If you’ve been bodybuilding, and especially competing, for any length of time then you have probably figured out several ways to make it all come together and work no matter what. What with the training, cardio, diet, posing, etc. We can’t stop living our lives so we have to figure out ways to work around the other “stuff.”

Here are some examples of the everyday “stuff” that I’m referring to:

• Family
• Work
• School
• Vacations
• Traveling
• Going out

Family

Obviously, family is far too important to categorize merely as “stuff,” but for the sake of the simplicity of the article let’s just go with it. I think we can all agree that family comes first, or at least it should. If it doesn’t for you then you should re-prioritize. Your family will love you for it.

Perhaps your wife (or husband) cooks unhealthy dinners and expects you to eat it. This is a tough one because you want to make your spouse happy. Not eating what they’ve cooked can turn out badly. The best thing to do in this situation is to sit down with your significant other and explain that you appreciate that they cook for you and you love eating dinner together, but ask if they can make better food choices.

If that doesn’t work just pretend like you are allergic to everything they cook. I’m kidding, of course. Instead, maybe just divorce them …again, I’m kidding. 

Fortunately, my wife and are are both health food fanatics so this isn’t an issue in our home. Although, I have been married before and my wife at that time was the quintessential junk food junkie. We managed to eat dinner together but it was rarely the same dinner. Not an ideal situation, but I refuse to eat pizza every night. We’re not together anymore but I don’t think that was the reason …at least I hope not.

Now, going out to eat with family is an easy one. First off, who doesn’t like to enjoy a good meal out? Pretty much any restaurant you go to will have something on the menu that will cater to your bodybuilding lifestyle. Restaurants typically use a lot of oils, butter, sauces, etc., but if you choose to be super strict that night then you can always ask the waiter to cook it plain or just order something like a salad or plain baked potato with a grilled lean meat. Most restaurants will accommodate this request.

The cook may spit on your food, sure, but I don’t think spit contains any calories.  

Work

Work is where we spend most of our waking life. As such, this is where you need to have the most self-control. There is a lot of temptation lurking about in the office environment that can get you off-course with your diet plan. You’ve got co-workers bringing cookies in that they baked the night before, co-workers grabbing doughnuts for the whole office on their way in in the morning, birthday celebrations, candy dishes on desks, and of course, the co-worker popping their head in your office to let you know they are making the ”lunch-run” and asking if you want anything.    

The most important thing in this case is to have your meals prepped for the day before heading into the office. If you leave unprepared then something is going to go wrong, and you don’t want to cave in to the cookies and/or doughnuts …or the candy dish …or “lunch-run.”

What I’ve always found to be the best way to ensure nothing screws up my meals during a work day is to bring two shakes, and a solid food meal for lunch. I’ll drink one shake at around 9:30, eat lunch at 12:30, and drink another shake at 3:30. Something occasionally comes up that will slightly delay a meal, but never ever never ever ever never ever do I skip a meal. That’s committing the ultimate bodybuilding diet sin.

If I’m stuck in a meeting, for instance, then I’ll inconspicuously sip my protein drink during the meeting. If I can’t bring it into the meeting then I will step out to the “restroom” and slam it down. It takes all of 10 seconds.

If your job requires that you travel often then that can pose a unique set of challenges when it comes to your diet. But nothing that can’t be overcome if you dedicated enough to your goals.

How often you travel, how long your trip, and your method of travel will all dictate the best course of action to stick with your diet. If you travel by car and are gone short term (1-3 days) then the easiest thing to do is to pack a cooler with your meals in it. Boom, problem pretty much solved right there. (SIDE NOTE: removing your passenger seat and putting your cooler in its place is a pretty convenient way to travel and eat. I’ve done this before traveling to a competition in Atlanta and it was awesome.) If you travel by plane then that can be a bit trickier.

