I want to start this article by saying that I am not writing it to justify drinking and overeating. If you are looking for that then stop reading this right now and do 50 pushups. I am writing this because I am not a “purist” trainer who believes you must eat brown rice, chicken breast, and broccoli to get results. It is possible to “splurge on occasion and stay on track with your fitness goals. In addition to this, I have been a trainer for over 12 years and I KNOW you will not be perfect. I know, especially in the beginning, that you will have moments of weakness and cave in. My philosophy is that if you I know you fail once in awhile then I want to teach you how to fail and more importantly how to get back on track.
This article is not intended for someone who is just getting started. If you are just getting started then I am sorry, you are not strong enough to take this action. You are still getting the “CRACK” (sugar) out of your system and need to stay focused a little longer. This article is intended only for people who have achieved half their goal or, are in their second month of advanced boot camp. Only then are you strong enough to blow it like this and recover, without regressing. It is very important that before you read this article you have a complete understanding of the 1st Law of Thermodynamics and calorie staggering. If you do not, you must the article on “How body fat really leaves the body.” Do not continue if you have not read that article.
So, you have a big party coming up and you really want to enjoy it. What do you do? For the most part you have been very consistent on your program and have enjoyed some success. You want to have fun, but you don’t want to “blow” your program either. Here is how you can minimize the damage. Let’s say you get an average of 1300 calories per day in order to achieve your desired deficit. That would mean you get a total of 9100 calories for the week. Your week might look like this:
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1800 1100 1300 1200 1100 1500 1100
This is a good calorie staggering program for someone and it helps keep homeostasis from coming on too strong. If you look at example #1 below you can see how to plan a week so that you have enough reserve calories to really blow it on Friday. There two important things to notice. The first is that you only get 600 calories on Tuesday. You want to treat that day like a “fast.” It is not normal to fast once a week, however, it should not be normal for you to go on a drinking binge once a week. This is meant to be a very rare and special occasion. I would say no more than once every 6 months. The second thing you will notice is that the calories total 9600 for the week. That is 500 calories above the desired amount.
Example #1
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1100 1100 600 1100 1100 3500 1100
So, that means you need to take a Boot Camp class or put yourself through a very intense workout on Saturday or Sunday. DO NOT be willing to have a good time on Friday and not be willing to work a little harder on Saturday or Sunday.
In example #2 you are going to get a little more calories for each day, however you will do a complete “fast” one day during the week. You still have 500 calories extra so you need to throw in that extra day of intense physical activity. Obviously if you get more than 1300 calories per day you have a little more flexibility. This is just a guide for you to use.
Example #2
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1200 1300 Fast 1500 1100 3500 1100
I want to re-iterate my point on drunken behavior and overeating. This article is not intended to teach you to cheat or justify bad decisions. In addition, this article is not for people who are just getting started on their fitness program. This is only for people who are strong enough to go to the “dark side” momentarily and then quickly come back to the “light side.” I only consider someone strong enough to do this if they have reached at least half their goal or completed month #2 of advanced Boot Camp.
If you need help determining and tracking your individual calorie staggering program you can get this assistance in ELITE BOOT CAMP.
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