Restaurant Pet Peeves (Rant)

I’ll surely ruffle some feathers here and that’s okay. My family was in the food management business for a long time so I know what it’s like to be on the service side of things. Having said that, I only go to restaurants for social reasons or for an occasional indulgence but most of the time, I’d much rather head to a farmer’s market or simply fix something up at home than dine in the finest establishment.

Here’s why:

Too much ambiance

I can’t enjoy a meal when it’s too dark. Some places try to create too much atmosphere by over-dimming the lights, but plain and simple, I won’t enjoy my meal if I can’t see it and all its fine colors.

Too much/too little service

The server never seems to be there when I need him or her and always bugs me when I don’t. I know it gets busy during peak hours, but the ideal scenario would be for them to be visible and available but not ask me questions every moment I put a bite in my mouth.

Also, here’s my #1 rant about restaurants: when busboys ask if they may clear my plate from the table as they already start the process of doing so. It irks me when there’s still food on my plate and you try to take it away. What’s the rush, here? I’m paying a tip, let me relax and chill with food still on my plate. Don’t make me feel like a glutton or a cheap-o by trying to finish what’s served to me and/or get my money’s worth.

Food

Restaurants are in business to make a buck, not to improve your health or nutrition status. Sure, most places now are creating the illusion of healthy options, but most of the time it’s smaller portions of the same stuff (at nearly the same prices) or “vegetarian” i.e. meatless options where everything else is a go.

Menus are usually based on creating a “feel” and not about the real-world fact that friends come along to dine with hosts. And most of the time, I wish I had other options besides ordering a so-so salad with the dressing on the side. When I do get lucky and there is some fruit, it was usually frozen and served in a tiny portion, usually as a “dessert”.

Check, please.

The Cheat Meal

Today I’m going to explore the concept of cheat meals so that you can determine if they’re an appropriate part of your fat loss/stay lean/healthful eating plan.

What is a cheat meal?

This is usually defined as any food or mix of foods that stray from the typical dietary. It’s usually done for a psychological purpose more than a physical benefit. And it’s relative to the individual. For some, it may be a greasy, high-fat meal, and for others, it might just be a larger portion of clean, healthy carbs or simply a day off from working out.

I’m no stranger to indulging, but I never considered it “cheating”. The reason for this is that I don’t distinguish between “good” and “bad” foods. I either eat or I don’t. If I’m going to eat, I might as well choose the most optimal foods available that also serve my purpose.

And if I eat ice cream? Big deal. It’s sweet (artificially so), will deplete my body of B vitamins, and will sit in my stomach for hours, making me feel lazy instead of wanting to get up and be active.

What about the metabolic increase from cheat meals?

It’s true that your metabolic rate increases from a sudden dose of high calories, but this is never enough to actually override the calories contained in the food. Plus, any excess will cause your weight/body fat to increase, and at that point, who cares about a metabolic increase?

Final recommendation

We eat for purposes other than nourishment and that’s okay. My opinion is to rid yourself of the concept of “cheat meals” and instead adopt a healthy relationship with food for life–even if that plan includes a daily dose of chocolate mousse.

Should You Count Calories?

Both losing and maintaining bodily fat stores are active processes. I’ve practiced different dietary methods: fasting, “clean” eating, journaling, paying attention to hunger . . .

Nevertheless, calories do have the final say on your final body composition. It’s the law of thermodynamics. Yes, your body is tightly regulated in a way that can adjust up or down, but I will not discuss that here. Just know that you cannot gain [fat] without food.

With that said, there are inherent inaccuracies when applying calorie counting to the real world. For example, one organic apple may have a different density to the next. Furthermore, it’s difficult if not impossible to know exactly how many calories you expend in a day, especially because it’s varies each day.

This does not dismiss the value of calorie counting; you just have to know its limitations. At best, calorie counting gives you a good estimate. And that’s where the value lies. As long as you’re in the “ballpark”, you’re less likely to be influenced by your environment.

Therefore, do not drive yourself crazy trying to get your numbers to the nearest calorie. At best, you’ll be closest to the nearest hundred. Furthermore, you’ll never know exactly how many calories you should budget for the day; it’s a matter of trial and error.

