Making lifestyle changes at work

[Guest guest]

[This is an example of how to make lifestyle changes, in a " just do it "

style. By the way, no matter if you are attempting to loose fat or gain

muscle, you need to eat frequently throughout the day. The only difference

between gaining and loosing is the total caloric intake. Eating many small

meals throughout the day keeps your metabolic fires stoked. People should

not be saying " wow, you eat a lot " . Instead they should say " Wow, you're

always eating " . -- David]

 

http://www.johnberardi.com/products/no_nonsense/qa.htm

 

June 18 2004:

How do can I eat all those meals at work?

 

Q. I'm a personal trainer in NYC, and while I love the information in DVD,

I take issue with one thing. Most days I have 5 or 6 clients in a row, and

I can't just break out the Tupperware and start eating chicken and carrots

in the middle of a session. How, then, do you get all these meals in each

day, and how do you integrate this lifestyle with the realities of the work

environment?

 

A. Good question. The solution involves a different approach to the

problem, though. My question to you -- and this applies equally to personal

trainers, marketing executives, and retail clerks, what have you -- is

this: who says you can't eat on the job?

 

If you answered, " My employer! " then you may indeed have a problem, but

often the answer is no one. No one has told you that you can't do it, yet

you adhere to a perceived social standard that supposedly forbids such

behavior. I know that conventionally this may seem like an odd thing to do,

but I'm going to suggest that you do precisely what you said you couldn't

do. The next session, I want to have you client do bent over rows, and set

the table on his back. Tell him to keep going until you're done your

chicken and carrots.

 

I'm kidding, for the most part. There are certainly occupations in which

eating on the job is difficult and problematic. But I'll tell you this:

personal trainer is not one of those occupations. If you're a personal

trainer and you're not doing what is necessary to stay in shape year round,

you're remiss as an example to your clients.

 

I'm not just saying this from some sort of detached theoretical

perspective, either. I ran a personal training business in Miami Beach for

quite some time, and I would often see 10 to 12 clients a day. And I would

certainly break out the Tupperware: I would plan to eat a certain number of

meals per day and drink a certain number of shakes per day, and I would do

just that, even if it meant eating during a session.

 

Now, I wouldn't just spring it upon my clients and unexpectedly start

wolfing down a meal during their last set of heavy squats. Rather, I would

give a little preface before the workout, letting them know that I had a

scheduled meal coming up, and asking them if they would mind if I ate some

of my food in between sets -- time normally spent shooting the breeze

anyway. As long as it is posed as a request and not forced upon them as an

imposition, the overwhelming majority of people will politely acquiesce.

 

 

This allows you to both meet your own needs and provide an example for your

client. You are in effect saying, " Look, I have a busy job as well, but I'm

finding ways to get it done regardless. " Personal trainers should be both

talking the nutritional talk to client and walking the nutritional walk

themselves; that is, they should be doing both the preaching and the

practicing. To get your 6+ meals per day despite the obstacles presented to

you by your occupation is to do just that.

 

People in all walks of life hold demanding positions, and excuses are easy

to come by. The truth, however, is that hardly any of these are valid when

put to the test. If you want optimal health and body composition, you will

need to do things that are sometimes in conflict with the way things are

" normally " done. You alone can gauge what the consequences will be, but in

my experience, a solution can always be worked out if enough creativity is

applied.

 

For instance, how about taking shorter but more frequent breaks throughout

the day? Most employers are amenable to such an arrangement, and even those

who aren't won't always enforce the rules. Hey, if smokers can find ways to

get away for a puff, why can't healthy eaters seem to find the time?

 

And if your employer is willing to fire you for taking short breaks to eat

healthy, you might want to consider finding a new one, or making yourself

so invaluable otherwise to that employer that they have no choice but to

keep you on. I'm being facetious, of course, and I am aware that

circumstances do exist that preclude a perfectly scheduled eating regime.