Not Gaining Weight on Vacation?! | ETP#55

[aaron_straker]: 0:33

I, I forgot what I always say, so I need to like back up a second.

[bryan_boorstein]: 0:36

Y, your co, take your

[aaron_straker]: 0:37

my works.

[bryan_boorstein]: 0:37

time. Clap, clap again. if you want to

[aaron_straker]: 0:39

I need to clap again. What's of guys? Happy Tuesday. We come back to another episode of Eat Train Brasper. Today, Brian and I are going to talk about a little bit. I don't want to call a phenomenon, but a misnomer, potentially something that Uh, Brian and I will experience on vacation, or whenever we take trips. That is kind of the complete opposite of what most people experience. and that is around, not gaining weight, or for Bri myself actually losing weight. Whenever we travel or take vacations, we' going to walk through some of, just like the The lifestyle principles that helped facilitate that, and then remove that fear around. Whatever you may potentially make that vacation mean, in terms of nutrition, trainingals, et Ctera, before we jump into this, Brian, tell me about your last week,

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:29

last week. Well, uh, we just dropped the episode about the Follow my program program. So um, so the reception has been good. I'm I'm pretty happy so far, I hope that some people will come journey with me and and and join up. But um, but so far I got some good feedback on that, which is cool. People are excited about it. Um, we are about to get hit by another snowtorm here, and the timing is unfortunate because I have a flight out at seven fifty eight am. M on Thursday morning to go to Mexico with the bros. and Uh, this snowstorm is supposed to start in like two hours, so basically noon on Tuesday, and then it's supposed to go for like thirty six to forty eight hours Like non stop snow. Um, which is crazycause. The the prediction is like eight to ten inches, Um, which seems like if it's going to snow for for two straight days, you would end up with a little bit more than that. But but that's what they're saying and we're already getting notification like you know, check your flight, maybe change your flight like all this stuff. So um, who knows if I'm going to Mexico, Um, but Cas actually just hit me up and asked if I wanted to come in shadow for the practical this weekend, So at least if I don't go to Mexico, I can potentially go hang it in one, and uh, and that'll be awesome as well. So good stuff on that end. Um, what else training? I was trying to cram four sessions in this week before I go to Mexico. I was trying to train Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and basically get like two lower sessions and two upper body sessions in. But uh, my life said no yesterday. so I did my hams strings in the morning and I was going to come back and do upper body stuff in the evening. Didn't end up doing the upper body, so just hit that before we podcast it today. And uh, then tomorrow I'll do quads with abs and calves, and then basically not have a plan going into vacation, Assuming I go, and uh, the next day up in my program is full upper body, which I feel like is probably the easiest one to do on vacation, whether it's like dumbbells up to fifty pounds or you know, a ca, a a cable, like a functional trainer, up to a hundred pounds per stack, or something like that, like I should be able to at least do some upper body stuff. Uh, worse case scenario, push ups and pull ups and boom upper body day. So Um, I felt like having an upper body day on vacation Is is much better than being like Okay. I need to find like a hack. squa, and like I'm in Mexico, and who the fuck knows what they have type thing, So so I think all in all, it worked out super. Well, um, I really love that my program is malleable in the sense that I can take that hams, string and upper body day and just be like, Yeah, I'm doing hamsstering today and I'm doing upper body tomorrow And um that is what it is. so Um, feeling good about all of this stuff and um, I guess we'll just see what happens with my my travel this weekend. How about you?

[aaron_straker]: 4:18

so we'll move tomorrow, which I'm excited about because I know

[bryan_boorstein]: 4:19

Ooh? hell y

[aaron_straker]: 4:21

I know I'm not even alive. I've bitched ho podcast around this air, b and b that we're in here in in Scottsdale, in the complex, and you know, in apologies to the listeners over the past, like six or eight episodes with like the dogs barking in the background like I literally cannot control it. Believe me, I have tried and it, if I'm being honest, it bothers me. I have like a quality complex. I like things that like I do to be like, really really high quality and I feel like when when that's happening, it's just like I don't know. It's annoying like I know. If I'm listening to podcast, there's like dogs barking shit like it annoys me. So it really annoys me when I'm the one doing it, but I like I can't help it here that like I just can't, So I'm super excited for the move just for some. quiet, hopefully like I'm im. Um. I was gonna say I'm praing, but like I'm not, I'm just really hoping that there iss just a little bit more quiet, So that's tomorrow. I'm really really excited about it. I just like I do like the change, especially like here when I haven't liked this Arab and B, so um that I'm pumped about. I have started training in the mornings. Um,

[bryan_boorstein]: 5:27

nice.

