Basal Metabolic Rate (How Much Should I Eat?)

Since the bootcamp is Monday and Wednesday this week I took Tuesday off in order to manage my workload a little just in case I ran out of gas forÂ Wednesday’sÂ class. I have been mulling over the content and format for this session and I think once the new gym area is set up I will take a leaf out of the Crossfit world and try to incorporate some strength / max weight work into the class before some lighter MetCon work. For today I don’t think it will be possible even though I suppose I could do squats, the gym and the placement of the equipment isn’t ideal.

That’s later, for now I want to answer another question I get very often… How much should I eat. Once you introduce people to calories and the idea that your body requires a certain amount to function then they get curious and wonder how much they need. It’s an inexact science still, and the numbers depend on a lot of factors. We know that it’s not necessarily calories in Vs calories out since there are “good” and “bad” calories but still there are guidelines that can be used to establish a starting point.

Your body is made up of muscle, bone and fat. Your muscle and bone require significant calories to maintain their state and as such contribute to your basal metabolic rate which is the minimum amount of calories your body needs to fuel itself just sitting still. If you fall below this number, your body will catabolize itself to make up the shortfall either by burning stored fat or by burning lean tissue. Which one it picks is partly due to your diet composition, partly down to hydration levels and partly due to hormonal balances. But to keep this basic lets just say that in order to maintain your lean mass you need to eat a minimum amount of calories. Since our body is only using fat as a “just in case” source of energy we will ignore it in our calculations, especially since it requires basically no calories to exist. So in order to calculate our calories we need to know our lean mass. This is easily done by getting your bodyfat measured with calipers, a fat scale or a water tank dip. These methods will all give you differing accuracies as far as the results but in the case of the scale, it’s a good tool to use on an ongoing basis to give you a start point and an average measurement. For me as I stated the other day my numbers look like this:

Weight 231 lbs or 105Kg (1Kg=2.2lbs)
Bodyfat 15%
Lean Mass (total weight x .85) = 196 lbs or 89.1Kg
Fat Mass (total weight – lean mass) = 35 lbs or 15.9Kg
you could also do Fat mass as total weight x .15 and get the same results.

So I calculate my BMR (not the bullshit BMI!) with theÂ following Cunningham Formula:

500+(22xLean Mass in Kg) which for me is 500+(22×89) = 2458 calories

We take this BMR number and multiply it by a variable between 1.2 and 1.9 to get our caloric requirements for the day. The difference in activity will determine whether you use 1.2 or 1.9 or a number in between.

Again using myself as an example my calories required for the day would be BMRx1.2 up to BMRx1.9 or in numbers:

2458×1.2 = 2950 calories
2458X1.9 = 4670 calories

For most people who are not competitive athletes and spend less than 4 days a week in the gym you are probably good around the 1.2-1.4 mark. For someone who works out vigorously at least 4 days a week (note there is no time duration here) then you can probably bump that up to 1.5-1.7. There are probably very few people in the general population who would need to be in the 1.7-1.9 range.

So in my example I would start out eating around 3000 calories a day and see what happens to my weight, my energy levels and my tolerance for either hunger or the ability to eat that much fruit and veg! The key is to give yourself a place to start and then to adjust as time goes along. As long as you are measuring what you are doing and what is happening, you will know what adjustments to make. But you need to know what the numbers are if you are going to make informed changes.

In the end, do something, have some information about what you are doing because something beats nothing every time!

You Need To Know This – Health and Fitness 101, The Basics

I guess I should expect it given where I came from…

I get asked with great regularity about my exercise, diet and motivation. I consider it a privilege to share my knowledge and in that spirit I have put together a basic list of the things that have influenced how I think. Some are my original thoughts, some are not, but it’s all part and parcel of what made me who I am today.

First, let’s get the diet out of the way.

Most of you already know my diet is paleo. It’s what I do and it is what I recommend. Even for kids I don’t see the value in eating grains that are processed and have very little in the way of nutritional value. Eat whole foods, drink water.

