Coach's Corner With Justin and Ethan

Winning the Holiday Weight Game: Strategies for Guilt-Free Indulgence and Balance

• Justin Schollard • Season 1 • Episode 40

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What if maintaining your weight during the holiday season was as simple as shifting your mindset? Join us as we unpack strategies to navigate from Thanksgiving to New Year's without the dreaded weight gain. Our "zero pound challenge" is designed to empower you to break even on the scale while indulging guilt-free. With 40 years of combined health coaching experience, Justin and Ethan share insights on building "fitness equity" throughout the year, ensuring that you can enjoy holiday festivities while staying balanced and healthy.

Are you trapped in the 'when, then' mindset, waiting for the perfect moment to start your health journey? Discover how to break free from procrastination and take control of your health goals today. We'll discuss the importance of taking immediate action, even when life's events tempt you to postpone your fitness journey. By focusing on calorie management and understanding your maintenance and fat loss levels, you'll be equipped to enjoy special occasions like Thanksgiving without compromising your progress.

Let's talk about enjoying holiday gatherings without guilt. From intermittent fasting to increasing physical activity, we'll explore actionable strategies to help you manage your eating and drinking habits. We emphasize the importance of balance and aligning your choices with personal health goals, so you can savor the season's celebrations without the stress of weight gain. Whether it's making small adjustments like opting for smaller portions or incorporating simple activities, we provide practical tips to help you start the new year on a high note.

Speaker 1:

Hey, hello and welcome to episode 40, the Thanksgiving special of Coach's Corner with Justin and Ethan. I'm host, Justin Scallard, and I am Ethan Wolfe. And did you guys know that between Thanksgiving and New Year's the average American gains eight pounds?

Speaker 2:

That's what's wild Mm-hmm. You know we're talking two months, basically Not even, not even, yeah, not even.

Speaker 1:

Wow, like six weeks maybe Depending on the year.

Speaker 2:

yeah, Six weeks is not that bad, I guess, if you include New Year's five, six weeks.

Speaker 1:

You think about it like it all starts around the last week of november. All of a sudden it's friendsgiving friendsgiving turkey day, then it's the actual day itself, and but then the night before thanksgiving, apparently, is like one of the biggest drinking nights yeah, everybody's off work and back in their hometown or whatever and it's like totally I do or do not want to be here.

Speaker 1:

Let's go get some drinks and then december is just christmas parties and shindigs and then around, you know, around the 20th, like the whole country just basically just hits pause. Yeah, they're just like we're out, it's just you're flying home, you're drinking or whatever.

Speaker 2:

Anyway, so you go into vacation mode and then you, you, you know, close it all off with probably one of the other biggest drinking yeah events of the year. Yeah yeah.

Speaker 1:

So you know, I always say to our clients like we're going to do like a zero pound challenge, meaning that if we can get through Thanksgiving to New Year's and we're breaking even, that's a win, baby.

Speaker 2:

That's a win.

Speaker 1:

So that's what we're going to talk about today is just like how to at least break even around Thanksgiving. I know I'm going to enjoy myself and not really worry too much about how much food I'm eating. I think that, like the reason we track calories, the reason we pay attention is because we're building fitness equity up. We're building equity, which is your cushion.

Speaker 1:

And then when the vacations come and the holiday seasons come, and that that's when you tap into that equity and you get to just sort of like coast for a few days and then get back on track, but that equity back up, and then you can coast and again, and if you do it right, you can allow yourself those days where you don't have to. You know, just like, sit there weighing all of your stuff every single day.

Speaker 2:

if you either stay the same or even gain a few pounds during the year and then fall somewhere within range of the average weight gain for the end of the year Makes sense. For all of a sudden, three, four years, you're like oh, I've gained 30 pounds. Yeah, four or five years gain 30 pounds.

Speaker 1:

And you're like well, if we could like travel back through time and probably would be in that last quarter of the year you're doing that five to eight at the end of each year and then if you're not paying attention, so yeah 100, right it's like we want to.

Speaker 2:

We want to be able to enjoy ourselves, we want to have an enjoyable life. We don't want to live in a cage all the time, so to speak. Not all the time, not all the time, it's just, you know, just sometimes, just sometimes.

