be better than not consuming anything at all.

3) Say NO, DON'T GO. If it's a buffet you're invited to, suggest a healthier restaurant alternative. Nothing feels worse than eating more than you can handle and feeling like a bag of crap afterwards.

Have a great weekend. Eat Smart.

CL

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