Eat like a predator, not prey
What are my reasons for eating paleo? (Other than losing 65lbs?)
Why I eat paleo (By Fitbomb)
Refined Carbs are Just Plain BadÂ Â – including the part about exorphins, or why your body craves carbs like an addict craves coke
Its Carbs not fat that are the problem
Why Paleo isn’t low carb

Now you know how to eat and why let’s quickly address the darling of the weight loss myth – Cardio.

Kettlebells Vs Cardio -Â The dishonour of cardio
Forget what you think you know – Why cardio is killing you (especially this: 10 reasons I don’t do aerobics)
Why do HIIT – A special nod to my gym girls

The mental game. Why it’s critical to develop mental focus, strength and have a healthy work ethic. Fear and motivation are two topics that come up a lot with my gym girls, and it’s also something I see in the faces of my bootcamp participants. Fear is good, fear is healthy, fear is there to tell you that you are about to become better.

For the kids – Some things you should know…
Fear – Face it, defeat it. Over the years I have had kids who were afraid. Most aren’t any more because they know better.
A big enough WHY? Find your reason, without it you are lost.
Stop listening to yourself – long but well worth the read. PROTECT THIS HOUSE!

So there you have it for now. Some stuff I have written, some links to very good information out there on the web and some stuff I admit I stole because I think it will help you. It’s all important, come back again and again to take what you need and as you do, learn how to coach yourself through life and be the best that you can be for you, your family and those with whom you can share the knowledge.

R8D64 – Someone Tell The Children What To Eat

I did the RKC with pushups and extras last night.

12345 C&P with 10 pushps after each set
5 C&P with 10 pushups x 12
5 snatches with 10 single arm swings plus 10 double swings x 3

It’s great that you can scale and adjust the RKC to get the workout that you need and if you haven’t yet tried kettlebells as a workout then you are missing out on some of the greatest whole body workouts there are.

In fact, if there was one workout “system” that I would recommend outside of the P90X/Insanity type DVDs it’s kettlebells.
It’s funny because there are some questions I get asked all the time regarding workouts and diet and I am always surprised at how little people know about the two. I’m no expert, I just know what I have done and it’s been quite a bit, but when I come across someone who doesn’t know that treadmills are the devil and not eating is a great way to lose weight I realize that the helath and fitness industry isn’t doing that great of a job. Not only that, but how do kids get to age 12 and not know how bad sugar is for them or how to eat a healthy balanced diet? But somehow they are being taught not to call it Christmas while they put up their “holiday tree”. Hey, teach me how to survive, I will figure out how to avoid the PC Christmas bashing when I get older.

I don’t want to go off on a rant here but there are certain things that are more important than others and it’s about time that the school system, the government and the parents (ooh.. and guardians, don’t want to offend any particular family dynamic there) realize that educating our children on how to make their lives healthy will not only given them a better quality of life, reduce bullying and self-image related depression, enable them to build their self esteem so that they can handle the idea of competition being helathy but it will also lead to lower health care costs in the long run.

I’m no politician, I just think a 12 year old child should know that skipping 2 meals every day isn’t good. They should know that fast food is a once a month treat (once they don’t have it for a month they will realize it’s not a treat either…) and they should certainly know what foods they can eat that won’t make them the first generation ever who will live a shorter life than their parents. Kids and candy go hand in hand and it’s not only sad, it’s dangerous for their bodies, minds and emotional well-being. I guess that’s why I try so hard to educate people I come across to make up for what the system isn’t telling them.

This entry took a weird turn so…

Now I am even more angry. I was searching for a picture of someone overweight giving themselves an insulin injection to show what the future is for a candy hungry kid, but apparently all the diabetics on the internet have six packs and 10% body fat. It’s ridiculous. Why are you showing someone giving themselves an insulin injection when that person has a 99% probability of NOT being diabetic! So I opted for the kid instead because so many people assume that type 2 diabetes develops in adults, in fact for years it was referred to as Adult Onset Diabetes. Not so, there are so many studies that show that type 2 diabetes is exploding among the youth of today. I am not sure, but I think if I was a child and suddenly had to start giving myself 5 injections a day of insulin I would probably be looking at my parents and saying “What the hell were you thinking??”

R8D61/3 – It’s All About The Fun From Here.