[aaron_straker]: 5:27

not C. Not crazy morning. Like I didn't bust my ass to to to build this business and stuff to get up and go to the gym at five a M. Type of thing like I'm not, um, not doing that, but like, like not like nine a M. Like my goal is to be like, like hitting my first sets at like nine a M. And then I'm like back home by, you know, like just after ten or something like that, So I will go today after the podcast. Um, Kind of what I followlling up with, Like what I talked about last week with just like peeling back the, the, the layers of my life to the to the bare bones, Like realizing like I need to pay myself first of sorts, and thatts with like the like after a training session Like I just feel great. My energy levels are good. My mood is elevated all of these things. And then I want to carry that into my day, as opposed to like, You know what was happening before is like. I would plan to go to the gym at like noon or one. and then that would get pushed to like four, five, six seven. And now that it's the beginning of the year, the gym is fucking ha. and of course like I love our. Here's the thing. I do not love that the gym is packed and that is from a purely uh, selfish reason, but I love that people are in there trying to better themselves. So it's like I obviously justify it, but I like an empty gym. So in that you know, fortunately where we are here, the gym is a lot of college students. They're not there at ten a M. You know what I mean, type of deal. So I just love that and then it really helps my work day because my energy levels are better. My mood is elevated and all of these things, so just by kind of swapping my day, it allows like I know, by putting this first it will positively influence the rest of my day, as opposed to like. If I put it at the end, parts of my day can negatively influence my like proclivity to go to the gym type of thing and push it. Um, So there's that and then on a from a Oa. Yeah, good.

[bryan_boorstein]: 7:16

So, yeah, so I think you're going to really like it. I think like I've been doing the A A M workout where I basically like I roll into the gym casually At eight. I'm like updating, inst, Gram. and you know, drinking my protein or, and then my first set is like between eight thirty and nine, and by like ten, ten thirty, I'm out and I feel like it's very invigorating for the day. Like you kind of alluded to it. It really sets your mind clears you up, and you can even use the gym time. It's like time to think about what you're going to execute that day and uh and really kind of get good. focus on it. so so I think you're going to really dig it and I like that you made that changeol,

[aaron_straker]: 7:51

Yeah, I'm really really excited about it and then it gives me like a big like. I'll really hit my stride of work at like ten. you know ten thirty. but then I have like ten thirty to like seven. eight p. M. Let, let's say a realistically and then slowly I'll try and work that back to like work and I am excited about that. Yeah, and then uh, the last update for me, I have uh, settled into a new training split that I wanted to test and it is an uncommon split and it is a eight session cycle that I will probably perform over eleven days. Um, and I have things split up as chest, rear delts and Abbs, back in lateral deuts the chess. They also has anterior delts, Um, and then a quad abs and tricepts, hamsterring, bicepts and calfs, and it's I. It's different, but I enjoy it. Um. It's different in the fact that like I'm not, I can really just focus on like I have like these two cheests exercises. I'm going to perform them like really really well and then I'm also not half assing my tri upp, and biep work because I have them like separated off. Um, so it has been cool. I've been through. I'm finished. I've like the first. I've like two more sessions, so like session seven, eight that I need to like tests and then I, I'm uh, going to get into the swing of things of like having everything in place, but I really really like it so far. Um, and I've been like. Like with anything I do. I, I, I jump in a little bit too hard and I've been super fucking so

[bryan_boorstein]: 9:33

So I love that that you did this. Of course, I'm a huge fan of setting. setting. training splits up that way and it's very like individual to you, right. It's exactly what you need with the frequency that you need so that it works out. Um, so it's not like we're creating the split to try to be like contrary, and just to do it be like we don't need that normal split. you know.

[aaron_straker]: 9:53

Mhm

[bryan_boorstein]: 9:54

So so anyway, I love that. I think that's super cool. and Um, I had a question about whether because you listed four workouts and said it was eight Uh sessions. So what changes in the second rotation through?

[aaron_straker]: 10:09

exercise selection. Yeah, just to just to building a little bit more, Um. Variation, and

[bryan_boorstein]: 10:15

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 10:15

then this is something that I will offer to my clientele who want a little bit more variation. Like to be completely honest. If I had it my way, I would repeat after the four sessions cause I'm just going to pick my my favorites, you know,

[bryan_boorstein]: 10:27

right,

[aaron_straker]: 10:28

but I'm really exploring a little bit more of exercise. variation. Um, just to get out of my own comfort. zone around it because I'm like Okay, we have a like. For example, let's let's talk quater, because that's that's what we talk about the most I can have like a in this gym right, I can have a. There's a. there's a belt squat. there's a pit shark. we have like a, um, a Smith machine barbe or sorry, like a Smith machine back squat. You can do uh, with the heel elevated wedge. They have the prime wedges there. I did that. that's great. We have a pendulum. we have, Uh, like a a Cybex squat press, right, that lever one that