Speaker 1:

But uh, so anyways, uh, if you don't know who we are, um, we are essentially health coaches, uh, in general. In particular, I think that any good health coach eventually kind of just moves more into lifestyle and nutrition. I think that's what we could classify ourselves, as I own an online business right now where we work with people who who, um, you know, just need some accountability, structure, coaching, weight loss, nutrition, all that good stuff. Ethan owns a studio, um a gym here in los angeles where he does the same thing, just just kind of more in person. But we've known each other for a long time. We've worked together for many years and combined, we have like 20 years of experience each in this world. So that's why we feel a little qualified. The hell bind is 40. That's 40 years on, episode 40. And I'm 40.

Speaker 2:

And he's turning 40 next month, two months from now, but actually at the end of December, end of the year. Coincidence Still 2024. I don't think so.

Speaker 1:

Anyway. So what we're going to do today is just chat a little bit about like what we would do and what we'd recommend to our clients, turning into fall kind of rolling into the holiday season. Now we're going to use Thanksgiving because I think about this time that episode will come out it'll be around Thanksgiving, but really you can use this as a framework for vacations and for any holiday, or what have you. So, first and foremost, what's a typical Thanksgiving weekend look like for folks out there?

Speaker 2:

I think yeah, I mean we mentioned it earlier, but definitely drinking is involved for most adults. Obviously, not everybody drinks, so I don't want to put everybody into a pigeonhole there, but Wednesday is the biggest drinking day of the year. Apparently, wednesday before Thanksgiving is the yeah and, like I said, it's whether maybe you want to be home, or maybe you don't want to be home. You're probably or maybe yeah, you want to go out and have a drink.

Speaker 1:

You're either back at home with your folks and you meet up with old friends, or you don't have any friends and you just sit at home drinking.

Speaker 2:

You don't want to hang out with your folks, and so you go like I'm going to be out, I'll be back.

Speaker 2:

But anyway, and so yeah, and I think there's kind of like an obviously a gluttonous which I'm not saying is a bad thing. Like you know, we all have that I think some part of us is like oh yeah, what, what good things are there to eat? Or just that mentality of it's. It's a kind of a complete free-for-all with food. Yeah, I think that the weekend as a whole obviously just kind of turns into a just uh, let it all go, fuck it. Mentality.

Speaker 2:

Often especially for you know, within the context of people that might be on a weight loss or body composition journey. Yeah, but even for most people, I think most people are just like whatever yeah, just everybody.

Speaker 1:

And and I think that like this is this is the work, guys. So if you're listening to this stuff and you're curious about health and fitness and weight loss and you're you want to really nail this thing and not just be the statistic where you lose 10 pounds and then gain it back because it was thanksgiving, and lose another 10 pounds and then gain it back because it was a vacation, but like actually like get, get like over that threshold where you're like I look and feel great and I'm right where I want to be and I feel like I'm on top of this now, then this is the work. And here we are going into another holiday season where already, on consultation calls, we're hearing a lot of well, maybe this all sounds great.

Speaker 1:

Maybe I'll just start in the new year, yep Cause and it's like cause you know, cause you know that what this next fucking six weeks is going to look like for you.

Speaker 2:

You know the, the amount of you know discipline or the the. You know the current you're either like oh, you don't want another piece of pie, you have that grandmother, parent, uncle, and yeah, you know that's just like, oh, but like your plate's so small or whatever.

Speaker 1:

It's just this like if it's just this, like, if, then fallacy, you know, or excuse me, excuse me, when, then fallacy? Like when the holidays are over, then I'll get serious about my nutrition. When I have more money, then I'll start saving more money, it's like. But that's the trap that keeps people stuck forever. But if you were to talk to anybody who does the thing that you're trying to accomplish aka put on 10 pounds of muscle, lose 20 pounds of fat both you just start and you just start and you just look at it as like you got to take ownership right now, in the day, in the moment, and not keep waiting and postponing for this like better time that you've convinced yourself exists. Yet another 10 years have gone by and that better time, for whatever reason, just still hasn't shown up.

Speaker 2:

For you realized quite yet. Right, because yeah, it's gonna be. It's gonna be a dance of having to create new behaviors and that's never gonna be easy, right, it's just how we're wired and all that good stuff, and so the idea that if some other circumstance changes, that'll make this other behavior change more accessible. Even if that is true to some degree, for which there are many situations in life, the fundamental line is you're still going to have to be faced with new behavior change. So whether you have more money or your kid goes away to school or it's after the holidays, just because it's January 7th, doesn't mean you're all of a sudden going to want to inherently just automatically do everything you're supposed to do. Now. I'll just do my 10,000 steps count my calories, exercise three days a week.

