Your Reality; Happy Hour and Fitness

The main reason why myself and my company, Executive Fitness, have been successful is because we realize how reality and fitness correlate.

Body builders and fitness models dedicate their lives to developing their physiques because that is their main source of income and it is what they love to do. For most, that is not reality; waking up at 5AM for 1 hour of cardio and then later that evening weight train, for 5-6 days per week. You do not have the time to do this and the dedication needs to be there year after year.

The average person in the corporate world works 40+ hours a week, comes home starving after a long day, has a big dinner, and maybe a drink or two or three. When Friday comes, forget it, happy hour is on your mind all day long, or for some, all week long! You need to exercise and motivate yourself to do the little things along the way so that you do not fall into unhealthy categories that will be detrimental to your health in the long run. I realize that my clients are going to party, wine and dine their clients, always on the go for business, and are not active if they are not having a personal training session. Here are my tips and tricks for all of you who may find yourself in the same situation as given above.


Let's talk about alcohol. We all love to be social and party once and a while. Once your body realizes that alcohol enters the body, it immediately wants to metabolize it. When you hear people explain how they gained all their weight in college because of drinking too much, that is only half true. Two things will cause you to gain weight while partying. The sugar level in most mix drinks, and eating while you are drinking.


Beer drinkers only have to worry about the high caloric and high carbohydrate value in dark beer not the sugar. Most light beer is low in calories, sugar and carbohydrates. BUT…
No matter what you drink, if you are eating before, during or after drinking, your body does not want to metabolize your food! It wants to get rid of the alcohol first. So what happens to all that food? Depending on your alcohol intake the food will be stored and eventually become fat.
This seems to be a lose-lose situation. It is, but here's the trick; start by drinking clear spirits. I recommend drinking Gin and Soda Water, NOT tonic, a splash of grapefruit or cranberry juice with a lime wedge. Rums, Tequilas, are very high in sugar. Vodka is high in sugar but not as much. Gin is my drink of choice and I have noticed a difference with clients who have tried this. The sugar level is very low, the soda water enables the alcohol to become metabolized more efficiently, the alcohol content in Gin is always very high, and most people do not have hangovers with drinking only Gin.

We all get hungry while drinking, so try to pick foods that are low in calories which fill you up. Stay away from all the bread, pasta, and fried foods. Bar food like mixed nuts are a very good choice. Eat at least an hour before drinking that way your body is in the process of metabolizing food and you will not begin your drinking on an empty stomach.

I am not promoting drinking in any way, but I do understand the reality of the corporate world and my job is to help you along the way so that you do not completely fall off track. We at Executive Fitness want you to be as healthy as possible and the above tricks will guide you from straying off into an unhealthy state. I look forward to hearing from you all with questions and comments.

In Good Health,

Rob DiDonato