[bryan_boorstein]: 11:04

yp,

[aaron_straker]: 11:04

I found I like really well after I actually tried to use it instead of just bitching about it and hating it for no reason, and then a Arsenal hack squad. So those are like five really

[bryan_boorstein]: 11:14

yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 11:14

good options. Normal. I' be like I'm just to the fucking penilem twice a week. I'm goingnna do it in like a six eight, and then like an A at ten to twelve. Repra

[bryan_boorstein]: 11:24

right, right,

[aaron_straker]: 11:24

trade be can just push that, but just exploring variation for my own kind of like personal growth, really, and being able to program Um from up from outside my comfort. zone, and realizing that uh, that's really my main. My main target there is to expand my own kind of personal knowledge And not hey, this tool works. So I'm just going to like only use this one tool. Uh, and it's been fun and I'm going to do about seventy percent lengthened uh, overload volume to to thirty, Uh, and I'm really really excited about it.

[bryan_boorstein]: 11:59

very cool. I also love that you are splitting up quads and has, because that's another thing that I have done, you know in the last six eight months, and a huge fan of the way. It just allows you to put much more intensity and focus into that area and it's much easier after a hard quad or ha, to come back and do some upper body than it is to have to do the other part of your legs, so I'm a big fan of that too

[aaron_straker]: 12:25

And that's what I'm going to test this week is the order. whether I want to put the back day in between the quad and the hamda or not.

[bryan_boorstein]: 12:32

cool.

[aaron_straker]: 12:33

Um. This is my, admittedly, my first time like really giving it a true effort splitting them, and like you said, the reasoning is because like they're both such big muscle groups, and let's face it, anyt time you hit in the quads're, going be hitting some glue and then any kind of hip piing on the hams. You're going to be hitting some glue too, and when you do 'em all at once like it's just like kind of c, n s overloading. and like I, I mean, I'll make myself sick on on those leg days just because it's it's a lot. You know. It's a lot on your on your system to really push yourself to that like one r i r, and these sorts of things, and then just by splitting that it like I do like you know, my, let's say like six to eight hard sets on my on my ham strings, and I'm like Well, there's no quatz now, which is I'm I'm going to go do some

[bryan_boorstein]: 13:15

y. Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 13:18

some tricepts now, which is super fucking chill, and then hit like three sets of calbs and go home.

[bryan_boorstein]: 13:23

Yep, yep,

[aaron_straker]: 13:23

You know, so it's like my hard work is done now. I can do some tricepts which is super chill as opposed to like. Oh, I just took you know, r. d ls. to like two r. i r. and they're all shaky and stuff like that. Now I need to go on the fucking leg press. so yeah, I. I' I've really been thoroughly enjoying it so far.

[bryan_boorstein]: 13:43

yeah, yeah, one thing I did notice in that Uh, that happened in my program is I had a ref elevated split squad on my quad day, but it was making my ass so sore that I couldn't do my ham string day, so I had to take out the the single leg split squat and I ended up putting in a sissy squat to get that like lengthened Reck Fam, which is what I was going for with that movement,

[aaron_straker]: 14:06

Mhm,

[bryan_boorstein]: 14:07

Um, to specifically take the glue out of it. So, though that's like one little kind of nuance thing that if people are thinking about, you know designing a program with that in mind, that something I made a mistake of in the beginning.

[aaron_straker]: 14:19

Yeah, for me, and this is something that I've had to. I've moved a. I mean, don't so like the Re, elevated split squad, The Bulgarian split squad. It is a fantastic movement that I've loved for a really long time. However, if I'm being really brutally honest with myself when I perform it, it is overwhelmingly hip and glue dominant. Based on. I mean, my biggest thought is the moment are because I can't. I'm when when I'm doing it like that that dumbbell is sign. it's basically right outside. My knee is where

[bryan_boorstein]: 14:49

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 14:49

I'm holding it. So that moment, arm at the hip is so much greater, and I, I mean, I'll do everything I can to like, try and stay upright or re. I mean, when I do it, I really drive the knee over the toe, but every time after that, uh, my ass is fucking smoked and my quads are like a little bit, you know, fatigued. So it's just something that like. If you are, you know using that for a quad movement It Y you like? Like you said. You have to pay attention to your what it's doing for the gloop and stuff

[bryan_boorstein]: 15:18

mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 15:18

like that. Because it, you know, I've found the exact same.

[bryan_boorstein]: 15:21

y, but overall super cool and really excited to follow along with this new um adventure of your seproqual.

[aaron_straker]: 15:27

Yeah, I'm excited about it. Ready. jump into today's topic. So this is something that I thought was really really interesting that I wanted to talk about. Because you came from. Where did you just come from? Cancun?