[personal note: I set a budget of 1200 – 1700 calories a day when I’m trying to cut, at a height of 5’11].

BOTTOM LINE TIPS FOR COUNTING CALORIES:

• Set a budget of less than 2000 calories, especially if you’re trying to cut down. Most people don’t need 2000 calories, and you must assume that for special occasions, your numbers will be way up, so you have to plan for this.
• Use a database–a nutrition book, online resource, or phone application. My favorite websites are FitDay and CalorieKing.
• Weighing your food using a digital food scale is the most accurate way to keep track of food intake, even in food items that come in a package. Measuring using tablespoons and cups are the second most accurate, and eyeballing portion sizes are the third most accurate.
• Eat at restaurants that have nutrition information on their menu. Remember, it will never be accurate (that depends on the chef), but at least you’ll have an estimate.

Summer is upon us–keep it tight.

Obesigenic Environment

A common term among researchers is that we’re living in an Obesigenic Environment. This is not an exaggeration at all if you simply observe the world around you. Unfortunately, the opposite extreme does exist in other parts of the world, but most developed countries are a virtual Candy Land.

While I don’t deny that many of our labor-saving technology and food abundance (or the illusion of it) have obvious benefits; we have to consider the consequences to our health and well-being.

Humans are built from the inside out to alternate between periods of “feast” and “famine”, and to sustain a high level of physical activity . When you move these variables to favor either extreme (starvation on one end and extreme Obesity on the other) you get harmful consequences.

With rare exceptions, extreme starvation and the emaciation of lean tissue are not a concern for most people; but on the other hand, diseases of excess are.

Without getting too scientific; just know that everything around you favors excess: not only is it your biological drive to eat food when it is available and to conserve as much energy (i.e. be lazy) as possible–but your environment, social pressures, emotional responses to stress, and even mental perceptions (such as not wanting to waste food) play a big role in influencing your actions or lack thereof.

The important thing is to persevere. You’re up against a powerful force but many have overcome it–you need to be aware at all times that it is a battle and most importantly take action. I will cover more tips in a future post, but here are two important habits that stand out to me since most of us fall into a usual “weekly routine”.

• Grocery shop only for the things you will be consuming. As simple as it sounds, it takes serious commitment because once you walk into a store or market, you are vulnerable to that environment and the influence of beautiful displays and special deals. This can be challenging if you’re feeding a family, but take inventory of your fridge once in a while to find out what items are going to waste.
• Exercise regularly. You don’t need to join a gym, although it is a highly motivating and supportive environment with a lot of options, if you eventually do. Physical activity is the important part. Go for a walk, have fun, get moving. If you don’t feel like changing into workout clothes, do something in street clothes. You’re only limited by your creativity and will.

Bodyfat Setpoint Vs. Lifestyle Setpoint

Today I’m going to address the theory that your body is “comfortable” at a certain level of body fat and will do anything it can to stay there.

Real-world experience is ahead of science on this one: it’s true that your body fights back at every attempt to get very, very lean–I’m referring to rock-hard, thin-skin levels. All of a sudden, highly palatable foods that you wouldn’t normally eat become agenda, sleep becomes increasingly difficult, and a binge will send you on your way to where you started at the beginning of the diet.

Simply put, the hunter-gatherer in you wants to eat. That’s biology. However, there is an even stronger force than biology, and that’s environment. Think of it this way: even with your hunter-gatherer genes, if you were stranded on an island with no food to eat, eventually you would deplete your fat reserves. Therefore, biology does not dictate reality.

Sure, being ultra-ripped, super-lean may not be realistic year-round (even shredded bodybuilders transition quickly into offseason once the contests are over) but this is no reason to go overboard or completely relax on your diet.

In my opinion, a person can maintain a reasonable level of leanness year-round without too much hassle. Your nutrition will improve as well. You just have to get used to the fact that it might not be realistic to be onion-skinned all the time, unless you are also willing to consistently feel miserable to stay there.

