Latest / Cameron's Conversations: The last weight loss podcast you'll ever need. / Episode 76: Summer is coming, how to handle BBQs!
Transcript
- Cameron: Welcome to the Cameron's Conversations podcast. And in today's episode, I thought I'd go very topical, very seasonal and talk about barbecues and how to handle them in the summer months. Because of course, we've had the first heat wave. actually saw just briefly, I was taking a break there for a couple of minutes whilst I got a juice and got some food. That it's meant to be, I think as high as 34 degrees down south in England. My goodness, that's pretty toasty ⁓ in some areas. Here it is 24 degrees, so it's nice, but not quite that hot. So obviously with that being said, we have to seize the moment. If you're UK based, if you're sort of listening in Europe and you actually get a longer summer, then it might be a little bit different. But here we have to seize the moment because we get not enough sunshine days to faff about or waste them. So we make the most of it. We get our barbecues on and all the rest of it. So I want to talk a bit about that. I've already had a few messages from clients who've maybe been with me since the start of the year and kind of not navigated a summer yet, just a little bit worried about, ⁓ I've got barbecues coming up, don't know how to handle this. I actually am going to throw this out there that I think barbecues are one of the easier social events to navigate. Now, a couple of bits of context on this. That isn't so much the case if you are a big drinker, right? If you are, a bit harder, like there's no doubt about it. If you're sat in the sun, having pints all day, that can be a little bit tricky, for sure. But if you are a bit more sensible and you're like, do you know what, it's actually cooking, I probably quite like a soft drink, it's probably better I stay hydrated so I don't drink too much, fall asleep in the sun and then end up cooked to a lobster red, a lot of the time the rest of it's pretty easy. Because really, if you go to a barbecue, you're usually looking at something that is not cooked in loads of oil because of the way that barbecues are, right, it's grilled. So the way it's cooked is pretty good. And most barbecues you go to, hopefully, they do grilled veggies. And honestly, some grilled protein, slash meat if you like, or if you're vegan and you're having some kind of grilled protein sources, other than obviously meat, like that and some veggies is perfect. The trick is not having all the sides, it's not having the crisps that are sitting out, it's not having... loads and loads of bits and bobs that are around. And I was speaking to a client this other day, one of the things I do when I go to a barbecue that helped me manage it is often just skip the roll. Like I'll have a burger, I'll have whatever on top of the burger. Like even if I want like a little bit of cheese or something like that, or if I want, that's fine, I'll have some like bits on the burger. But then I'll just not have the roll. And then that means I can have just more protein. So can have an extra couple like chicken skewers or whatever is on the barbecue. I often think it's actually one of the easiest things to navigate. I have to be honest, when someone says, oh, I'd like to come for barbecue, they're like, great, that's really, really handy. Like it just makes my life a bit easier when I'm in a weight loss phase navigating it at maintenance, it's not really an issue, but you know, for me, I find that really easy. And if I stick to soft drinks and I do that, it works brilliantly. And look, like, yes, it's nice to have a couple of drinks in the sun and absolutely do that, but I'll be quite transparent. I think when it's super hot, it's actually too much for me. Like I'm not a big, in the evening, it's more appealing. but when it's the height of the day and it's like really hot, like if it's 34 degrees, I'm not that fussed. But I think that's a really nice way of navigating it is like go a little bit easier on the carbohydrate side of things, have tons of veggies and have some of the protein sources and you'll be absolutely fine. You can honestly probably have a good chunk of like quite a filling meal and do really well. Now there will be sides and bits that goes with it, but the trick here is, is not using tons of willpower, it's using lots of fullness. Have lots of veggies. like have a big portion of veggies, have a good protein source, if there's like chicken skewers, these kind of things, they're great. They can be such a good way of getting lots of protein and veggies in. before you know it, you have a couple of those, especially if you're dieting, you'll be full quite quickly, and actually you'll probably find it quite easy to navigate. So I don't necessarily think it's something that, of all the social events you could go to, that are worse, right? If you go into cheese and fondue night, that would be a bit harder. Like cheese and wine night, that's what I was trying to say. like a fondue night or these kind of things. Probably a lot harder to navigate than a barbecue can be. Obviously there's a lot of stuff that can go with it, but the trick is not to think of it being like I need to stay away from X, Y, Z. Instead be like, right, I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna focus on fullness. I'm gonna have a good bit of protein there. I'm gonna have loads of veggies. And then before you know it, you're really full and you start managing it really well anyway. A lot of the problems that people have comes from the fact they don't do that at all. So they go in and they start having nibbles of crisps, then they have some bread, then they have some this, then they have some that. Their calories rack up really quickly, then they have whatever else they're gonna have. Don't do that. Prioritize the fullness side of it first and you'll find it much easier to navigate. And then again, on the drinks side of it, non-alcoholic beers are a great option. You can go for soft drinks as well. Honestly, that saves you a ton of calories, even if you wait a few hours before you have your first drink, that's gonna save you a ton of calories and allow you more space for food, which, if you're in a weight loss phase, is probably your priority, right? Having a drink's nice, but having more food's better a lot of the time. So these things go such a long way. And if you navigate one barbecue well like that, it just all feels much easier and it becomes easier and easier to do and to navigate each one. So hopefully that's helpful. It's very specific and contextual because I think of the heat and I thought this would be a good time to talk about that. But I think that can be such a good way to approach your barbecues and it keeps you in a really, really good spot. It makes you feel on top of things as well. So hopefully that is helpful when navigating the summer months. And if you are on a bit of a weight loss journey right now and you are struggling a bit and you're not sure what to do next or you're not making the progress you want, then you will see in the show notes that there is a link to my WhatsApp. You just click on it and my little WhatsApp will pop up and you can ping me a message. And you can just drop me a little message asking about coaching, if you're interested in one-to-one coaching and how that works. If you are struggling with anything in particular, is it anything you just want to kind of get a little bit of guidance on, you can just pop me a little bit message. And also, if you are just feeling like, do you know what, I'd really like it if we talked about this, if it's a topic you want to cover, I'm more than happy to take on board any suggestions for topics. I do five of these little mini episodes a week, so I'm always happy to come up and get new ideas across, as I often ask my clients for. so I can bring it up in the next podcast. So please feel free to do that. But otherwise have a great time. Enjoy your next barbecue.