After my bout with a sick stomach and my Firstbeat Athlete telling me I am a slacker I am proud to report that after today I will have participated in 10 of the last 11 days. I have a busy weekend coming that will mean some heavy Kettlebell work which should put me in a great position for the start of Bootcamp Doubles next week. I also noted that Courage Wolf at left is correct, I don’t even want to have to say I will drop that last 10 lbs on Jan 1st, I want to be done with the goal I set! It’s kind of like buying Christmas presents… Why wait until the last second to get it done when you can start 30 days early and coast across the line basking in your own little pool of glory!

Christmas of course is diet season for most. Not diet in the healthy lifestyle type way either, it’s the time of year for overindulgence followed by guilt fasting. It’s funny how if someone offered you a plate of blondies and a pie or two in the summer out on the patio while you are in your bikini / shorts you would turn your head away but since it’s snowy and cold and nobody can see your muffin top you are fine with it. Do yourself a favour and just remember that while nobody can see is when you can set them up for the big surprise come the spring. I don’t know why, I always seemed to be better at staying on track and getting results during the winter months. Maybe it was a throwback to my university days, starting in September it was a non stop war on your body until Christmas with the rugby season and then after the Christmas break it was time for intramural sports and teaching aerobics. Summer always seemed like time off to me back then, maybe that’s what affected me. Either way, winter for me was a cake walk, for most others it seems to be a cake fest…

Disturbing quote of the day: “How much more do I have left?”. Got me thinking about the long loooong road ahead. It’s nice that I have come so far, and to know I am on the right road, going in the right direction, but it’s a lifelong journey so I say don’t sweat it. It’s time to switch from the goal oriented, pressure cooker situation of weight loss and base fitness development and time to move into the sheer enjoyment and exhilaration of being in shape, doing sports or workouts you enjoy and using your body for the fun things in life not just as a vehicle to make you feel better about yourself. I see people falling off the wagon all around me and it used to bother me, to stress me out thinking I was next and that always marked the beginning of the slippery slope for me. No more, I can handle it now, it’s not part of my lifestyle any more to worry about my food.

Food is fuel, not love, not companionship, not reward.

The winds of change are blowing. It’s time for floor and beam routines for the gymnastics girls, time to get down to the real work of being a competitive gymnast and for me, to crack down on the slacking and get some results. Also it’s bootcamp doubles for me and a fundamental shift in my workout philosophy starting with my participation in P90X2 once I get my hands on it as an indication not of my need to stick to a planned system, but allowing myself to do something I know I am going to enjoy.

It’s all about the fun from here.

As a matter of record, I did olympic lifting practice on Thursday after bootcamp Wednesday and for Friday I did a 6k run even though I hate running with a passion. Maybe that can be my new year’s resolution in place of weight loss. Give up on trying to make myself enjoy running. It’s stupid, boring, pointless and I hate it and I am just not going to do it any more.

Some Paleolicious Stuff

I do get asked often, sometimes by my kids at gym, other times by people who discover that I have lost 60lbs how I did it. Once I explain it is the paleo approach to eating they most often have one question… What about my sweet tooth? For me, it was best to wean off my sweet tooth with plenty of fruit at the start. I found that eating lots of fruits gave me plenty of satisfaction sweet wise and was still keeping me off the grains. As time went on, I ate less fruit and more vegetables to keep my fruit intake down to about 5 or 6 pieces a day. To some, that may seem excessive, but at my size, things are a little different. I found I was able to lose lots of weight and keep it off while waiting for my body to get over the years of insulin abuse I had put it through. Nowadays I am still eating 5 or 6 pieces of fruit a day but I also have berries, mix in lots of veggies with my meat and drink a ton of water. I am still craving free and although I have had challenges with portion size it usually comes down to the fact that I am low on veggie or fruit volume and too high on protein volume. Adding a couple of fruit snacks during the day usually puts me right back on track.

Paleo can be tough to start out, but I think for me the key was lots of fruit and enjoying the ability to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast every day and not feel guilty. In fact, I have probably had bacon and eggs for breakfast 80% of the time over the past year and I love it!