Most males can maintain the point where they start to see the outline of their abs, a hint of obliques, and some deltoid separation. A slight deviation above this should be considered the cutoff point. Females will need to carry slightly more, but a flat belly with a moderate amount of stored fat around the buttocks and thighs is obtainable and realistically sustainable.

Sustainable doesn’t mean easy–consistent exercise and optimal nutrition are still a must.

Cravings

Today I’m going to address the issue of dealing with cravings and/or hunger pains when you’re attempting to lose weight and get in shape.

First, I would like to distinguish between cravings and hunger:

• A craving, or appetite, is the desire for a specific type of food, most often related to conscious thought or the environment rather than to the needs of the body. For example, “I could really go for a California Burrito” or “Ice cream sounds good right now” are cravings.
• Hunger is more general and occurs when your body urges you to replenish its fuel supply (it doesn’t matter if you’re already carrying more reserves than you’d like). Anything will satisfy hunger, from fresh fruit to fruit pie, even stale bread.

When you’re in a sufficient calorie deficit to lose weight, invariably one of these two symptoms will come up, most often hunger.

So how do you deal with it when it does?
You either feed it or you make progress. It’s as simple as that. I hate to sound like a downer, but that’s science; you can’t eat your cake and get abs too.

I’m not saying you won’t get in shape if you continue to eat; this is far from the truth. What is true is that you will experience hunger almost every day that you’re losing fat. And you should actually spend more of your hours in this state than in the food-satisfied, or worse yet, food-coma state. Cravings won’t be as big of a deal because wanting food in general is a stronger drive than fantasizing about a specific type of meal.

Even if you are a very active person or you do a lot of cardio, you will still get the appetite when your fuel supply drops low enough. And it’s getting through these moments that is the key to fat loss. It’s essentially the workout, and you get guaranteed results. You’re either in, or you’re out.

I don’t know of very many people (even genetically gifted) who stay in razor sharp condition; who also don’t take their diet very seriously. The irony is that if you work hard enough at it, people will assume you’re genetically gifted.

I’ve come to accept this and now I actually seek huger, knowing that it is part of the lean lifestyle.

The Dose Makes The Poison

My Human Physiology professor in college had a saying: “The dose makes the poison”.

What this means is that something like a medicine, for example, may have a beneficial dose, but too much can be counterproductive at best and fatal at worst.

The same is true for a lot of other beneficial factors.

For example, sun exposure is a necessary element for health, but too much sun may cause skin damage and accelerate aging.

Likewise, exercise has obvious benefits but overdoing it can lead to nervous exhaustion and injuries.

And, most importantly, food is a source of essential proteins, sugars, fats, vitamins, minerals, water, fiber and enzymes, but too much food leads to indigestion, excess weight and all of the obesity-related diseases.

How much body fat is enough?

From reading my blog posts, you would think that all fat is bad; on the contrary, some adipose tissue is necessary for the production of hormones, for padding, insulation, and obviously as a backup fuel source. So how much is enough from a health standpoint?

You don’t need to have this measured. Stand in front of a full-body mirror naked and once you get past the “eek! aah!” stage, having just enough fat to round out the musculature is plenty. Any more than that represents a love for food, not a health requirement.

“Bulking” vs. “Toning”

Weight training is an integral part of any shaping program and the biggest misconception that will never die regarding women and lifting weights is that heavy training makes women “bulky”.

Those familiar with me know that I hate the word “toned” so I’m abolishing that word from the rest of this post; I  prefer the word lean and coincidentally this is what a lot of women want.

This is a picture of the first ever Ms. Olympia (1980), Rachel McLish–the only Ms. Olympia in history to never use steroids. She was featured in Pumping Iron II: The Women and from clips I can tell she trained like an animal. Yet, she doesn’t meet the standards of what women today would consider “bulky”.

The first Ms. Olympia, Rachel McLish

A more recent photo of Rachel, still in phenomenal shape

The next shot is of the current and reigning Ms. Olympia, Iris Kyle. I’m not making a statement about what looks better as I am a huge fan of Iris Kyle’s physique (and I’ve seen her up close–she is freaky and statuesque); but from the pic, you can clearly tell the difference in physique compared to 30 years ago.