Speaker 2:

You know, it's just that you get eight hours of sleep. It's just like oh, now that it's January 7th, it'll all just fall into place.

Speaker 1:

It's like no, it's not going to happen. Well, it hasn't yet, and you're 40 years old, so this, it's the symbolism of like a fresh start, like I do like that, like okay, it's january, like let's, let's write some goals, like let's set some goals for the year, and that's cool, yeah, and reflect, but let's not wait in depth, let's not keep using that as a reason why we postpone and delay. Right and convince yourself that it's okay to procrastinate on what's important because there's always going to be something else.

Speaker 2:

Like you, what if your birthday is january 15th?

Speaker 1:

yeah, right anniversary is on february 12th. I mean tanya and I like to. It's tanya's birthday, it's super bowl, it's our anniversary from when we met and now it's going to be our wedding anniversary and we're this year we're going to be, I mean there's. It's like, for example, like that would be just like february.

Speaker 2:

You know what I mean so like I'm good for january, then like february is a fucking mess yeah, and so that that could so easily be like well, I could start in january, but february is going to be so crazy.

Speaker 1:

I'll start in march.

Speaker 2:

I'll start in march all right, we got a quarter down yeah, yeah, there you go. You could have already been there twice yeah, yeah, you could have been to your goal twice but memorial day yeah, you know I'll just kick it off. Spring is happening, our kids are going back.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so you know, if this is going to be you, then, and if this is a, if this is an identity that you want to possess, which I hope that it is, it's a, it's worthwhile, then here's what we do. Okay, here's what we do. We look at it, we just it takes. Just like the old saying, it's like an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It's the same thing. It's like here we are, we have a runway. You know Thanksgiving is coming.

Speaker 1:

Hopefully this episode gets out a week or two earlier, so if you do hear it, you can put this into action. But it's like, let's just think about, like, what are some strategies to set you up for success, for the weekend, really, and then the day in particular, and then you can use this as a framework for other things. But, like, at the end of the day, we're playing the calorie game. And if the goal is body recomposition, and that means essentially some combination of going through a fat loss phase to lean out and then maybe like a push phase to build some muscle, but we are playing the calorie game and, man, you'd be surprised on how many calories an adult can eat in one day, especially on a day like thanksgiving, where there's like no limitations and you wake up, you start drinking some beer and I wake up maybe, but like, yeah, you start drinking beers before seven.

Speaker 1:

Crack your beers. Yeah, yeah, you start drinking some beer. You know I wake up.

Speaker 2:

Maybe but like, yeah, you start drinking some beers before Seven. Crack your beers. Yeah, yeah, Start cracking your first beer. People start drinking like noon. Easy, yeah, just go to an airport. Oh man.

Speaker 1:

God. That's a side note, a little tangent, but man, I can't believe that yeah thousands of calories, especially like we just tend to like generalize food.

Speaker 1:

Yes, it's a lot it's a little, but like the margin of error is small and people don't realize that where, especially if you're like let's just say hypothetically your case study you're like a you know 38 year old woman or you know 40 year old dude and maybe you're not that physically active. Maybe you train sometimes but you don't have a ton of muscle mass on you. You're not that active Like man. You know the difference between, like losing or gaining a pound of fat a week is like that one little extra snack in the afternoon. Really, if you're eating at maintenance and you have like a 500 calorie snack every day, that could be an extra pound of fat a week that you're putting on. You know, and you're wondering, like what the hell's going on? I don't even eat that bad.

Speaker 1:

So, anyways, all that to say, we have the weekend coming up, so what we'd recommend, what I'd recommend, is we sort of like start thinking about how we can get a little bit more accurate and start shaving calories off as the day approaches, right? So hopefully you track some sort of calories, hopefully you understand how many calories your body needs and if you don't, um, I think a good, good rule of thumb for like maintenance would be like your body weight times 15. Yeah, that sounds about right. So if you're 200 pounds, that's 3 000. That'd be like a maintenance calorie. Maybe it's a little on the high end somewhere between 13 and 15. It'd be like a maintenance?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I was going to say 13.

