Ok while our lives aren’t sitcoms and so when things take a turn for the unexpected in our lives our situation might not always result in hilarious events followed by a nice lesson learned moment all in 22 minutes but that’s why we have shows like Modern Family so at least we can relate and  laugh our ass off for a few minutes.  The latest episode of Modern Family had almost every character in the episode dealing with some sort of unexpected event that they had to deal with and that is the topic I want to relate to today’s fitness fat loss article; the unexpected and how we deal.

The show starts out with a middle of the night phone call that wakes up Phil and Claire to the fact that Haley has just been arrested for underage drinking, lets keep track shall we, we’ll call that  unexpected event #1.   That phone call sets off a domino effect of phone calls that rings over Cameron and Mitch; Mitch for legal counsel and Cameron for kid sitting duties; finally the dreaded who died?!, middle of the night phone call lands in Jay and Gloria’s bed with Manny and Gloria both exclaiming the hilarious aforementioned Aye Who Died?!, line.  The morning finds Cameron proudly cooking his “facon” breakfast for Luke and Alex.  Being on a health kick Cameron has been making his own soy bacon which he feeds the kids. Ubeknownst to Cameron though is that Luke is allergic to soy which sends him into anaphylactic shock.  Ok, maybe that’s a bit meladramatic, he had an allergic reaction, but I’ve liked saying anaphylactic ever since I learned the word when I was a kid, plus it’s one of those words that makes you sound kind of like you know your stuff even if you just like saying the word ha; aaaaand we’re back… that’s unexpected event #2 .

Unexpected event # 3 takes a comical turn with Jay’s ex wife dropping in on him unexpectedly which despite the fact that she hates Jay’s wife wouldn’t be so bad only if Gloria wasn’t pregnant.  Ok pretty standard sitcom hilarity right? Yeah I agree I was laughing my ass off the whole episode, but now how can we relate this to us, fat loss, and our fitness goals?  Having to deal with the unexpected happens all the time in everyday life and the unexpected when it comes to fitness is no exception.  There are certain times unexpected things happen to us that we can be somewhat prepared for but not one character in this episode could have been or were prepared for what happened, they just had to deal.  Life is no different.

We’re having a family dinner and I know I’m going to have to eat unhealthy even though I don’t want to…

I forgot my lunch and ate out so I might as well skip eating a healthy meal for dinner right?

Tom brought in some donuts and everyone is taking a break eating and talking it up so I have to eat one right?

Sound familiar?

Chances are that it does and trust me when it comes to reaching your fitness goals these scenarios always seem to happen right around the time you’ve just committed to start getting in shape or are right in the middle of things and all it takes is one thing to throw a wrench in your plans.  How we choose to deal with the unexpected is up to us we are merely presented with choices. The choices we make although at times may seem out of our control, or like good choices at the time, may not always be the case.  Stress, hunger, pressure to socialize and not feel like the odd one out because you aren’t taking part of the awesome donut fest (not being sarcastic here I love donuts,  mmm, doughnuts).  These are all factors that can hold us back from reaching our goals.

So what can we do help us deal with the unexpected when it comes to our fat loss and fitness goals?

Well, let’s see what we can learn from Phil, Claire, Cameron, and Jay about how to deal with the unexpected…

Unexpected event #1:

If I don’t eat what the Family is eating I’ll be an outcast so screw my fat loss goals…

In the episode Claire talks about how frustrating it is how calm Phil is under pressure and how it makes here seem like she is out of control, and sure enough Phil throughout most of the show despite being woken up in the middle of the night, having to drive to Haley’s college, and being delirious from not eating (anyone who has ever tried fasting will know the feeling), is nothing but calm and collected

that is until Haley finally breaks him and his hunger goes from deliriousness into decisive anger (if you’ve ever fasted you’ll understand this feeling too) that checks  Haley right into her place;  Phil breaks it down for Haley basically letting her know what they have sacrified (sleep, waffles) for her in order to make sure that she not only was bailed out of jail but to make sure she’ll be able to stay in school and so she better apologize to them and dress appropriately for her academic appeal hearing and thus earning himself a waffle!

Sometimes we make sacrifices for family because well they’re family and we care about them and some times we may not agree with family but we can still understand and support them in their point of view.  Just because you are getting together with family for a special occasion doesn’t always mean  that you need to ruin the progress you are making toward your goals.  Not every occasion needs to call for you to eat what everyone else is eating if you are serious about keeping your nutrional goals in check for your overall progress towards fat loss, health or general fitness, and it certainly doesn’t mean that you have miss out on enjoying the company of your family.  Save enjoying a great meal with them for special occasions like holiday dinners for one example. Simply letting people know that you are working towards a goal and so you’ve eaten before you got there or have prepared your  own meal might not go over well but at the same time if they care about you they’ll understand.

