@The_Myth It was absolutely incredible. That’s the second time I’ve had that: 28oz porterhouse at Disney Cruiseline’s “Palo” restaurant. This time, it was during my wife and I’s anniversary dinner. She was so excited FOR me when it came out.
@EmilyQ It was so incredible. The whole trip was a whirlwind of amazing flavors and time together.
@Friedrich This was the BEST way to deload: nothing but meat and lots of walking, haha.
@simo74 It was absolutely nuts. The photo really couldn’t capture it, specifically how vascular I got at that point. I was actually walking back to my room and 4 teenage girls were waiting on an elevator, and one screamed out “Jesus, how long do you spend at the gym?!” I took it as a compliment.
I’m planning on doing a blogpost talking about some of the cool things I did on this trip, but while the memories are still somewhat fresh, let me give some wavetops here.
I flew into Rome on Wednesday the 3rd, having lost a day due to travel and timezones. We stayed in the city until Saturday, and during that time I got to tour the Colosseum and actually walk out onto the arena floor, through the archway that gladiators traveled through to face their opponents. That was a surreal experience. I recorded it on my phone to be able to revisit it. We also toured the Vatican, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Circus Maximus, the Pantheon, and a few other churches.
I told myself that, since I was in Italy, I was going to be eating pizza and pasta, because I wasn’t going to limit myself from experiences, but I never took into consideration the rich culture of cured meats and cheeses that makes up Italian cuisine.
There was no sacrifice here: I absolutely LOVED the many different varieties of meat and cheese I could engage in, and actually got the Valkyrie and Kiddo turned onto the idea, to the point that THEY were asking to order it if I didn’t bring it up.
I also had the best bacon of my life, surprisingly enough, at a hotel breakfast buffet in Rome. My very FIRST ever bacon experience was on my mom’s family farm, bacon freshly slaughtered from pigs raised on a small farm in a VERY small town in upstate New York, and that bacon has been my white whale: nothing has EVER tasted as good…until I ate this bacon. And I didn’t make the connection until my Valkyrie asked me “is it as good at that bacon from your childhood” when I realized that yes: I was finally re-experiencing that experience. It was real day panchetta, wide cut, floppy, deliciously fatty and greasy. I had 3 platefulls of it and finally told my family “I don’t think my body has an off switch for this bacon: I have to stop now, because otherwise I will just never stop”
And that was my observation throughout the whole vacation: the food quality in the Mediterranean is just plain better than the US. For the meat I was eating, I’m certain it’s because the pigs aren’t fed a diet of corn and soy, nor a product of CFOs, and all the eggs I ate were similar: DARK orange yolks. What’s interesting was that this was my first Disney Cruise out of Europe, and I noticed how the food on the cruise ITSELF was better as well, because they’re stocking up from European vendors vs US. Even the “slum” stuff (foods at the buffets vs the sitdown establishments) was higher quality than the stuff in the states, again with dark orange yolk eggs, grassfed dairy, and just quality tasting meats.
Which I imagine plays a role in why there are so very few obese people in these regions. I had my eyes open, but, often, if I ever DID spot an obese person, they were an American tourist. It’s not JUST food quality of course: the lifestyles are more active, there is less stress (the midday nap was still popular where we were in Italy), but then people are also smoking a lot more, and they’re eating ALL that evil pork/meat/cheese/pasta.
Speaking of fat American tourists, on my cruise, I saw a woman with the highest bodyfat percentage I’d ever seen. I don’t mean the FATTEST person I’d ever seen: she was actually not a very large woman. If her bodyfat percentage was lower, you’d consider her buxon or curvy. But instead, she had so little lean mass and so much fat mass that, when she walked, her entire body RIPPLED. It was like a lava lamp: it was hypnotic to see her walking across the pool deck. Each step would trigger a ripple from her calf, rolling all the way up her thigh, into her stomach, through her upper torso, into her arm, and then like a Newton’s cradle back down it would go again.
I did my part to be like these toursits, but, of course, failed. That very first day of the cruise, I’ve learned that Disney always has my favorite food for lunch: lamb chops. That’s what inspired this photo
That was plate ONE of lunch: a turkey drumstick, 5 lamb chops, and a slice of roasted beef from the carving station. I then went back for 6 more lamb chops, more beef, and some steaks for the second round. My only regret being I didn’t have MORE lamb chops.
Breakfasts were on a similar pattern
This is, again, plate ONE. Many much eggs, steak, salmon, and butter. I always remember how much I like salmon when I go on these cruises. My family doesn’t like fish, so I don’t eat it much.
More cruise destination highlight include Mykonos Greece, where my kid was tutored by a master chef on making tatziki sauce and we all got to sample their creation, which was the best tatziki sauce I’d ever had in my life and now my kid is excited about making it at home with some souvlaki and gyros (winning), walking in the agora in Athens, the very place where Socrates used to roam, along with the acropolis, absolutley falling in love with Siciliy, and having the best pizza of my life in a little shop right outside of Pompei after having explored the ruins and right before hiking to the peak of Mount Vesuvius in a pair of bearfoot shoes that I literally threw on for the first time at the start of the trip. Needless to say: that company is legit, and those shoes were incredible for all day walking in a foreigh country AND hiking a volcano while still being stylish enough that I could wear them to my annivesary dinner.
I stuck with my plan of actually getting some training in, since I had the strongman competition coming up, and primarily relied on push ups and bodyweight squats. I’d limit myself to 20 minutes and find various ways to get in 300 of either movement, and sometimes include burpees or sit ups alongside. Sometimes 300 didn’t happen because I’d include too much other stuff, but the effect was good. I also got access to a chinning bar and 45lb dumbbells on 2 separate occasions on the cruise, and took up Dan John’s 100 press workout from the Armor Building Formula in order to get a great pump. 2-3-5-10 for 5 rounds, getting in 2-3-3-5 chins as part of a superset/circuit. And based on how I performed when I got home: this did the trick of keeping me fit.
I read 4 books: That Mat Fraser “Hard Work Pays Off”, The Tactical Barbell “Ageless Athlete”, I re-read “Powerlifting Basics Texas Style” and Jamie Lewis’ Cookbook. Highly recommend them all.
This vacation was, legit, the best one I’ve ever had in my life. I haven’t even scratched the surface of awesome stuff that happened and things I learned. The best part was just how healthy I felt in all ways. There was never any anxiety about training or eating: I enjoyed everything I did. If I didn’t want to exercise: I didn’t. If I did exercise: it was something I wanted to do. I ate whatever I wanted. I just had some legit fun, and the family really got to spend some time together and bond.
Which, on the note of eating whatever I wanted, shout out to the Ketobrick from Ketosavage
I brought 3 of these, but only needed 2, and it was on the flights. 1000 calories, quality ingredients, the “carnivore cake pop” is only 3g of carbs. I always PLANNED to eat the brick with the whole bag of biltong, for a 1500 calorie meal that was a little higher in protein, but I only ever needed half a bag at most: the brick is VERY satiating. And meanwhile, I didn’t eat the junk that was brought out on the flight. These are definitely a keeper in the travel bag.
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