Speaker 1:

If you want, to go into a fat loss back of the napkin rule of thumb your body weight times 10. Definitely Something like that, right? So that would give you your calories. So if you're a 150-pound person, times 10 to 1500 calories, that'd be like a fat loss thing for you, right? So hopefully you understand that at least, right? So now it's like okay, we want you to just, we want to just be able to let go on the day like you're saying in some capacity, right, yeah, because there's ritual.

Speaker 1:

Even just like new year's eve there's just like unplugging yeah, just doing the thing so then you, what I'd suggest is a couple of things here Shaving an extra 500 calories off every day for like four days leading up to it, or even to a few hundred calories off for like a full week 150, 200, but just thinking about the week ahead, Because one way to think about the calories is a weekly aggregate.

Speaker 2:

Obviously we look at it as a daily calorie and I think that's more accurate, but you can also look at it as a weekly aggregate. You know, obviously we look at it as a daily calorie and I think that's more accurate, but you can also look at it as a weekly aggregate. And so if you were to put your weekly aggregate together and the total calories you need for a week and you were to kind of shave some off every day you know, obviously if you're a larger individual, a larger male, you know 500 calories I think is doable. If obviously you're a smaller person, 500 might be a little much. Maybe 200 calories, that kind of gives you a little bit of a you know, a summed deficit for when you get there, so that you have a little more cushion to enjoy yourself yeah, think of it this way.

Speaker 1:

Think of it like okay, let's say you get a paycheck, right, and your paycheck is 5 000 bucks, and every time you get a paycheck, you know a certain allocation goes here, certain allocation goes there, uh. And let's just say you have a special account for vacations, uh and but this year is a big vacation. This year, you know it's instead of just a regular week like you normally do. This one's going to be two weeks and you're going and you're going to take fancier tickets and you're staying at fancy hotels. So you need to save a little extra more, yeah, but the vacation's not for another few months. You got a handful of paychecks coming up.

Speaker 1:

So maybe, instead of the normal 1% or 2% of your check that you would allocate towards leisure maybe because this one's a doozy we might want to like shave off like 3% or 4% in that same account, and that's the analogy with calories and sort of like building a bigger deficit leading up to a high day, so that you know, once it all kind of nets out, it's the same and you haven't. You've saved up, so to speak, as many calories to give or take as you might consume extra over that weekend, exactly.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know, and even if it comes out to a net zero, you've mitigated any weight gain, the damages, you're mitigating having to pull out the credit card on vacation, that kind of a thing.

Speaker 1:

When you're five days in it's a little bit pricier than you thought. You open up your wallet. You see the debit card. You flip back to the credit card.

Speaker 2:

You're like I'm going to put this meal on this guy.

Speaker 1:

You know what, I'll figure this out later.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, it's a future me problem. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's exactly how that goes too, and so you know, just to help prevent that potentiality from coming to fruition, practicing a little restraint for the week before you go on Thanksgiving, 100% Maybe you, you know, just like I think a big would be like don't drink. If you can like, just don't even drink, yeah, yeah, just see for definitely, especially if you're including that weekend.

Speaker 2:

If you're doing a solid like thursday to thursday, yeah, I cut the alcohol out, you know, and other things too of like the anticipatory component of get your steps in, yeah, exercise in, just just really try to meet everything else that's going to encourage the healthy lifestyle and decision making up till that point, totally blow it out. So stay a couple extra hours for overtime.

Speaker 1:

Totally imagine, like the week before you go you maybe you're trying to hit 10 000 steps but if you're being honest, really only getting like six and a half thousand. Yeah, maybe just like pushing it. That extra 4,000, that's an extra 100 calories you burned. You know you don't stop drinking booze and like, if there's any like little sweets around not so you can't ever have them, but just don't buy them when you go grocery shopping for the last time, just so they're not tempting you in the fridge or the cupboards. You know, just like little things like that.

Speaker 1:

You know making Things like that. You know making better food choices so you're feeling fuller longer, so you're just less tempted to snack. Like you know single ingredient foods, lots of veggies and lean protein, just so you're like satiated and you're not like sitting there munching all day long. You know so, even if you don't track your calories, think just like making just simple, better choices like that can really go a long way. And then also a side benefit of that is that when you do show up to, if you're going to see your family and old friends, you're gonna look great right, you're gonna be like damn you look good.

Speaker 1:

Right, because you've just been drinking all your water and eating your protein and veggies and hitting your step goal every day. You know okay, and then you might just be like, well damn that's positive feedback.

