by Rory Gardiner
I have always been a pretty active individual. I count myself lucky because I am also susceptible to weight gain. I love to eat, and if I didn’t exercise, I’d be the size of a mobile home. On my own turf, I have my regular gym routine, and my kitchen for preparing meals.
Last month we decided to join the snow birds in Florida for several weeks, and escape the snow. Most Canadians usually increase a belt size after a week of experiencing the large, delicious portions available at all the fine restaurants the United States have to offer. So imagine what would happen to a waist line after an entire month of overindulgence!
There are several subtle habits your can enforce to ensure your daily food intake and activity is balanced throughout your week. My daily routine is rock solid when it comes to controlling my weight. HOWEVER, in a place where I am completely out of my element for several weeks, I needed a backup plan.
I am the type where I need to see all my food gone. I hate wasting, and if it’s in front of me, I am going to eat it. At home, I can usually gauge the portions I am going to eat and only prepare that amount. At a restaurant, all bets are off and they deliver a massive amount, resulting in much salivating, eventual cramps, or in my case, “the meat sweats”. I don’t eat until I’m full, like a normal person. I eat until I hate myself.
I have always been a fan of Tim Ferris, and after reading The 4 Hour Body, I mapped out my plan of action, so that I could enjoy all my favorite meals at all my favorite restaurants with very little opportunity to work out and burn calories. I don’t go to restaurants to eat celery. My goal is to establish my position at the top of the food chain.
After trial and error, Tim discovered that the proper activity done a few minutes before eating can encourage food calories to get shuttled into the muscle cells, before it has a chance to get stored as body fat. What?! “I can eat what I want and not worry about it adding to my already growing gut?” The best part is, you don’t need to have a full work out. 60-90 seconds of resistance training before you eat is enough to deplete your glycogen levels.
The complicated version is that after the short resistance training, your muscles are depleted of glycogen and that a lot of the calories you eat at this time simply serve to refuel these depleted muscles. This actually worked in my favor. My normal routing is a 30 minute work out every day. This new discovery allowed me to work out in brief 1-2 minute bursts throughout the day, at the most optimal times(feeding time).
I found that the multiple mini muscle stimulation throughout the day kept me alert, energized and focused on whatever I was working on that day. Mostly eating. You don’t need to bring Dumbbell’s or a Thigh-Master everywhere you go. There are so many different resistance training exercises you can do with no equipment, while you’re at work, home, anywhere. They can be found with meal ideas, weekly planning, motivation, mental toughness, tips, tricks, and creating new habits in Break Free: The Roadmap to Building a Healthy Lifestyle & Breaking Bad Habits.
So after a month in the sun, sand and giant meal portions, I gratefully did not need to switch to “relaxed fit” jeans. When you have a plan of action, it is much easier not to go off course. When you try to “wing it” , anything can happen! Good luck in your journey!
Rory Gardiner They say if you do what you love, you never have to work a day in your life.
Singer/Songwriter/Author/Entrepreneur/Comedian/Lactose Intolerant Rory Gardiner has seen the success of his compositions published and performed by other artists, as well as songs licensed and synched in TV advertisements airing daily throughout North America.
Rory has appeared on multiple CMT(Country Music Television) nationally broadcasted reality shows in Canada, and keeps a busy 100+ shows a year touring schedule.
Author of “Break Free: The Road Map for Building a Healthy Lifestyle & Breaking Bad Habits.” Using humor, parable and motivation, Rory outlines how the right small changes in a busy lifestyle can have a dramatic effect on how you look and feel.
Rory has recently released his first country music children’s record “Yee-Haw” on iTunes, influenced by becoming a parent himself. The album has already been awarded a “Parents Choice Award”, and Rory states “I can’t wait to see where this adventure takes us next!”