Unexpected Event #2 :

I screwed up today cause I ate fast food for lunch, I think  I’ll let my throat close up till I can’t breathe…

What do you suppose would have happened to Luke had Cameron said, screw it how was I supposed to know that the kid was allergic to soy; he’s already ate some so I think I’ll give him some more.  Hopefully you’ve picked up on how stupid this reasoning  is, and yet this is what we do all the time when it comes to our diet.  Cameron did what any sane and caring aunt would have done.  He packed the kids up and ended up at the hospital where he had it handled.

We are at a greater advantage than Cameron because we know that when we are making progress towards our fitness or fat loss goals that what we choose to put into our bodies will affect our results, but there are times when despite  our best efforts we will give in to grabbing something to eat that isn’t the greatest of choices, at this point though we  can either keep eating “facon” even though we’re allergic to soy and have our throat seize up until we can’t breath anymore, or we can realize that we’ve hit a bump in the road for the day and regroup for our next meal.  The choice is yours.

Unexpected Event #3

Alright so it’s week 3 and you’re down 7 pounds…

You’ve had all your meals planned you’ve been  making your workouts, your sleep has improved, you’ve felt more productive, you had more energy and then, just like an ex-wife who you don’t want to see cause she hates your new younger hotter wife who is now pregnant, a box of the most freshest, pillowy, heavenly smelling, fried goodness shows up at the office.

Jay doesn’t want to see his exwife and wants to get her out of the house as soon as possible cause he’s scared of what’s gonna  happen next if she see’s Gloria walk through that door in all of her pregnant glory.  He has from past experiences made up his mind that this time won’t be any different and is prepared for the worst to happen which is why he tries but fails to get her out of the house before Gloria gets home.  Although Jay fails things never take the expected turn for the worse, at least not between Gloria and Dede. Things do seem to get worse between him and Gloria but he ends up smoothing it over by reassuring her how things will be different because their situation is different then when  him and Dede were married.

Sometimes we can make things out to be worse than they really are in our heads, chances are if you take a second and grab a healthy snack and maybe a quick 45 second bodyweight ciruit to get your heart pumping and endorphins shooting through your body before heading over to talk with everyone while they’re enjoying their doughnut break, you’ll probably see that those doughnuts aren’t the freshest most delicious goodness you’ve ever wanted in your life before; more than likely they’ll now seem like the sugary, stale, carboard treats that you’ve had a million times before and can pass up while still catching up with everyone at work…

So the next time the unexpected happens, take a second and realize that you’re probably better equipped to handle the situation better than you thought.

Now, in honor of Cameron’s “focan” (fake soy bacon) I’ve included a soy bacon recipe at the end of the article.  I’m gonna try it out hopefully you do to and let’s hope it’s “Focan” delicious not “Focan” disgusting. Just make sure you or anyone you feed this too isn’t allergic to soy (=  Oh! If you want a lower sodium content you can substitute Braggs Liquid amino acid which is made from soybeans but has a lower sodium content but both with will provide you with a complete source of protein by providing all essential amino acids plus 8 others.  Great way to get a tiny bit of extra protein in your diet if you go with Braggs or you if you go with soy then you’ll get a full 2 grams per serving.

Homemade Vegan Bacon

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried adzuki beans or other small red beans
• 1/3 cup hulled wholegrain buckwheat (not buckwheat flour)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon hickory liquid smoke
• 4 teaspoons nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon Braggs Liquid Aminos (May be substituted with soy sauce)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup

Rinse the beans and buckwheat,  place in large bowl covered with several inches of cold filtered water; let soak overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Strain the soaked beans and buckwheat and rinse.  Place in the bowl of a food processor.  Add the onion powder, liquid smoke, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, aminos or soy sauce, salt, tomato paste, coconut oil, and maple syrup.  Pulse several times to combine, scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl and continue pulsing until uniform but not as pureed as hummus.

Line a 9×13 casserole dish with parchment paper and coat pan with baking spray.  Place bacon mixture in pan and spread as much as possible with a spatula.  To get the mixture very thin and evenly spread, spray another piece of parchment paper lightly with baking spray and press the paper on top of the mixture and flatten with your hands.  Remove and discard the top piece of parchment paper, then use a spatula to spread over and fill in any bare spots.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then slice into 24 strips, about 1 inch by 4 inches (Do this by making one lengthwise cut down the center, and then twelve cuts across the shorter side).  Remove the strips with a small spatula.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat.  Fry the bacon slices for 2-3 minutes, flipping once.  Alternatively, before frying, you can freeze the bacon, then fry when ready to serve (no need to thaw first).

Recipe courtesy of http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegan-bacon/