Speaker 1:

Maybe I'll keep this lifestyle exactly right, um, but I think yeah, so, so that's that's kind of like leading up, just to like give you that cushion, you know, deposit that into the old bank account, if you know what I mean. You know building that fitness equity going into you know the weekend, um, but then you know even like day of, oh yeah, what would you suggest?

Speaker 2:

I would say similar strategy right, like you're going to want to. You know we're looking to because I would say fundamentally, and we can talk about some potential strategies for the meal itself. But I think most people are going to want to indulge or have food freedom in that moment, in the sense of being able to eat what they want and how much of it. You don't want to be the one that's not eating the dessert that grandma made or somebody bought from the supermarket, whatever. There's just a lot of reasons that you might want to participate.

Speaker 1:

Grandma bought from the supermarket. Exactly, grandma bought from the supermarket.

Speaker 2:

And so I think it's in the same way. You want to create as much cushion as possible within that day, and so if you have a 2,000 calorie allotment for that day, basically how much of the day can you get through so that you can just use all of that budget for the one meal?

Speaker 1:

Because, like eating a lot of food throughout a day I mean I've seen like 150 pound women plow through like 4,000 calories and over the course of a day.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because it's like, even if it's a large meal if you know. Especially high fat content, not a lot of volume. Yeah, you'll get full, like if you eat a big juicy burger with bacon on it. You'll be full, but then you will eventually get hungry. And if you eat early enough, yeah, your stomach will clear it out. You'll you'll have a big stretch stomach. You'll have, you'll have your hunger hormones flowing from the calorie dump and then you're gonna potentially do that again. And so if you start early and eat throughout the day, you can have three large meals plus snacks, and let's say you're drinking if you're on vacation or whatever.

Speaker 1:

Easy three thousand yeah, easy, and for 99 people that's a surplus, but like so. So the idea is that it's very, if you eat multiple, multiple meals throughout the day on like a holiday or whatever, or a vacation for that matter, it is incredibly easy to unintentionally over consume oh, it's just so easy to do, especially when you throw a booze in there.

Speaker 2:

Each glass of wine is 150 yeah, yeah, if you're beers, it's even more.

Speaker 1:

I mean, uncle paul pulls out a bottle of wine at at 1 pm and well, it's a holiday, next thing you know by by 10 pm you're eight drinks in and you know it's just so easy to just blow through thousands and thousands.

Speaker 1:

So I think the idea is that if you know your maintenance right, your body weight times 14 or 15, and then, if you know your, if the goal is to deficit your body weight times 10, let's just say we're just going to aim for maintenance this day. So if that is somewhere around, you know 2500 calories, which is like most people's maintenance calories. Yep, just push off eating as long as you can get up, chug a bunch of water, continue water.

Speaker 2:

Maybe have some caffeine black coffee, regular coffee tea but just some caffeine which can act a little bit of a appetite suppressant and just, yeah, try to avoid any type of meal that day in until the big giant meal, because realistically any human will easily eat at least maintenance but probably surplus, especially again if alcohol is included in the day in the one thanksgiving meal, totally, and there's a couple things right. So again, if you're, if you don't want to be completely famished, like maybe you have like a protein shake and a piece of fruit, right, or you even have like two protein shakes. You have a protein shake in the morning with a piece of fruit, you have a protein shake around lunch, depending how early you get up. And now, like that's what, two, three through, maybe 400 calories at most, depending if you have the fruit.

Speaker 1:

So now you got like 2 000 calories left to just like go ham and even if it's fatty, 2 000 calories in one meal. That's.

Speaker 2:

That's work that is work and it's also even if you over consume and you go past 2000, let's say alcohol included, at least again we're mitigating damages right it's the same idea of, you know, gaining zero pounds over the holidays versus losing weight.

Speaker 2:

So if you've been on this weight loss mission since the summer and you're going for through you're planning on more than six months worth of time you can look at not gaining any weight during the holiday as a win If the average is eight pounds, and I think it's the same idea of like, instead of gaining five pounds from Thanksgiving, if you gained a pound and a half, it's kind of a win.

Speaker 2:

And if you had not paid attention and not put the strategies into play, the damage would be sky high, totally so I think that's kind of the idea. And high, totally so I think that's kind of the idea. And you know, just stay hydrated, keep your stomach full of water and then that way, when you get to the meal, you can do that big ass plate loaded up and have fun.

Speaker 1:

Gravy's leaking off the side just once it's over.

