The Cutest Basket Brigade Volunteer + Thanksgiving Pugs!

Would you beleive that this baby carried all of these frozen turkies in all by himself?

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog and who donated to the DC Basket Brigade.  When the dust has settled tomorrow we’ll have fed well over 100 families!

Thanksgiving Pugs

These have nothing to do with a fitness blog.  I just like pugs.

Happy Holidays.  We’ll be back to fitness stuff next week.

Josef Brandenburg is 2010, Washington, DC based Personal Trainer of the Year Nominee for both Personal Fitness Professional Magazine and The Washington, DC Fitness Association, and author of “The Body You Want”.  He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

You Really Can Eat Whatever You Want on Thanksgiving Without Getting Fat

This title sounds like some sort of sham diet pill add – “take these pills and you can eat anything you want… only $19.95, plus shipping and handling.”

Here’s the deal.  It is not possible to get fat in one day, or with just one meal.  It is having bad habits, and a poor lifestyle day-in and day-out that make people fat, tired and sick.  If you eat well and exercise on a regular basis, then you can take one meal off and be fine, even if you end up eating three kinds of pie.

Conversely if you try to be “good” on those holidays, but you suck the rest of the year the only thing you will accomplish is:

#1. Being a pain in the ass to your family: Don’t be the person at Thanksgiving who makes mom cook broiled white fish and steamed spinach when she is up to her elbows in turkey giblets.

#2. Being miserable: Eating your “health” food while everyone else has stuffing with gravy is not likely to put you in the best of spirits.

#3. Remain fat: Holidays “on” and the rest of the year “off” is bass-akwards. That’s spelled right:-).

#4. Reinforce the completely ERRONEOUS notion that “being fit is miserable”: People are just big versions of Pavlov’s dogs. Giving yourself pain for trying to do the right things does not reinforce the right behavior and will undermine your progress over the long haul.

The whole key is: Enjoy The Holidays On the Actual Holiday, then get back to a normal and healthy lifestyle. (Or, if you are in the process of losing body fat, take the holiday off and get back on your plan the next day.)

Don’t be one of those people who thinks they can use this blog post to try and “get over” on nature. You know, the people who will be thinking, “well, Josef said I can eat whatever I want on Thanksgiving and I won’t get fat. So, its OK for me to cheat when ever I want.”

No, no, no. You can fool yourself with such thinking, but at the end of the year you cannot fool nature. Thermodynamics and biochemistry determine what your body will look and feel like. You will be pudgy and tired if you do the wrong things, regardless of the rationalizations you make up in your head.

Take Home Points

#1. Only Take Home Turkey: Don’t take home leftovers. If it’s in your house it will be in your mouth. (That’s a good quote!)
Do you really need to make life any harder by keeping temptation within easy walking distance?  When you come home tired, hungry and stressed and you know you have stuffing and pumpkin pie in the fridge, you are going to eat it all, and then you are going to wear it all on your ass or stomach.

If you are hosting, get out the Tupperware and send everything but the turkey home with your guests.  If they won’t take find somebody else to give it to, or simply throw it out.

I know some of you think this is tantamount to wasting food. If you can’t give it away to someone else, then maybe it is. But, don’t you think that your body has better things to do than be a junk food trashcan?

It all depends on your values – is saving $3 worth of pie more important than having a million bucks worth of health, fitness, energy and sexiness?

#2. Enjoy Thanksgiving ON Thanksgiving: I just want to reiterate the main point of this post.

* Wednesday the 25th – eat point.
* Thursday the 26th – good breakfast, good lunch, and then whatever you want for Thanksgiving dinner.  You will feel like garbage.  Use this reinforce why you like eating healthy – sugar, starch and junk suck the life out of you.
* Friday the 27th – get back on point and notice how crappy you feel when you wake up, and how much your energy improves when you take great care of yourself.

Have an absolutely wonderful holiday, and please be thankful for all of the loved ones that you have in your life.  You never know how many more times you will get to see them, so tell everyone that you love them now.

P.S.  It’s NOT too late.  You can still make Thanksgiving happen for an entire family for just $40.  It’ll be the best thing that you do this holiday.  I guarantee it.  DC Basket Brigade details are right here.

Josef Brandenburg is 2010, Washington, DC based Personal Trainer of the Year Nominee for both Personal Fitness Professional Magazine and The Washington, DC Fitness Association, and author of “The Body You Want”.  He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

Working Out Just Saved My Life (Really)

I got this story from a client a week or so ago:

“So last Thursday night I went out with a couple of guy friends to a club downtown.  I was the designated driver for the evening, so I drove and gave the car to the valet. Over the course of the night, all of my friends hooked up with girls and told me not to wait up for them and that I was free to leave whenever I wanted. I didn’t have a problem with it since I was keeping myself occupied talking to girls and dancing like an idiot in the crowded club.

“Then this really hot girl I was dancing with invited me back to her place, and I said alright. I drove us back to her apartment where I had to park on the roof of the 8-story parking structure directly across the street. Her apartment was on the building’s 7th floor (this is going somewhere, I promise).

“We get into her place and things start getting hot and heavy…when there’s a knock at the door. Turns out hot girl had neglected to tell me somethings that probably would’ve been good to know: she has a cokehead crazy ex-boyfriend, who’s now angrily knocking on the door with a metal baseball bat Read more

The Death of My Best Friend

It was 7 o’clock at night and I was at the Pizzeria Uno’s on Wisconsin Ave in Bethesda having dinner with an ex.  Spring was here and it was one of the first nights of the year that it actually felt good to eat outside.  My cell phone was ringing and ringing and ringing.  I was trying to be polite and not answer, but after my mom called for the third straight time I finally answered.

“Well, Josef.  I don’t really know how to say this, but… Read more