I remember several years go I was preparing for a natural bodybuilding competition. Near the end of my prep (when staying on-track becomes more critical) I was invited to visit the headquarters of a prospective employer for a job interview. The trip was for three days and I was taking a flight there and back. I wasn’t about to leave my diet to chance. I wanted to be prepared. You never know if the flight will be delayed, if you won’t be able to find anything healthy to eat, etc.

What I ended up doing was pre-cooking and packing every single meal (all 18) in a cooler and bringing it with me. Now, these weren’t simple chicken and white potato meals. My diet at the time consisted of A LOT of cod fish and asparagus.

By the time I had left for this excursion I’d been eating cod fish for weeks. Plus I was on a very low carb diet so I was probably in a state of mild ketosis. Prior to leaving for the trip my co-workers had complained of a “fishy smell” every time they came in to my office. I discovered later it wasn’t my food because I didn’t store it in my office. The fishy smell was coming from me! I reeked of fish!

The fish smell coming from me was bad enough, but then I had packed three days’ worth of fish and asparagus meals onto a plane that no one could escape from. You can be sure, I was hated by the time I got off the plane.

What was my point? -Oh yeah, my point is that even though I was dieting for a show and was only a few weeks away from the competition, I didn’t let a three day business trip prevent me from sticking to my diet. I figured out a way to make it work. You can too.

And yes, I did get the job. Admittedly, however, I scrubbed the bejesus out of my skin and poured on cologne.

School

 When I refer to school, I’m talking about college. When I graduated high school in 1991 I went straight on to the local community college. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up so there was no sense forking over tens of thousands of dollars to go off to a university. Nonetheless, I carried a full course-load and worked nearly full-time as well.

I’m not saying this is right, but I arranged my school schedule around my training. As for the diet part, I have to admit that at that time I hadn’t really gotten the diet part down like I do today. I wasn’t educated enough to know how important that aspect was to achieving my bodybuilding goals so I pretty much ate whatever. I visited the college cafeteria on a regular basis and ate whatever was there. That’s also probably why I was smooth. Very smooth.

I did end up going back to school to finish my Bachelor’s degree in Finance several years later. This time at the University of West Florida. By that time I had acquired a great deal of knowledge about the sport of bodybuilding. 

One college semester I took classes at the main campus, which was over an hour of drive time away. My first class began at 8:30 a.m. My last class endedat 9:30 p.m. And I had a class or two in between. I did that three days a week. It made for an exeptionally long day. Every morning I’d pack a cooler and put it in my car. I brought all of my meals for the whole day. And if my training fell on one of those long school days, then I’d bring my training gear and all the stuff I needed for showering. In hindsight I should have been less strict, but I was laser focued on competing and earning my natural pro card.    

My suggestion today for those of you in college is to rely on either protein shakes to get you through, or do what I did, pack a cooler and keep it in your car. Now, ideally, wait to eat until your between classes, but I routinely ate during class as well – at least protein shakes.

Vacations

Ok, listen, if you’re on vacation enjoy yourself. That doesn’t mean you have to gorge yourself until you can’t move but loosen up on your diet. I don’t think I needed to tell you this, did I? That’s what vacations are for.

Traveling

Not much to say here that would be different from what I’ve already said. Protein powder and coolers are essential when traveling.

Going Out

I’m no longer single and in my 20′s. When I was, I enjoyed it. I went out regularly and stayed up late. Although I went to clubs and bars, I never drank. Drinking has never really been my thing. That’s good, too, since it is counter-productive to reaching your bodybuilding goals and it doesn’t really fit in with living a bodybuilding lifestyle. Many bodybuilders drink and that’s great; it just wasn’t for me. 

Even though I went out I still stayed on my diet. My friend and I would run out to the car, eat our meal or drink our protein shake, and go back in.

Since I got to bed much later than usual on those nights, the trick was deciding whether to eat again before I went to sleep. And if I did decide to eat, what the best thing to eat was. I usually opted for a scoop or two of whey protein and that was about it.

So again, even when going out with your friends, just be prepared.