Speaker 2:

Just feel awful and, like you know, just thanksgiving yeah and also there's a component that, like, by not eating all day, your stomach will shrink and you will get full faster, and that's just going to be how you feel and so that's just going to be an automatic stop to you eating, most likely. I mean, obviously, we can eat more enough where we're full, but you know, just psychologically you're just not going to want more food, and so there's a that's that inherently, is also a strategy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and then you know, I think, and so that way that day is kind of as we were talking about there's as much cushion as possible, mitigate as much damage and then also give you as much freedom as you can, because any degree of these strategies put into play will make an effect. So, whether you don't have any meals but you start drinking at noon, well, at least you haven't induced the calories from the meals. Be careful how much you drink before dinner.

Speaker 1:

And don't throw up everywhere. I've been to thanksgiving years, I think, where someone just got absolutely shit. Oh yeah, I've definitely by dinner time. We're like hurling in the bathroom.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we get there and like you, know if somebody brings out a little whiskey and you start drinking whiskey? On an empty stomach a couple pours in and then yeah, next thing you know, it's like actually time for food and they're all just like green so yeah, obviously don't do that.

Speaker 2:

We're not condoning drinking, but we're just saying. I think what I'm saying is that any degree of engagement with the strategies will be helpful and if you can engage them all, you'll get the most help. And it will just end in you being able to have complete food freedom and you can sit down at that meal as guilt-free as possible you can enjoy yourself. You can eat everything. You can have your seconds.

Speaker 1:

Eat the pie yeah, exactly, and I think that's like, just looking at it is like, okay, here's everything I can do. But that doesn't mean that it's a binary where if you don't do any of you have to do it all or nothing. It's like it can certainly just be all right. I like the idea of shaving a few hundred calories off every day, but on thanksgiving day I don't want to think about it. Okay, great, that's actually a really great place to start. Or maybe you're like, ah, I'll just do the, basically the intermittent fasting idea on thanksgiving day and then I'll just like, if my maintenance calorie is somewhere between two and twenty five hundred, then whatever, it'll probably be somewhere around there one huge meal plus drinks, and that's fine too. So that's all great. Um, you know, it just depends on, like, where you're at in this process, and that's fine too. So that's all great.

Speaker 1:

Um, you know, it just depends on, like, where you're at in this process and there's a journey, because it's an iterative journey, it's an iterative process. It's not something that, like, you ever arrive at this, like you know, promised land where everything's like perfect. It's like you're always going to have to be adjusting and acclimating your choices and behaviors with where you are in your life and your and age in your activity level, and who you surround yourself with and what circumstance you find yourself in. There's all these factors, and so it's just like having a few of these strategies in your tool belt that, in these occasions, you can whip out Day of no planning. I'm just doing an intermittent fast.

Speaker 1:

Easy peasy, I just won't eat until the meal Easy peasy Done yeah Right, fast, easy. I just won't eat until the meal easy peasy done yeah right, um. Or just like, if you, if you are a little bit more like task oriented and you like that, like process orientation, then fine, yeah, maybe you have some. You can gamify, you know, like more steps and less calories the week leading up yes maybe that's okay too. Yeah, you know, one more thing that I'd like to to throw out.

Speaker 1:

There is, just from a little bit more, like you know, physiological standpoint you know, if you were to on the day of on turkey day, let's say, you know, do like a 10 or 15 minute HIIT workout. It can be body weight. Maybe you're at your mom's house, in your bedroom that you, you know, grew up in, it still has posters of all your superheroes on the wall and everything. Or maybe you know you're on some tropical island with, like you know, your, your hot girlfriend who knows? But like, whatever the case might be, no matter where you are, just like, get a clock for 10 minutes, pick three exercises and do as many rounds as possible for 10 minutes push-ups, squats, sit-ups yeah, knock them out.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, like plank jacks lunges, burpees like Jump squats Like just pick a few exercises, don't overthink it and just go. The point isn't to like develop a certain body part. The point is to create and induce sort of like a glycolytic pathway sort of response where your body has to drain those calories a little bit out of your muscle storage. To drain those calories a little bit out of your muscle storage so that when you have your meal you've essentially like opened up those receptors so your body can pull some of that those calories from your food in right into your muscle.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's like the gas tanks are empty versus the fat tanks are you know? So it's like you can put a little bit in the gas tank before it goes into the infinite fat tanks.

