The Common Sense Diet
Being as we've had a little bit of a heatwave in the UK this weekend many peoples attention has been turned to the upcoming summer and the holidays that come with it. The thought of the summer often strikes fear into people as they don't feel summer ready in terms of their bodies, and the fact of the matter is, there is no such thing as the perfect body and therefore you can't expect to turn into a Greek God/Goddess overnight, you have to work with what you have and look how to make marginal, sustainable improvements over a period of time. However, this post isn't about getting in shape, its about maintaining what you have over the summer, in a period often littered with booze fuelled BBQ's and calorie busting candle-lit dinners overlooking the ocean.
For those of you that don't know I spent the summer of 2015 living in Crete, Greece and before I went I was in fairly good shape, relatively shredded and naturally I wanted to maintain that shape for as long as possible. Upon arrival I realised I was going to have to be innovative in doing that as I didn't have access to a gym, had a job which meant I'd be working 6 days a week from 9am-8pm and had every hotelier and restaurant owner wanting to feed me endlessly in the hope that I'd send customers their way through recommendation.
If I was living in England with that scenario it wouldn't of been so much of an issue as most restaurants have nutritional breakdowns either online or in the menu which would of allowed me to manipulate my macros as required. However, in Greek holiday resorts it is very rare that restaurants have any sort of nutritional information available for customers as the vast majority of restaurants are independent family run businesses serving traditional Greek food, cooked in the traditional methods.
This meant that trying to track my macros in any sort of way was a nightmare, all I knew was that judging by the way food is cooked in Greece and the ingredients included in the cooking made them calorifically dense. Therefore, I went back to the most basic dieting principle there is 'Calories In = Calories Out' which turned into 'Common Sense Dieting'.
The way in which I went about common sense dieting (CSD) whilst in Crete was really simple. Firstly, f I knew or thought a meal or a day was calorifically dense I'd try and balance it out by consuming less in the following days. Secondly, I'd keep a track of how my body looked in the mirror everyday by taking a 'progress pic'. Once a week, usually on a Sunday I'd compare that days photo with the picture from the same day a week before. If I looked like I'd put on weight, I'd try and restrict my calories and increase my activity levels in the following week until I got back to a stage I was content with.
In the early days when I was given a free reign on a restaurants menu I would just eat everything and anything that they offered me. However, that isn't a sustainable method for maintaining a relatively good physique and therefore I had to just use the CSD approach and think to myself at times 'a tuna salad or a a rack of ribs in BBQ sauce?'. Obviously, now and again I treated myself and went for it but common sense would tell you that if you eat a rack of ribs or similar every day of the week then you are going to pile on the lb's.
I believe that you guys can learn from my experience in Crete and apply the CSD over the summer and whilst on holiday. The great thing about CSD is its discrete, nobody has to know you're doing it. Nobody, wants those socially awkward conservations that inevitably happen when you tell people you can't eat or drink something because it doesn't fit your macros. Obviously, over the summer enjoy yourself, particularly if you are heading away on holiday but you don't want to ruin all the months of hard work and dedication with a couple of weeks of over indulgence.
Personally I always pack my running shoes, regardless of where I'm off to on holiday and I find that going for a run every couple of days always me to explore the area that little bit more and also allows me to enjoy a little bit more food and drink over the course of the day. I do however appreciate that running isn't everyones thing and therefore swimming or hiring a bicycle are also great ways to secure yourself a few extra calories.
Whatever you do this summer enjoy it but remember not to forget the principles that got your physique to where it is today.
Joey G
For those of you that don't know I spent the summer of 2015 living in Crete, Greece and before I went I was in fairly good shape, relatively shredded and naturally I wanted to maintain that shape for as long as possible. Upon arrival I realised I was going to have to be innovative in doing that as I didn't have access to a gym, had a job which meant I'd be working 6 days a week from 9am-8pm and had every hotelier and restaurant owner wanting to feed me endlessly in the hope that I'd send customers their way through recommendation.
If I was living in England with that scenario it wouldn't of been so much of an issue as most restaurants have nutritional breakdowns either online or in the menu which would of allowed me to manipulate my macros as required. However, in Greek holiday resorts it is very rare that restaurants have any sort of nutritional information available for customers as the vast majority of restaurants are independent family run businesses serving traditional Greek food, cooked in the traditional methods.
This meant that trying to track my macros in any sort of way was a nightmare, all I knew was that judging by the way food is cooked in Greece and the ingredients included in the cooking made them calorifically dense. Therefore, I went back to the most basic dieting principle there is 'Calories In = Calories Out' which turned into 'Common Sense Dieting'.
The way in which I went about common sense dieting (CSD) whilst in Crete was really simple. Firstly, f I knew or thought a meal or a day was calorifically dense I'd try and balance it out by consuming less in the following days. Secondly, I'd keep a track of how my body looked in the mirror everyday by taking a 'progress pic'. Once a week, usually on a Sunday I'd compare that days photo with the picture from the same day a week before. If I looked like I'd put on weight, I'd try and restrict my calories and increase my activity levels in the following week until I got back to a stage I was content with.
In the early days when I was given a free reign on a restaurants menu I would just eat everything and anything that they offered me. However, that isn't a sustainable method for maintaining a relatively good physique and therefore I had to just use the CSD approach and think to myself at times 'a tuna salad or a a rack of ribs in BBQ sauce?'. Obviously, now and again I treated myself and went for it but common sense would tell you that if you eat a rack of ribs or similar every day of the week then you are going to pile on the lb's.
I believe that you guys can learn from my experience in Crete and apply the CSD over the summer and whilst on holiday. The great thing about CSD is its discrete, nobody has to know you're doing it. Nobody, wants those socially awkward conservations that inevitably happen when you tell people you can't eat or drink something because it doesn't fit your macros. Obviously, over the summer enjoy yourself, particularly if you are heading away on holiday but you don't want to ruin all the months of hard work and dedication with a couple of weeks of over indulgence.
Personally I always pack my running shoes, regardless of where I'm off to on holiday and I find that going for a run every couple of days always me to explore the area that little bit more and also allows me to enjoy a little bit more food and drink over the course of the day. I do however appreciate that running isn't everyones thing and therefore swimming or hiring a bicycle are also great ways to secure yourself a few extra calories.
Whatever you do this summer enjoy it but remember not to forget the principles that got your physique to where it is today.
Joey G
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