Why do Mondays get such a bad rep? Every seven days, we get a chance at a fresh start. It’s great.
So, over the weekend, I accidentally discovered a boozing strategy I’m excited to share with you. Now, I will warn you that you need to keep an open mind. And set your male ego aside.
On Saturday afternoon, I took a field trip with the kiddos to the grocery store. We were having a few people over that night before our grade school auction, so I had to restock the beer fridge in the basement. When we go to the store, I always let the kids pick out a few treats while Daddy hits the beer aisle.
Now, I love beer. It’s delicious. We grew up in a beer town, so it’s woven into our St. Louis fabric.
Beer is also very high in calories, carbs and obviously has alcohol in it. From a health point of view, it’s not great for you. Especially if you’re trying to stay lean or lose a few pounds.
Like so m any of us, I love sitting around with friends and family over some cold suds. Unless I become an alcoholic overnight, that’s not something I’m willing to stop.
The challenge I always have is twofold:
- How do I drink without adding thousands of calories to my daily intake?
- How do I feel like I’m being social without a beer in my hand?
Okay, so while I was in the beer aisle, I ran across a bright white 12-pack of a beer called Budweiser Zero. I’d never heard of it, so I took a look at the nutrition facts. Turns out it only has 50 calories. It has zero carbs. And ZERO alcohol.
Yes, you read that correctly. It’s a non-alcoholic beer.
I don’t ever remember even trying an “NA” beer. But for some reason I was curious how it tasted. Had they been sampling the beer in the store, that would have been the end of the story.
Instead of turning my nose up at it, I put it in my shopping cart next to my 6-pack of IPAs, 30-pack of Natural Light, and my wife’s seltzers.
Surprisingly, when I got home, I was excited to try it – I guess I’m growing as a person:) I was farting around in the yard (another great time for cold suds) so I cracked it open…and it’s not awful. If you go in with an open mind. And don’t expect much. It kinda tastes like beer. And it’s refreshing.
I put it in my huggie/can coolie. And tricked my tiny brain into thinking that I was drinking beer while doing yardwork – one of the most manly things we do.
But here was the game-changer:
When people got to our house, I alternated real beer with near beer. Because I was using my huggie, nobody knew the difference. Again, I had tricked my brain. So I didn’t really know the difference after a while.
Of course, the flavor wasn’t nearly as good, but my stats were great on the evening.
I saved myself 500 empty calories. Cut my alcohol in half. Hung out without missing a beat. Didn’t have the munchies (which saved me even more calories). Didn’t fall down on the ground:) AND felt great the next morning.
Depending upon how much you indulge in booze, think about how many calories you’ll save over the course of just a month. 3,500 calories is about a 1lb. For the next 30 days, you could change nothing else. And you’d lose weight.
Small things add up to big changes.
Tomorrow, we’re going to dive even deeper into some small fitness tweaks we can make that add up to HUGE success.
Let’s do this.
Your #1 Fan,
Jeff Pelizzaro
PS – While we’re talking about small changes, take a look at our 18STRONG Diet Stack pdf. It’s a progressive schedule you can use to completely change your nutrition…at YOUR PACE.