Grateful for Food & for YOU - Guide to Free Meals
In an age where it seems like EVERYONE is now a coach, there’s lots of “information” out there. One coach designed a carb depletion process you start earlier in the week in order to “earn” your Thanksgiving meal and another well-known bodybuilding coach has promised to fire any clients who refuse to participate in Thanksgiving meal.
These posts are pithy and cute and get lots of engagement but are not useful in the real world for real people. The number of coaches spouting off and issuing bombastic edicts like those regarding Thanksgiving is astounding – so obviously I need to add my own take! =P I promise it’s much more nuanced.
First off, you’re an adult and you can do what you want. Although, it would be silly and pointless to act like an unsupervised 3-year-old pigging out for no other reason than to rebel and gorge themselves. However, if you think you need to pig out on Thanksgiving to have "quality time" with your family, then you're probably doing life wrong and that does not seem conducive to the bodybuilding lifestyle.
Absolutely get together with your family (or your friends for Friendsgiving) and celebrate and partake! The goal is to enrich family and personal life. Doing so does not have to be contrary to being a bodybuilder! Done right, in addition to the psychological break from dieting, you get a variety of nutrients your body wouldn’t normally receive and the spike in calories can actually help boost your metabolism.
1st rule: Get your Protein! Cover the basics. If you want to build a brick wall, you’ll need lots of bricks and if you want to build more muscle this offseason, then you’ll need lots of protein. Here’s your chance, get it! The rest of the macros will take care of themselves.
2nd rule: “Don’t waste the calories!” Instead of thinking you need to “earn your calories” why not look at it as “let’s put them to work!” Doing Leg Day (or whatever your weak point) either Thanksgiving morning or the Friday after so you can use the rush of nutrients for an insane pump and replenish glycogen stores seems like a win!
3rd rule: Have guardrails in place. Those other coaches are making lots of assumptions, chief among them is that Thanksgiving dinner is a singular event. For many of us, it isn’t. If dinner is at our home, there’s food being prepared all day, even days before, and people “graze.” Then there’s the second, third, and even fourth dinner – one for each divorced parent, in-law, or child. And then you get days of leftovers so that one dinner your coach could fire you for is actually now a whole week of extreme caloric surplus comprised of foods that are hard to enter and log into your MyFitnessPal or Team Biff Coaching app!
For Team Biff members this is a FREE MEAL. I say “free” instead of “cheat” because I plan for it, it’s actually built into the plan. (But if you want to feel like you’re getting away with something you shouldn’t then, yeah, you can make a post saying you’re “cheating.”) It’s for one sitting, no more than 3 hours long. Have one slice of pie, but not the WHOLE pie. (The third and fourth slices never taste as good as the first, anyway!) If you need to visit multiple dinners, then split up the courses between them.
4th rule: “The devil is in the dose!” I’m a firm believer in the “moderation in all things” principle and that applies well to alcohol. One professor pointed out that if we truly understood what was happening in our bodies to our metabolism and our brains when we drank, we wouldn’t want to do it. So, to fix that most stay blissfully ignorant and go on to discover it takes only 17 White Claws to get drunk! (Also, sadly, it needs to be said: if you drink, do not drive.)
Final rule: Remember the reason for the season – “an attitude of gratitude keeps the crazies at bay!” What we are grateful for multiplies. We’re very blessed to even have this discussion. I’m grateful to each one of the members of Team Biff and I wish you and your family a very warm and enriching Thanksgiving holiday.
Yours in fitness and health,
-Coach Biff.
Clients: Unless you’re in prep (you know who you are), do your best logging your food and Daily Habits. Remember though, the longer you’re out of it, the harder it is to get back. So, take the break and jump back in next week fresh and ready for GROW SEASON!