[bryan_boorstein]: 15:40

Yeah, Mexico. Yep,

[aaron_straker]: 15:41

Yeah, so you're a you're can'k. You in Mexico came back and your weight was down right and then kind of very coincidentally. Um around that same time I was super. I mean, I'm not going to say I was super sick. I was sick and I lost a considerable amount of weight which I'm still trying to claw back, and we kind of joked about like every time I take a trip or on vacation like I lose weight as well, And that is very uncommon for a a majority of people. A lot of people will have fears around taking a trip, Their macros, et cetera because they don't want to like sabotage. I'm using sabotage, and like airquotes here. All the progress they've made and what I wanted to talk about on what I truly think it comes down to is what you use vacation for. And if you go on vacation to just like binge, drink and eat a bunch of like you know, really high choric meals. there's no real way around that because of the decisions you're making. But if you treat vacation as like a what I like to use for is just like a rest and distress period or a life enjoyment period, and so practice some of those things you enjoy, Um. And for us, a part of like the my coaching system is to eat a higher frequency of meals, a high volume of meals, a high maintenance calorie. When you go on vacation or take a trip, your meal frequency will reduce just through pure um convenience. And it's common that a lot of my clientele will come back underweight as well, so I just wanted to kind of explore these a little bit. Explain them, break them down so that the listeners can you know potentially attest and see if this is a a methodology they would like to use for their vacation so that they can kind of remove that fear of you know, sabotageing progress just because you're taking a vacation with your family or something.

[bryan_boorstein]: 17:42

yeah, totally. I. uh. I think the point you brought up about the type of vacation you go on is super relevant because if you're going on a cruise, it's almost impossible not to be relatively sedentary. And so even when they dock and let you off the boat, it's like sure, you have a few hours where you can go Like walk around and explore That great, but you really are like stuck on this boat. Plus there's food available all the time. and uh, the point you made about food frequency is also probably one of the biggest contributors to to waitight loss, because when there's around, I tend to eat much more often. Uh, especially because I don't eat until later in the day. Usually,

[aaron_straker]: 18:31

Mhm,

[bryan_boorstein]: 18:31

um, those afternoon hours are filled with a lot of grazing Generally, and when I go on vacation, I really am like at the place we were saying in Cancun, it was. Uh, you know lunch was what? eleven to one thirty, and then the place is shut down until three thirty or four when they open for for dinner. Um, so you really didn't have as many opportunities to eat, so even at a moment where I would be likely to walk into the kitchen, open the fridge and be like, Oh food like I could. I could have that fleeting moment of like I would eat food if it was available right now, but then that moment passes because it's not like right there in front of me. You know, so maybe I have a protein bar. so I grab one out of my my bag and I eat a protein barb. But that's way different than eating like a full meal or something along those lines, So um, super good points

[aaron_straker]: 19:19

Yeah, and the the cruise was a really good, uh, b, uh point, because I, I didn't consider that and yes, I could. I've never been on a real cruise. Actually, so I could never. Even. I just don't have experience with that, so I would never even would have crossed my mind, but that is A is a really really good point I would recommend like on vacation. still keeping like your more or less set meal. Like knowing how many meals you're going to eat, and not just like playing it by your type of deal, Because what you don't want is like. Oh, well, I didn't eat breakfast today, and then you know we go to brunch and brunches like coffee and fruit, and then at two p. M, your ravenous and you eat like sixteen tacos or something like that. You know what I mean. So like not allowing yourself to be put in a position where your um choices are limited by purely circumstance. So that sort of thing, and then the kind of shift that I wanted to to kick us off with until we jump into some of the uh, like uh notes I have here is really thinking about it from a lifestyle standpoint. So for myself for Brian, this is like a lot of our habits is really rooted in our lifestyle right. So when we go on vacation, like we talked about briefly like I still want to go to the gym on vacation, Because it is something that I love to do. I love that feeling of getting a little bit sweaty doing hard physical work. You know is is an enjoyment to me. I think maybe not so much in actual enjoyment. but it's like I've made it mean something in my mind, so that I enjoy it now because I know I'm contributing to my health. longevity. you know, bone density eats something of that sort, where I now reinforce that pattern as a

[bryan_boorstein]: 21:07

pluss your ghost.

[aaron_straker]: 21:07

positive in my life. And yeah, and my goals, Um, and I enjoy eating food that I know is beneficial for my body. So when I go on vacation, I'm not just like. Oh, I'm just going to eat lasagna for like four nights, because I know it's going to make me feel terrible and I don't want to feel terrible. I really chase that feeling of feeling good. So I think when you put those at the forefront, it really helps shift what vacation might mean to you Like if you go on vacation like, I can't wait to just get blackout drunk on the beach drinking, you know, six hundred calorie margaritas every day. I'm not saying that is wrong, but it may be there. There's a dicootomy between that decision and the type of lifestyle kind of decisions that I'm referring to at large, and in that you may just have to choose which is most important to you and realize, Hey, if you want to just binge drink six hundred calorie margaritas' on the beach for two or three days in a row Like you're wait. You will likely be higher when you come back, and majority of that's going to be like inflammation and sort of things. But I just want to really kind of separate the two from A from A from a standpoint of how are you approaching And what are you? What is the reason of this? C.