Six-time Ms. Olympia, Iris Kyle

My point is that both of these women trained (and dieted) hard–the difference is in the drugs that were available then vs. now.

As a woman, if you think doing so much as picking up anything heavier than a 5 pound dumbbell will blow you up into a man, you are mistaken. Even the hardest training girls will have a hard time becoming muscular; and limiting your progress for fear of doing so will keep you closer to the “skinny-fat” end of the spectrum.

A bigger concern should be to optimize body composition. In other words, don’t worry about the weights making you big; it’s the calories that will have more power to do so!

And that’s a another issue entirely . . .

Keeping It Real

I’ve been around the world of bodybuilding/fitness for so long that I no longer want to be involved in the “sport”, at least in the hardcore sense.

The use of hormones is par for the course and it’s not an option for me. Testosterone alone is so potent that a person using it without training would gain muscle mass faster and to a greater degree than the most dedicated and consistent trainee on the best program without steroids.

This is not a judgment against the current state of physical culture. I still enjoy the spectator sport and I gain a lot of inspiration from it; it just comes with the territory–along with breast implants (female), artificial tanning, diuretics, and anything else to get a leg up.

The illegal aspect of bodybuilding drugs is only one aspect of their use. I think other legal practices are far more harmful (second-hand smoke, alcoholism) but that’s another discussion.

In fact, chemical enhancement is so commonplace in these circles that a truly natural bodybuilder wouldn’t look right on stage or in a magazine next to the hardcore bodies. I’m genetically slender as it is, but I believe that most lean, muscular bodies would tend towards wiry if it weren’t for the discovery of steroids.

To determine your true natural potential, use the following equation:

Height in centimeters – 100 = Maximum kg of lean body mass

Additionally, most supplements are a joke. I don’t think they’re completely useless, as they can certainly aid your training and nutrition; but what they’re marketed for and the fact that they’re advertised using models who are on black market drugs is beyond misleading.

Just to retract my seeming negativity; I still love modern physical culture. I’m only calling it like it is.

Diet is Everything

A common expression of getting in shape is, “Nutrition is 70% of your results”.

What does it mean to get in shape? This can mean a number of things, from performance to general health; but in the context of aesthetics, getting in shape mainly involves two things:

1) Building or maintaining muscle mass

2) Losing fat mass

I’ll focus on losing fat mass.

Diet is everything when it comes to losing fat.

Here’s why:

• The major calorie-burning “furnace” of your body are your internal organs (brain, heart, liver, kidneys, lungs). This is an automatic process as long as you are alive.
• Skeletal muscles (the muscles that move your bones) are much less metabolically active (about 5 times less per unit of mass). Even adding pounds of dry muscle to your frame is not an easy feat.
• The difference is when your muscles are active (as they are when you are exercising or moving). However, there is still a practical limit unless you’re an Olympic athlete and assuming your body doesn’t break down from overstress or injury.

It’s a numbers game

• I’m 5’11–my body would require about 1750 calories a day just to stay alive.
• If I add in exercise/activity, I can probably increase this amount by 750. To illustrate, that’s 75 minutes at a moderate pace on an upper/lower body elliptical (10 calories per minute).
• So that’s 2500 calories over a 24-hour period, or just a little over 100 calories per hour. This is my Energy Expenditure.
• There are about 3500 calories stored in one pound of fat.
• Fat cells are dynamic–at any moment, they’re either storing or releasing energy (until they’re completely depleted, at which point you are technically starving).

So what’s the best way to shrink my fat cells?

• Remember, your body burns most of its calories just by staying alive.
• Exercise contributes an additional amount, but not much.
• It’s super easy to consume calories. For example, a “medium” bag of Pretzel M&M’s contains approximately 14oo calories. For someone my size, that would blunt fat-burning for 14 hours (100 calories/hour) or would require 140 minutes of cardio activity (10 calories/min.) just to break even.

Diet is everything. Effort, big or small, is always rewarded. Sometimes, the resistance to not take that bite far outweighs the time you would lose if you did or the amount of exercise you would have to do to compensate.