This weekend I’m back in the North East attending a marketing conference up in Connecticut, traveling with my buddy and fat-loss frenemy, John Romaniello.
Now you’ve probably never heard of a frenemy, but that’s who John Romaniello is to me. Part friend, part ENEMY. Allow me to explain.
First, John lives in the North East (enemy), where it’s like 3 degrees right now (double enemy). Okay, maybe not 3 degrees, but once you get under 20, it doesn’t matter.
I had to get on a plane to visit him (enemy), which took like 90 hours (triple enemy) due to delays, 3 guys in orange suits and an umbrella. Listen, I really can’t get in to it right now…
When I finally got there, John took me to the gym (ok, cool…) and then proceeded to take me through a workout that made me vomit about 23 mins and 42 seconds in (immediate jump to quintuple enemy).
On the other hand, John allowed me to use some of his $97 hair product before heading out to dinner, which I suppose makes him my friend.
Anyway, yes, the point of this blog post. It’s coming.
So, I’m on a rather strict diet right now. Why you ask? Because John Romaniello stole $5,000 of my money and has refused to return it to me, unless I come in at less than 212 lbs and 10% body fat by April 19th.
Somehow, he conned me in to signing my name somewhere, and I apparently agreed to this.
Either way, it was John’s mother’s birthday today. And prior to departing for our conference in Connecticut (from where I am composing this post, alongside a snoring Vince Del Monte), we decided to go out to a celebratory dinner at Bryant & Cooper Steak House (Long Island, NY).
Now, you would think that John was trying to sabbotage my $5,000 non-wager by taking me to such an establishment, but the truth is, John knows I’m a ninja.
No, like a real ninja.
And by that I mean that I still managed to leave very FULL and satiated and I even ate dessert without even so much as settling for a pre-mature cheat meal.
How? Simple, I learned a little trick called volumizing my plate (i.e. I chose the right foods and was able to eat a lot of them—while out to eat, without skipping a course, all while never having to “watch” anyone eat while I wasn’t—and without massive caloric damage).
I started with a green bean and tomato salad (tossed in a light vinaigrette), followed by the main course (a 10 oz filet mignon, lean as could be, and 2 “family size” sides of green veggies—the first, lightly buttered asparagus, the second, spinach tossed in olive oil and garlic).
And while John and his mother enjoyed a birthday pecan pie ala mode together for dessert (sweet boy, that John), I didn’t have to forgo the 3rd course either.
Instead of the thousand calorie pie, I chose a heaping bowl of mixed berries, which was, in comparison to their dessert, significantly larger, while bringing in about 1/10 of the calories.
The truth is this, you can EASILY be social, dine out, eat GOOD, and leave full when you make the right choices.
Not sure what to order? Just hit up a nice steakhouse and order what I had. It was, as the Italians say, delicioso.
And tomorrow, I’m having a beer. A really tall one. With some cake. Bring on the fat-loss accelerating Cheat Day.
By the way, for your next Cheat Day, order a birthday cake. It doesn’t matter if it’s your birthday or not, just do it. Trust me, it’s awesome.
Your friend,
Joel
P.S. What’s your favorite healthy “out to eat” meal? Let me know, along with your comments, below! At least 50 comments and I’ll be back early next week with some amazing content I’ve got lined up for you guys. Talk to you below (I’ll be checking in throughout the day ;)
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When I find out about something cool or experience something great−be it a new CD, a great movie, good food, or the many other great things life has to offer−I want to share it with all my closest friends.
So, two things to share with YOU today (you know I consider you one of my closest friends, right? ;):
1. Citizen Cope’s new album, The Rainwater, just dropped today. Probably the best band you never heard of. Preview it on iTunes. Grab it at Best Buy. Trust me, you’ll enjoy it. My favorite song on the new album is “Lifeline”.
Second, I had the opportunity to cook up one of my favorite healthy breakfasts this morning, and while enjoying it thought who better to share the recipe with than you, my beloved subscriber.
The recipe is for Stuffed French Toast, and while that may not sound too healthy, I got the recipe from my colleague and good friend John Berardi−an absolute GENIUS when it comes to making healthy food taste great.
Check it out below and give it a try the next time you’re in the mood for super-charged, great-tasting healthy breakfast!
Stuffed French Toast
4 oz nonfat cottage cheese
1 scoop (20 grams protein) Vanilla Whey Protein
1 tbsp raisins
1/2 cup egg whites (approximately 4 eggs)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp skim milk
1/2 cup raw oats
2 large slices of 12-grain or 100% whole wheat bread
1 tbsp raspberries, strawberries, or blueberries for garnish
1 tsp of Splenda
Blend the cottage cheese in a blender until smooth. Remove to a medium bowl and add mix in the protein powder and raisins. Set aside.
In another bowl, mix the egg whites with the cinnamon and milk. Set aside.
Place the oats on a flat plate.
Preheat skillet on medium-high heat.
Fold each slice of bread to create a “pocket”. Fill each pocket equally with the cottage cheese mixture. Take the bread and dip each side into the egg mixture. Then, coat both sides with the oats. When ready, cook both sides until golden brown, approximately 3 minutes each side. Garnish with berries and serve.
Makes 2 Servings
Alright, comment time.
Did you enjoy this post? Will you give the recipe a try?
Are you familiar with Citizen Cope? How awesome is he?
And lastly, if you have a fun recipe and/or an “undiscovered” band that rocks out, share it with us all below!
At least 100 comments and I’ll be back with 3 more recipes later in the week!