Conclusion

Although there are times when life “gets in the way” of our routine, and particularly your meal schedule, there are still ways to keep on track. Going to the extremes I went to in order to stay strict on my diet plan may or may not be necessary for you. At that time in my life I had a clear goal in mind and I was willing to do anything and everything to accomplish it. Consequently, I stunk up some planes. That, I would have reconsidered had I had to do it again. Don’t stink up planes. It’s not cool.

If you have a specific question about your unique circumstance please let me know. Leave me a comment below. If there is one thing I’m good at it’s organization and developing a strategy to make something work. Maybe I can help you with your problem.

Like I said, my assumption is that most of you reading this blog are not “fat” so to speak, but maybe you’re not in the shape you’d like to be in either (shit, who is). Below are 23 reasons why you are fat not as lean you you could be.

1. Eating too much  (I could probably stop right there and make that the one and only reason!)
2. Eating the wrong foods
3. Eating fast food way too often
4. Skipping breakfast
5. Not exercising
6. Lying around all day doing nothing
7. Doing too much cardio and not enough weight training
8. Eating only once or twice a day
9. Eating too many carbs
10. Jumping on the latest diet craze bandwagon
11. Drinking too much soda
12. Drinking too much alcohol
13. Snacking on sweets between meals
14. Lacking self-control
15. Not knowing HOW to make healthy choices
16. Ordering dessert far too often
17. Keeping a candy jar at your desk
18. Making excuses
19. Not caring about your body
20. Giving up
21. Accepting that this is the way you are and that you can’t change
22. Eating too many processed foods
23. Thinking that you have to give up foods you like forever

Many of these can be grouped together. I realize that. Do any of these ring true for you? Any I’m leaving out?

Stay tuned for some helpful tips to avoiding these fat traps and losing the lard!

The truth is, I’m addicted to my diet; I’m addicted to staying lean; and I’m addicted to reality television -but that’s another post for an entirely unrelated blog so we’ll focus on the first two addictions for now.

I’ve been training with weights since 1990. I discovered the weights when I dropped out of Spanish IV and chose a different elective, weightlifting. But I don’t think the class was called weightlifting. It may have been called something else. Actually, now that I think about it, it may have been an art class I replaced with Spanish IV and not weightlifting. Either way, it doesn’t matter. The point is I discovered lifting a long time ago.

I remember the first time I ever went to the gym I did so many sets and reps of bicep curls that I could not lift or straighten my arm enough to even comb my hair the next morning. It was awesome and I was hooked. However, it took me a while before I got the diet part right.  Back then I ate bananas, white rice and tuna, bagels, and Kellog’s Special K and thought that was eating healthy. Not surprisingly, I never grew on that diet.

Eventually I got it right, though, and even went on to compete in several natural bodybuilding shows and earn my NGA pro card. It was not until I learned how to eat like a bodybuilder and manipulate my diet to keep the muscle on and the fat off that things went wrong -or right, depending on how you look at it I guess.

By now more than half of my existence on this planet has been devoted to this lifestyle. I know no other way to be and that’s kind of the problem. Does that make it a habit or an addiction? Maybe a little of both?

Before I had a wife and son, I would live, breathe, sleep, eat, and shit bodybuilding. Now I live, breathe, sleep, eat, and shit bodybuilding while also being a devoted husband and father. In other words, not much has really changed as far as my passion for the sport. It’s pretty easy for me to maintain this lifestyle, though, because my wife shares my passion for fitness and eating healthy. The difference is that she knows how not to be enslaved by her diet and I don’t. …Although one might accuse her of being addicted to staying lean, too.

Why so strict?

So why the strict adherence to this lifestyle? Let me explain.

As has already been established, I’ve been living this way for 19 years now. I’ve eaten the same thing day in and day out for six meals a day for pretty much that whole amount of time. Partly because I thrive on structure, and not having to think what I’m going to eat for my next meal is convenient. But mostly because of the fact that each meal was deliberately chosen based on it’s specific ratio of protein, carbs, and fat  …and eating the same diet kept me lean. 