[bryan_boorstein]: 22:26

Yeah, I think that uh, for me steps are always higher on vacation. It's almost like just something that happens without even trying. Uh, just because you're walking from everywhere, like in my, I would. ha, I would not sign up for a vacation where I couldn't walk everywhere. Like if I was somewhere where I was like, Okay, you're here and now you're have to drive or take trains, or it is to get all the places you want to go. That's not my type of vaation. I want to be able to walk consistently, maybe average fifteen to twenty, twenty five thousand steps, even um on on vacation, and uh, and that's just I enjoy that like I want to explore it. but I want to explore it in like a real way where I'm like part of it and there's nothing more organic than like walking somewhere and being part of that experience.

[aaron_straker]: 23:13

I agree one hundred percent, and when you what you said about like just exploring and like walking, that is my favorite part of going somewhere new. just walking around and looking to the left and looking to the right, and everything is a new visual experience. I've never seen any of this before, so everything is brand new. I love that and the walking on vacation. It's it's simple. It's the spending the time out in the sun. I would imagine for a majority of people they will go vacation where it's warm and sunny. not always, but that simple walking around like people really really underestimate the impact of of of just a simple high step count on your day. and when you're like, let's say you're staying in the hotel right, Your walk just to get out to like. the lobby of the hotel is usually a good amount, and you're doing that a few times, walking to and from like restaurants and stuff walking. You get coffee like it really adds up in that fifteen thousand steps per day becomes pretty simple to do when you're very relatively active. Just going to look at some things.

[bryan_boorstein]: 24:17

Yeah, totally

[aaron_straker]: 24:21

Another thing that we wanted to talk about. so we covered like the kind of training a little bit, and I would approach it from an enjoyment standpoint right. So something that I would recommend in that I even do is back off my intensity of leg training. I've made this mistake before, like training legs too hard on vacation, and then you're just buried because your your food is down. You may not get as much you know, water and electrolys in. and then it kind of like makes you feel crappy, little. so I would recommend pulling back on that and just training for the enjoyment. if you want to. That is a big. I would say. I think if you're on vacation, and you, of your kids and and family, with you sneaking away for sixty to ninety minutes to train may be superfluous and only you can make that decision. But I would say that one is less important than the rest. The next one I wanted to talk about

[bryan_boorstein]: 25:13

hold on.

[aaron_straker]: 25:14

is just s. yeah, Go ahead

[bryan_boorstein]: 25:15

Yeah, so training? I, uh, I, I would say I often will use it as like one of my frequency deloads. So, instead of trying to train my normal two out of three days, it might be two out of six days or something like that. So I think the last vacation I went on a trained twice and they were like full hard sessions because the area had good equipment and stuff like that. So I went in and I did my session and I worked hard and I feel like it, you know, deposited pennies into the progression bank, Um, which is fine. Like if you want to take that approach, that's cool. but I think the key was the fact that I extended that out over six days. There was tons of recovery in there and I also never really felt super pressured to go to the gym. So like you kind of said about enjoyment like it was always something I wanted to do to the experience that work right that you, that you said, which is so well said. Um that you just want to like do some work and feel like accomplished. And so those two two sessions that I did over the five days or whatever were exactly the dose that I needed to enhance my vacation

[aaron_straker]: 26:15

en hance. That's the. That's a perfect word to use. that. That's a really really good point. I would agree with that. However, I have had, in, um, coincidentally enough in Mexico, two vacations we did where I like, walk into this little hole in the wall gym and I'm like, Oh, well, there's a hack squad in there. I gotta use it. And like the next thing I know, I'm like, you know, fucking dying and taking things to like one r, I orange and he's like. What the hell are you doing? I thought I was like. I don't know. I was just here. I wanted to use it. I couldn't help myself and then I feel terrible for the next two hours 'cause I pushed myself way too hard. Um,

[bryan_boorstein]: 26:49

right, right,

[aaron_straker]: 26:50

but sometimes it's like fun when you're in like when you're in a gym and there's a new machine that you've

[bryan_boorstein]: 26:53

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 26:53

like wanted to, and you're like Wella, I mean, what are the? It's like a sign I'm here. I should probably use it type of thing, so I will sometimes falter on that,

[bryan_boorstein]: 27:03

Yeah, at the root of it.

[aaron_straker]: 27:03

but it's a the feeling good thing.