Speaker 1:

Yes, because once the gas tanks fall, it goes into the fat tanks. It goes into the fat tanks, that's exactly right.

Speaker 2:

And even going on a walk. You know it's like you know we're all off that day. Maybe you're hungover, maybe you're not, but like the bottom line is, yet again, take a walk with your family or take a walk to have a break from your family.

Speaker 2:

You know I mean be keeping it real. Go for a jog, maybe. Jog, yeah, but even if you know you have that whole morning and day off, any amount of activity is going to kind of and again, it's not necessarily about the caloric burn. It's like justin said, it's just that that you're basically allocating storage potentials. Obviously there's calories involved, but you're literally just allocating storage potentials so that some percentage of the meal that you're going to eat doesn't go into fat stores.

Speaker 1:

It's as simple as that yep, yeah, yeah, you get your big muscle groups firing um.

Speaker 1:

You know, it's just, it's just, it's just open, it's just clearing the channel, it's clear, it's clearing the channel so that way it's not just this huge pile up of food in your in your body yeah, that you're going to be puffy and swollen for days trying to metabolize but but you just kind of like, open up the gates a little bit, clear the channel so when you do consume that there's somewhere for your body to put it, instead of just the fat tank Totally.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so we've made it through Thanksgiving. Yeah, we've still got the weekend off. Just fuck it Right.

Speaker 1:

Drink and eat all day I mean Thanksgiving is a Thursday. I don't gotta be back to work till Monday, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm till monday? Yeah, I'm still. So now I'm still back home in my parents house, right?

Speaker 1:

yeah, nothing to do but drink yeah I mean yep yeah so what do you do?

Speaker 1:

I think that at that point it's like it's just this is just a time to let off the gas, and it's important, I think, spiritually, I think I think physically. There's a lot you could argue of, just like not having to be in go mode. I think, yeah, like this long weekend, and then you can have a few weeks in December to kind of get yourself back on track, and then another week or so over the holidays, but like, yeah, I think that there's just something really important about just like giving yourself permission to just take your foot off the gas, yeah, and just be, not be on all the time but, but that being said no, yes, take your foot off the gas, but but also don't.

Speaker 1:

But that doesn't mean that you then obliterate all of your progress, either like, like. Just because I've been really good at saving for a vacation doesn't mean that I need to like make sure that I spend everything. Either you know what I mean, so it's to like make sure that I spend everything, either you know what I mean, so it's just like. It's just be okay with taking your foot off the gas and just eating if you're hungry, but don't feel like you just have to throw down more and more just because it's there and because there's a American culture around stuffing yourself on this weekend Gorging Right, and it's just it's.

Speaker 1:

Do I actually want another slice of pie right now? I really don't if I think about it, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Or have I had one.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm actually pretty full. I could eat another.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, they're offering more, but do I need it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, do I need it? And it's also like again, it's one of those things that and I'll be first to admit that when I have eaten super big meals and I'm puffy and I'm hungover or just any degree of that the next day, the last thing I want to do sometimes is go and exercise. But you know, you do have off for the weekend where you might have been working for eight hours that Friday or more or less, but whatever, let's say average eight, that's eight hours you have free. So let's say you get to sleep in. You know, there is kind of a component of like owing yourself just a little bit, just a little bit, to at least go take a walk, like you've got the day off, just go.

Speaker 2:

It doesn't have to be all 10,000 steps in one go, but just like go for a walk for 30 minutes or more, not like a little 10 minute block walk, but like commit to something, just do something. Take the opportunity of a novel schedule and a novel moment to just, you know, honor moving your body. You're going to feel better afterwards. Afterwards you're going to be able to eat more food if that's what you're doing, no, but you'll just feel better. And so I think there's just this opportunity of, like, you know, going on a walk doesn't have to be being on, it can be like wow, it's kind of brisk and beautiful autumn out yeah you know, and whatever it might be.

Speaker 2:

So I think there's just like a ways of like kind of having your cake and eating it too, and like I understand wanting to just completely laze on the couch and do nothing, do whatever. But if you also just like go to the gym the day afterwards, you might like and you know that that's not like it can be.