See, that’s the problem. I like to be lean and have a “six-pack.” Hell, I’ve had a six-pack for as long as I can remember. I fear that not knowing my macronutrient profile and not having a structured diet plan and just throwing my “diet” out the window and eating willy-nilly-style will cause me to gain fat. Don’t get me wrong, I usually have a cheat meal at least once a week, sometimes twice. But my problem is that if I don’t weigh out my food and stick to my daily diet then I tend to over eat. It’s like my brain doesn’t have that switch that tells me, “Greg, you might be approaching a state of fullness now. You’d better put the fork down.”

The decision to loosen up

About six weeks ago after many many many months of urging, my wife convinced me to step outside of my comfort zone and not feel like I have to eat exactly the same same each and every day. I agreed to give it a shot. Here’s how that is going.

At first I felt liberated, like screw it, I’m going to just eat whatever the hell I want now. I kind of did. I stopped eating my usual beef, eggs, and oatmeal concoction (“beefcakes”) every morning for breakfast and I replaced it with waffles, toast, no beef, and just ate omelets, sometimes would have french toast, cereal, etc. For lunch I pretty much ate the same thing except now I may use Shake’n'Bake on my chicken and I’ll eat Uncle Ben’s Southwestern Style Brown Rice instead of sweet potatoes. Broccoli stayed, of course. Still a ridiculously healthy meal. For dinner (meal 5) I went from 10 oz. lean ground beef and 7 oz. broccoli to a delicious medley of ground beef, broccoli, green peppers, onions, garlic diced tomatoes, black beans, Mrs. Dash’s Fiesta seasoning, cheese, and topped with a little bit of sour cream. Mmmm.

Meals 2, 4, I left exactly the same. Meal 6 I reduced the amount of protein powder I was eating.

While I changed up my breakfast, lunch and dinner a little and started adding more variety if I wanted it, overall I just began eating less. Less beef, less chicken, less protein powder.

And guess what? because I was eating less I lost a few pounds. I got leaner. And I liked what  saw in the mirror more.

And guess what that meant. My addiction intensified. And the vicious cycle continues.  

So whereas at the beginning I was saying screw it and not measuring anything and eating a cookie here and there and big bowls of cereal, etc. Now I’m still mixing up my food choices …but they are the same food choices in the same portions! I inherently fall right back into a pattern – a structure.

Now what?

So what to do? I think in order to ever eat like a normal human being I would have to quit bodybuilding altogether. I’m aware that many (most?) people go to the gym and exercise for the sole reason of being able to BE loose on their diet (and I use the term “diet” to mean simply “what they eat” not a diet in the traditional sense of the word). But for me, I go to the gym to challenge myself, to get bigger muscles, to create the body I envision in my mind. And my food choices are an important element in that journey. I guess that’s why I stay so strict with it.

And I guess that’s why I’ll always be messed up in the head.

What about you? Are you able to be a bodybuilder and still be carefree with your diet? How?! Help a brother out!

The floating buffet 

Have you ever been on a cruise? If so, then you know that they are a heck of a good time. You may also agree that they are essentially nothing but floating buffets. And floating bars. And floating casinos. Ok, and floating photography studios, too. But mostly buffets. It’s an over-eaters paradise and a bodybuilders evil, evil temptress. Last week my wife and I went on a 7-day cruise to the Caribbean. This was my second cruise and my wife’s first. We left out of Tampa, FL, which is about six hours from our home. Our first port was the Cayman Islands, the second port was Cozumel, third one was Belize, and our last stop was Isla Roatan. They were all amazingly beautiful. We had a great time and it was a much needed break for us both.

Now, to tell you that my wife, Penny, and I eat healthy is a gross understatement. Our friends and family all claim we are “not human” and marvel at our militant-like discipline to our diet. I’m not saying everyone should be like this, I’m not even particularly proud to say it, but personally I enjoy eating this way. First, I rather like what I eat. No, it’s not cheeseburgers and fries or dessert everyday but let’s face it, I wouldn’t eat the same thing every single day if I didn’t like it. Secondly, I never have to think about what I’m going to eat next because everyday I eat the exact same thing. And when you eat six meals a day like I do then knowing what you’re going to eat next without thinking about it saves a lot of time, not to mention it frees up my mind to think about other more important things, like how I’m going to pay for all the food I eat!