[bryan_boorstein]: 27:05

Yeah, at the root of it. We' all like still that bro who like just got into weight lifting because you want to like raging in some weight, And

[aaron_straker]: 27:12

Mhm,

[bryan_boorstein]: 27:13

you know teerionp. So I feel that

[aaron_straker]: 27:18

cool. The next point I wanted to talk about is sleeping good in how that will help you lower your stress, or a combination of other parts of the vacation with lowering stress, so I know with a lot of my clientele, especially like the the dads, the business owners, it is. it's a str, not a struggle. It is a constant work in progress to get them to really buy into sleeping eight plus hours per night, sleeping nine plus hours per night. But vacation is one of those times where especially if you're doing which we were going to, which you know, Point three we werere going to talk about is like being out in the sun more, uh, or spending time in the ocean or water. You're just drained earlier, and you might be like Fuck. It's eight thirty like we're ready for bed type of deal, and just getting to bed earlier and then sleeping more like that will really really benefit Um. That outcome. Do you find Brian on your trips? So like, maybe not this boys trip that's coming up. But like a like a family vacation that your sleep is has improved in in a longer, uh duration?

[bryan_boorstein]: 28:24

man. The context of kids is completely missing from your perspective.

[aaron_straker]: 28:28

It is it is you are completely correct,

[bryan_boorstein]: 28:30

So um, so here's the deal. Here's what happened on my vacation real quick. we, um, we have a son. He slept pretty well. Actually, he's four and a half. He slept through the night. Really, no big deal. Um, my daughter scared shitless of the pack and play and not being in her crab, and just you know, unfamiliar surroundings literally screams the entire night until we put her in our bed with us, at which point she just ends up rolling around and punching me in the face every hour throughout the night And that

[aaron_straker]: 28:59

and then you go sleep in the pack and play

[bryan_boorstein]: 29:00

is pretty much. it's pretty. No, But we tried and she screamed. We. I made him wait forty five minutes of her screaming, and she didn't actually fall asleep, so we brought her back to the bed, but it was awful and um, and my sleep was the worst it's been during vacation, So it's very possible that my weight loss was like muscle loss, you know, and I'm just like now getting that back finally. but um, I'm just kind of I was tongue in cheek,

[aaron_straker]: 29:22

Mhm.

[bryan_boorstein]: 29:23

but it really was an awful sleeping situation and I think my boy's trip will actually be a better sleeping situation. Despite the fact that there'll be alcohol in my body, it will be better sleep just because I won't be pun being punched in the face every hour.

[aaron_straker]: 29:38

That is a great, uh standpoint to bring into it the the children thing, It caning t Boone. You don't know what you're going to get

[bryan_boorstein]: 29:46

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 29:47

right. So uh, that one's a really really funny point. But aside from like, let's say in a perfect world where the children were not there, Maybe it's just maybe it's a Brian and Kim vacation.

[bryan_boorstein]: 29:56

yup. amazing.

[aaron_straker]: 29:56

I would imagine sleep. the sleep quality goes up, the sleep duration goes up. And what I really want to kind of just bring home is the importance of what that will do to your weight in an acute, you know, three, four days. The next point we talk, I wanted to bring up is just like spending time out in the sun right, getting a an acute increase in vitamin D levels and the ocean right. Some they call the vitamin C, But, S, kind of like a little bit of a pun. There it, depending on who you talk to, right in in different cultures like there is people truly truly believe like in the benefit of that to, from my standpoint I wouldn't say yes or no. I don't. and from anything I've seen, I'm not saying for this. I'm not saying against is, I haven't seen any like kind of studies on it. I'm not saying they're not out there. If you, you know, any, listen out if you do have. ' or you have seen them. Please send them over. I would love to to look into that, but just spending time kind of like the the spending time in nature thing right. There's a lot of research on this that's beneficial for you know, acute, uh, quarter all levels, and then in tandem with the sleep, Uh, these are just net positives, especially in A in A in a shorter acute standpoint That will positively benefit your physiology, and then reflecting weight number on that.

[bryan_boorstein]: 31:16

Yeah, For sure, I mean there's something so tranquil and rejuvenating about just looking out at the ocean and seeing the water in. And the water out, and it's weird, like with the perspective of being in Colorado, with the mountains which are very still and you know you feel you feel confidence in the fact that they're they're unmoving And then the ocean is like the complete opposite where it constantly moves. And uh and I meet people that prefer one or the other, and I really, I really enjoy both. But there is something about the fact that that when you go to the ocean, if it's not something you see regularly, it has this super calming effect and and I completely feel that every time that I'm there, I just almost get like. stopped by it. I have to just like stop. and of take a minute. you know.