Joel
47 Comments
In yesterday’s post, we discussed several different ways to create a 300 calorie deficit:
- Skip the morning bagel (-300 calories)
- Walk on the treadmill for an hour and half (-300 calories)
- Perform a very high intensity interval session (-300 calories)
In all 3 instances, the net calorie burn is -300 cals; however, as mentioned in the previous post, scenario 1 sucks, scenario 2 really sucks, and scenario 3 trumps them all–by far.
And today I want to share 3 other “scenarios” with you, with yet another lesson to be learned.
Out of the below 3 individuals, who will burn more fat and achieve better, faster results?
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An Extremely Content-Rich Interview with my friend Vince DelMonte, and a special guest appearance from his girlfriend, Flavia!
Vince and Flavia at their recent photo shoot in the Domincan.
Alright, let’s get right down into it, Vinny. A lot of people work out, few people see real changes from their efforts. Why do you think so many people fail to see results from the time they spend in the gym?
People are focusing on time spent instead of time invested, and that’s an extremely important distinction. For example, last night I saw this dude in the gym attempting a Bent Over Row. He picks up the barbell, leans forward about 2 inches, does about ten reps with maybe a few inches of movement, racks the bar, stands up tall and gets some water. No sweat. No noise. No change of facial expression. Nothing. I’m thinking to myself, “Go home, man! Where’s the intensity? Take up knitting or basket weaving!”
Two problems:
1. Most trainees do not know what intensity looks like. They are a product of their environment and the lack of energy and intensity rubs into their own workouts, whether they are aware of it or not. After you become a fly on the wall and watch my DVD’s you’ll see and hear what real intensity looks like. We don’t use professional athletes or scripted models in my DVD’s. Instead I use real weights, real intensity, real sweat and real effort.
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This week I’ve had the pleasure of entertaining some of my closest fitness buddies for a few days here in Tampa, and upon awakening, several of us found ourselves facing the all too common dilemma deciding what to eat for breakfast.
Vinny (Del Monte) chose to go with some left-over lobster and steak from our evening at Shula’s the night before (where, by the way, John Romaniello joined me in being inducted in Shula’s 48 oz. Club, by ordering—and finishing—their signature 48 oz. Porterhouse. Nice work, John), while I decided to go with the more conventional egg.
You see, truth is, I like eggs and tend to eat a lot of them.
Now, I’m sure you’ve heard a time or two before that you should be mindful of consuming too many unhatched chickens as their cholesterol content is rather high.
I’ve even heard the recommendation that eggs should only be eaten once per week to avoid cholesterol issues. If that’s the case, I’m probably due to die rather soon.
Fortunately, it’s not.
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This past weekend I was hanging out with Transformation Domination LIVE speakers Craig Ballantyne and Vince DelMonte, both of whom are collectively almost as cool as me.
No really, we measured it.
Anyway, after some informal “meetings” and such, we decided to head out to dinner at a Hibachi restaurant called Benihana, home of the official worst desert ever—the pineapple boat.
I assumed from the name that it would come with at least 3 “passenger” scoops of ice cream, some whipped cream, and a cherry, but no, the pineapple boat is simply a shallow 1/8th cut of pineapple, mostly rind, for $6.
Terrible.
Fortunately, their Japanese cuisine was much better than the dessert, which leads me to this suggestion: Order the Hibachi Chicken and Steak, not the Pineapple Boat.
Just a heads up.
Nevertheless, as a diet author it’s not too often that I go out to eat without coming home with a least some ideas for blog content. This experience was no different.
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Last night while out to dinner I was reminded of two research studies (yeah, I know, I’m a geek).
Allow me to set the stage.
We pull up to El Vez—a hip, Mexican-American restaurant in center city Philadelphia serving up some of the best guacamole (next to Eva’s of course) that I’ve ever had the pleasure of sampling. A truly euphoric experience for my mouth and buds of taste.
And naturally, when you have what is a somewhat euphoric encounter when visiting a restaurant, you make other visits to said restaurant…and I do…often.
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Last week on our Easy Veggie Meal Plans bonus coaching call, Craig Ballantyne and I tackled a slew of listener and reader questions—truly one of the absolute best coaching sessions I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of, and some absolutely killer questions came in on all kinds of topics (even meat, believe it or not).
One question in particular caught my attention and because I believe so many people deal with this kind of thing on a regular basis, I decided to blog about the topic today.
Enter “emotional eating”.
Simply put, emotional eating can be absolutely catastrophic to any diet plan.
“And things were going SO well….”
Yes, I know the feeling.
Time to put an end to that nonsense once and for all.
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I don’t know about you, but if I’m flipping channels and come across Eva Longoria, the remote stops there.
At least for a little while.
In fact, Eva’s probably the only reason I started watching Desperate Housewives several years back, and quite unexpectedly, I found that I actually enjoyed the show.
Weird, I know.
Well, just so happens that yesterday I got a little two-for with Eva ’s guest appearance on the Martha Stewart show. Sure, it was a re-run, but whatever, she’s hot.
And not only that, but she also makes a pretty mean guacamole.
How do I know? I watched the show and tried the recipe. So when I say that this bad-boy is killer, I speak first-hand.
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A little while back I sent you an email with the subject “1+1=3?”, informing you of the unstoppable synergy that occurs when you combine a killer metabolic resistance training program like Turbulence Training along with my Cheat Your Way Thin diet system.
And today, I’m back with another stellar math lesson to wow your friends with: 0 does NOT equal 0.
Sounds like some ass-backwards calculus nonsense, I know, but it’s actually a very practical equation. Or should I say “non-quation” (Yes, I know they’re called inequalities, but non-quation sounds WAY cooler to me, and it’s my blog).
Let me explain.
This morning, I sat down to a bowl of Bran Flakes. It was a rather large bowl, because hey, not only do I preach big breakfasts, I eat them, too.
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...
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