The pre-cruise expectation

Now, I expected to go on this cruise and enjoy myself and relax on my diet. My wife also said the same. Frankly, we were both looking forward to eating whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. Carbohydrates, bring ‘em on!

Not 30 minutes after we boarded the ship did we discover, much to our delight, that there was already food being served at the buffets (notice buffet is plural). We were like two kids walking into Charlie’s Chocolate Factory. So much to choose from and it all looked delicious – and free! (Well, I say “free”, but we paid for it as part of the cost of the cruise, of course)

I forget what I ate at that meal, but I know I had a salad. My wife had a salad, too. Nothing too exciting during that particular meal.

The first few days

Now, I warmed up quickly to the buffet-style of eating. I was pretty settled in after the very first meal. Believe me, I was making the most of it. Just my breakfasts alone consisted of 4-6 blueberry pancakes or french toast, 1-2 omelets with everything, 2-3 big serving size spoonfuls of scrambled eggs, a large bowl of oatmeal with raisins, 2 boxes of cold cereal (usually Frosted Flakes), and 1 banana. Lunch and dinner were no much different as far as quantity, plus dessert.

This is what I look like when I eat

My wife, on the other hand, it took her a while before she loosened up and started eating anything closely resembling that of a “normal” person. You have to understand that my wife is complemented nearly daily by strangers (mostly women) who all say how inspired they are by her physique and her discipline (yes, I am a very lucky guy). As human beings, we all like it when we are complemented. It feels good, of course, but it also gives you the motivation to keep doing what you’re doing. Living a bodybuilding lifestyle and eating a clean diet takes hard work and sacrifice. And, unfortunately, being complemented also creates a bit if pressure for you to maintain what it is people find so admirable. It’s not them directly putting that pressure on you, it’s just the inherent desire to feed one’s ego and make people happy at the same time. Oh, and we were basically in bathing suits the whole week so I’m sure she was fearful of gaining weight and looking like a bloated whale despite my many failed attempts to convince her otherwise.    

I was a bit dissapointed because I felt like she wasn’t really enjoying herself and wasn’t doing what we were so excited about for the three months leading up to this cruise – that is, going off our regular diet and just enjoying different foods! I knew she wanted to but she just wouldn’t allow herself to really indulge. That wasn’t stopping me, though.

Still eating

Wearing down

Mid-way through the cruise I think Penny began to wear down. She had been trying to eat relatively clean and stay away from the calorie-heavy foods, the breads, and the desserts. But I think eventually the temptation became too great. After all, she had been watching me eat like a gluttonous pig and I still had my six-pack.

Finally she loosened up and began to really enjoy one of the main activities on a cruise, eating. Lots and lots of eating.

The ship had a whole separate dessert buffet with extravagant dishes, not just your typical restaurant-style dessert options. They had those, too, but there was also gourmet desserts that you didn’t know whether you should hang on your wall for display or eat. How was anyone going to resist that for an entire week!

Conclusion

Some people may have good intentions when boarding a cruise ship of eating well and staying away from the 24-hour pizza buffet or the freaking ridiculously delicious desserts. As in my wife’s case, maybe it works out that way in the beginning but eventually you succumb. There is nothing wrong with that. You shouldn’t take a cruise if you don’t plan on enjoying the food.

So you may be wondering whether Penny and I gained any weight. Yes, we did. It wasn’t much at all …3 pounds each. And I’ve already lost two of those pounds in the four days we’ve been back. If anything, my body really probably needed that break. My muscles seemed to have filled out some and my metabolism is stoked again.

How was your cruising experience? Did you stuff yourself like each meal was your last? How much weight, if any, did you gain?