[aaron_straker]: 32:00

Yeah, I agree that I really like when we, as much as I don't like the oce. I don'test say, I don't like the ocean. I guess I should back. We go to the ocean frequently, Um with where we will travel to and that sort of things, and I love like standing in like ankle deep water and just watching you know, watching the ocean. I would say To your point, I do prefer the mountains to the ocean, and here is why I love looking at both of them. However, I love going in the mountains. I'm fucking terrified of the ocean. Uh, I feel like it's a completely different skill set that I just do not possess and the unknown is so much more vast, and I think that's why I prefer the mountains.

[bryan_boorstein]: 32:42

Yeah, now that that's fair, it's fair.

[aaron_straker]: 32:45

And then we talked about walking a lot like that will,

[bryan_boorstein]: 32:48

Y.

[aaron_straker]: 32:49

especially if you're someone especially coming from like a winter standpoint right. We know it's harder to get steps in the winter. Uh, especially if you live somewhere where the weather's You have a true winter and it's cold And you know I have clients who are in like Iowa, in places where it's literally like negative, ten degrees outside and and I'm not going to be like. Well, hit your fuck and steps pro. Like are you committed or not like? No, that's very unrealistic. I like. do not go outside. Please do not go outside. So just taking that and then going to fifteen, twenty thousand steps a day like that will really really add up anything else you want out on that one that we talked about.

[bryan_boorstein]: 33:29

no, I think that's good. We killed the walking part. Y,

[aaron_straker]: 33:32

Yep, and then the last thing and the biggest thing to talk about is your approach to food, so we briefly talked about it a little bit earlier. But I wanted to like rebreak it down, and I'll give you exactly what I recommend my clients do on vacation, so I personally prefer to stay in air B and Bes when I travel, Um, specifically for the kitchen aspect. Uh, I really really love making my own breakfast and taking control over that, and I like the a little bit of added frequency or sorry, Um, flexibility as well, so I recommend trying to eat roughly your mostly consistent breakfast, especially if you're especially if you're doing a longer trip. If you're going somewhere for like a day or two, it's probably overkill, but if you are staying a little bit longer, it just gives you that out of flexibility. And and then I always recommend trying to opt for higher protein options for lunch. And then I instruct my clients to be pretty flexible with dinner and do pretty much whatever they want. However, I give them the context of Hey, the goal isn't to eat until you hate yourself. You know will always be there. but I want you to enjoy yourself without thinking that I'm on vacation. I need to have six whiskies and three desserts Type of deal. So what is

[bryan_boorstein]: 34:58

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 34:58

your approach there, Bri.

[bryan_boorstein]: 35:00

no, totally, that's exactly how I handle it, too. I actually usually do the intermt and fasting thing on vacation, so I will just straight up, skip breakfast and have black coffee and then I'll eat uh lunch, primarily protein and uh, and then eat uh, like a protein bar. You know, mid afternoon and then at dinner. I kind of have just a big meal where I'll allow myself to eat more stuff. but you know if I've had a thousand or twelve hundred calories up to that point, then that's a lot of calories that I can have at dinner and still be under. Um. One of the things that that I've re wrote in the notes about my experience with food on this vacation and what contributed to me losing weight is that, Uh, the food really wasn't that great. It was a all inclusive resort and so it was like, very mass produced. I mean, they did have these like specialized restaurants where you could go to like the Mexican restaurant or the steak house or like whatever, and get like what I guess was more freshly cooked food. But these like food hos, that you would go to. They really reminded me of. like you know, j, m u. The cafeteria where at college like it really was just like you walk up, and there's so many options, but some of them have been sitting there for like thirty minutes and they look congealed and then other ones are like You know. there's just I don't know. It's just not not my scen. Like I would much rather like you, said, uh, be somewhere where I have a little kitchen or kitchenette and I can kind of cook my own food. for the most part, Um, and go out to eat somewhere that I want to eat, instead of kind of being legated to eat at these places that are part of this all inclusive community.

[aaron_straker]: 36:29

I have never. One time was I at like an all inclusive and I definitely do not prefer it for one. like that simple thing like I want to go out and eat like choose a local restaurant be cause you know it's would you think about things like an all inclusive from like a business model standpoint right. They have to make decisions, obviously

[bryan_boorstein]: 36:51

Yep,

[aaron_straker]: 36:51

to be profitable and offer flexibility and stuff, as opposed to like, Hey, we're going to find the local like you know, Savie place. Let's just continue the context of Mexico, because it's you know, we're both familiar and it's and it's it's a. I mean. Obviously, our demographic of the listenership is overwhelmingly American. It's a popular Um. vacation destination. The the quality and flexibility you get and just the the enjoyment of the experience of of of dining, I think is just astronomically higher with that sort of approach. Um, but it's one of those things that you kind of. I think one of the options or reasons you guys took that all inclusive was like that. There was like child care or something like that, or is an easy decision with the children correct?