Speaker 1:

I mean, if you've been exercising long enough, then exercise is meditative in a lot of ways and it is like a little bit of space you have just for you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah 100 so you know, there's nothing wrong with that at all. On the other hand, if you've been training really hard for a long time and restricting calories and and training and you've been just like really pushing, I think that like the whole point is to then is if we, if we never let off the gas, then like to like, what's the point of it all anyways? And so I think that, depending kind of like your own temperature, of just like where you're at, but if it's important, especially you need to get away from the family, just like go do a day pass at a gym and just be gone for a few hours like I get that 100 percent, um, but if it's also like you feel like you have to work out, you're gonna lose something like that's not the right headspace.

Speaker 2:

I would agree I mean, I think it's. It is about balance. And if you're somebody that doesn't practice, you know a healthy lifestyle, so to speak, and I'm saying that you're unhealthy, right, but you know, if you don't exercise, you're not doing steps, you don't calorie count. Maybe that's when you can owe it to yourself to do a little bit of a walk or something. You know and I think there, so it does, it does. Balance is different for different lives. Like you said, if you've got somebody who's really regimented, who's on their game all the time, balance for that might just be.

Speaker 2:

This weekend is off. Yeah, I'll do whatever I want. Yeah, maybe I'll go for my walk. Yeah, because I'm walking. It just makes us feel good. It's not even about being disciplined, it's just like I'm just gonna feel better, right. So yeah, and I think yeah. But it's one of those things that, especially if you are on a body composition change, if you are looking to lose weight and you don't want to lose it all, do cut the middle ground somewhere. Like I'm not saying that you got to go right back to calorie counting and staying away from the leftovers, but maybe it's like when it's time to have a slice of pie, you have a half a slice. I'm not saying don't eat the pie, I'm not even saying count the calorie, but just maybe have a half a slice like what, like what, what's the?

Speaker 1:

what's the you know inflection point where you actually are pretty satisfied but you still find yourself eating and you're like I don't really want this, but I'm just eating anyways, like trying to be a conscious of that inflection point with all of your meals, of just okay, you know what. I'm actually really satisfied and I feel there might be some pure pressure to finish, but if I'm being honest with myself, I don't really want anymore.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's okay to advocate, I think, for yourself a little bit. It's like oh my god, it was so good. Thank you so much, it was delicious.

Speaker 2:

But I'm okay, I'm awful, and I think it's like, depending on how attached you are and how how important your goal is, that those little decisions like having a half slice of pie is going to mean that when monday rolls around and you get back on the scale because you're on this journey, you're not going to be that upset because that's a really important point.

Speaker 1:

It's like it's like because, yeah, if it's, there is going to be a monday version of you yes, right, if you're invested like I know, it's friday but there, but monday you is two days away, and monday you is going to hop on that scale and go fuck right, like I just took away two or three weeks worth of work, yeah, and and like you might not want to do that, and so there's just a degree.

Speaker 2:

And again, I think, as to what Justin was saying, like balance and how you approach the weekend is going to be different from different people, and I do think balance is important and I think that that balance includes, like, where you are on that journey and if you're somebody who is looking to lose weight, that it's not about just doing nothing once you've gotten through, you know, nothing indulgent or nothing enjoyable once you've gotten through thanksgiving meal, but just maybe some some middle ground decisions can just mean that it's only a three pound gain on monday versus seven or whatever. Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1:

Whatever the example, yeah, exactly giving a couple pounds up after a holiday. That's a win yeah most of it. If it's just a couple pounds, it's likely that it's just water weight.

Speaker 2:

Some water maybe, if you're like seven pounds like man.

Speaker 1:

That's probably a lot of water weight, but it's also probably some fat in there too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you definitely were pushing yeah you were pushing hard, yeah, um.

Speaker 1:

so you might say there we go, guys like I think, um, I hope that helps give you guys some, some strategies and again, this is in the context of thanksgiving, but certainly this could apply for any vacation or long weekend you have coming up Like just think about it ahead of time just a tad and how you would like.

Speaker 1:

You know you're the architect of your own life and if you just take a second to just not just get swept up in the current but look at it for a second and be like what could I do? And then you know it's like so much of that trajectory of our life is, you can extrapolate down to like the quality of attention you put on the immediate future, like what is my intention in this trip, and making a few little, you know, outline bullet points. Like that can really shape how your Monday you is going to feel You're going to feel about it yeah, about it, yeah I feel about your friday.

Speaker 1:

You, yeah for the friday, you mean monday you do not like each other. Yeah, cool. Okay, guys, that was episode 40 corner thanksgiving special and uh, we will check you all next time. Peace out, peace.