[bryan_boorstein]: 37:33

the there was supposed to be child care. It, just, um. it didn't quite work out like

[aaron_straker]: 37:39

Of course,

[bryan_boorstein]: 37:39

vivid. Viviy wasn't having it and my son did it two days. And um, there's also there was this O cell thing that you could do, called uh, uh, the family area or something. And if you sign up for family area, it's like you know an extra two thousand dollars. but you get twenty four seven kid coverage and you have access to all these like special, kid friendly activities and stuff like that. And uh, and we didn't know about this until we arrived and they're like, Oh, why didn't you register for the family area and we're like Oh, Can we do that now? and they're like, Oh, no, maybe next time though you know. so it's like one of those things and we're like God. of course you know.

[aaron_straker]: 38:14

yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]: 38:15

Um, so so no, unfortunately, but yeah, I think you know, with the kids it is a little bit easier. Um, it's Mexico's, certainly not unsafe. Like, by any means, but it's just easier to contain them in in like a place that is all inclusive. The food though was just really the worst like it would. The food itself would be a reason for me not to go back to a place like that and then you look at like when you talk about the business decisions of you know the type of food you choose and stuff like that. They also have to account for the fact that every time I walked by other people, there were plates and plates and plates of food just being thrown out like you know, people are getting up from their table to leave, and there's like plates of food still full just sitting there that no one's ever going to eat now. And that was just kind of like the moment where I was like. Ah, of course you know,

[aaron_straker]: 39:07

yeah, I think it's it's. I mean. I, I'm speaking from like purely conjecture, but I could only imagine it's a hard business model because you have to account for. Like, not not what I'm going to call like turnover, but like waste in and

[bryan_boorstein]: 39:19

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 39:19

that sort of thing. So when you approach that from like a a vacation, a vacation or standpoint, it's it's just another consideration. And like with like with so many things right you you make a decision. It might not be the best. it might not be the worst, but you gain an experience that will then influence your further decision. And

[bryan_boorstein]: 39:35

y.

[aaron_straker]: 39:35

that comes with like, Like vacation as well. I do a lot of traveling just for like my lifestyle, so I've been able to like, kind of f. figure out. You know this kind of formula that we talked about on on on today's Um podcast, and obviously a lot of trial and error with my various clientele and their trips and stuff, And'm just kind of focusing on like these sorts of um, um, like pillars. I guess I could say that will lead to you one not being concerned or neurotic around. And is my weight going to be up? Want to get back or these sorts of things, and to help you in, like this, is my entire goal and aim as a business and a nutrition coach to slowly and overtime move you along this trajectory of a more health focused lifestyle. And that includes vacation, and I want vacation to be some to one. Re, reduce stresses on your life, but add value to your healthy life, not fuck. I'm miserable in my day to day life, so I'm going to go on vacation and just treat my body like a dumpster fire to mentally check out for four days before I have to return. Type of deal. So that is like kind of the big picture and I guess the last thing that I will speak around on it is if you approach vacation as part of your healthy lifestyle and not a detour from it, you will not have to worry about these sorts of things when you come back.

[bryan_boorstein]: 40:58

Yeah, I think the best part about taking this approach on vacation is that then you come back from vacation and you actually feel good. You're like. Oh, that was great. you know, Uh, that vacation was rejuvenating for me unless you have kids. But then then you know, you just hear in the shit storm anyway. But but if you, if you can at least control, you know what you can control, then you can come back and uh and feel a lot better and have more positive perspective moving forward as well.

[aaron_straker]: 41:26

I love that. Yeah, so coming back feeling great, Ready to like reintegrate as opposed to like coming back where you kind of dug yourself a little bit deeper. And now you're like Fuck.

[bryan_boorstein]: 41:35

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 41:36

it's Monday. it's Tuesday. I'm hu. I'm hung overver. is all hell. I feel like dog shit from

[bryan_boorstein]: 41:38

got to dig myself out. Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 41:42

eating whatever you know, incredibly flexible foods the entire time And now I'm got to jump back into real life, so that was a really good point to close on anything else you wantnna add to this episode Brim before

[bryan_boorstein]: 41:54

no good

[aaron_straker]: 41:54

we wrap it up, Gool. I really like this. It was a different type of conversation, but something that E. all people will experience right. Everyone takes vacation. I'm sure the listenership that we have is obviously overwhelmingly dominant on the lifestyle and concerned with. I don't want to say, concern with their weight, but with well beinge you know, and I'm sure, just for some people wait, and I think just by following some of these approaches and shifting your mindset on, it can really help just empower you to shift how you view in and participate in your vacations. Hopefully,

[bryan_boorstein]: 42:28

love that.

[aaron_straker]: 42:29

cool as always, everyone. thank you for listening. Brian and I will talk to you next week.