My only warnings on the paleo diet are this:

1. Watch the nuts. There are MASSIVE amounts of calories in nuts. Make sure you measure and know exactly what you are eating. You can scarf 1000 calories of nuts in 2 big handfuls.
2. Beware of drinking calories, they usually aren’t worth it. Just like condiments, they can be full of hidden sugars.
3. In the beginning, drink as much water as humanly possible, the extra protein requires more water to assist in digestion, besides, water is the best thing you can do for your body.
4. Learn what you can about Paleo. People will challenge you, vegetarians will become openly hostile and your family may throw words like “Atkins” and “Low Carb” at you in an attempt to dissuade you. Just remember, eat like a predator, not prey. If it has one ingredient, eat it.

The paleo lifestyle 101

Paleo Sweet Tooth suggestions

Mark’s Daily Apple sweet snacks

Whole 30 snack ideas

R8D5&6 – Equipment and Improvisation

I decided that since a few of us needed some supplies that I would take a run to the fitness store with the best pricing, which around here at least is Fitness AvenueÂ and pick up some stuff. For myself I decided on a rafter mount chin up bar for the laundry room so that during the bleak Canadian winter I can still crank out appropriate chin ups. Unfortunately, the door mounted bar isn’t cutting it any more. I also opted for a 55lb kettlebell at around 1.09 a lb and a set of gymnastics rings. I went for the rings primarily since I wanted to do 2 things, ring dips and muscle ups. I am not sure I will ever get to the point of being able to do muscle ups, I don’t think I have the flexibility in my shoulders and a little too much bulk. But at the very least I have an extra variety of pull ups and ring dip capability.

So this week was a real mix of stuff I hadn’t planned and things I made up on the spot. What with the crossfit trip, an injured calf, a strained hip flexor and ribfest in Aurora on Sunday the week was all over the place. However I am happy to report that I only skipped one day and that was very well earned. Friday was the off day, mostly to help recover my sore shoulders, on Saturday I did a 5K run/walk to try and test out my calf which went well. I have not done any cardio workouts since I strained my calf and I am really feeling it! Sunday I felt I had neglected my chest and triceps so I did a short workout with pushups and ring dips. It was 8 sets of each, with 4 kinds of pushups involved. I loved the ring dips, they are far more difficult than dips on my homemade dip stationÂ given that you need to squeeze the rings into your body as you dip. I am looking forward to getting back into some cardio this week, and getting back on track with the plan. I also have to try out my new larger kettlebell and see how much harder that is.

By the way, Ribs Royale in Aurora do a wicked full rack.

R8D3&4 – Rude Awakening Crossfit Style

I did a light leg workout with the kids at gym, it was supposed to be a rest but that’s OK. I am glad I did because yesterday my wife surprised me with a trip to an actual Crossfit Box to do one of the WODs.

It looked easy enough.

Strength Workout:
4×5 strict presswith chest to bar pullups
4×5 push press with chest to bar pullups

Metcon:
30-20-10 for time

Overhead kettlebell swing
Dumbbell push press
Walking lunges with bumper plate overhead

Looks were deceiving. It was a killer workout. Â I made it through the 30 set without a lot of problem other than my heart rate being frighteningly high (107bpm) but by the time I did the push press with dumbbells the second time for 20 I had to stop part way through in order to get enough energy to finish. Then when I tried to keep my arms straight with the bumper plate overhead for some reason my arms wouldn’t go straight.

The third round, although it was only 1o was the worst. My arms were fried, my shoulders were gone and I felt a strain in my hip flexor that was becoming more and more painful. I made all 10 kb swings and 9 db press. The last one I had to repeat 3 times. The final walk was sheer agony but I made it through in a pedestrian 11:30.

I admit, it was a rude awakening to the reality of crossfit as compared to my “interpretations” of crossfit that I do at home.

It was, in a word, awesome.

Then…. When I thought the night couldn’t get any better, I was sent by my wonderful wife to the Healthy Butcher in Toronto for a sausage making class. Now I love sausage and I would like nothing better than to make my own but I never imagined I would get the chance.

Last night, I did. I made sausage with fennel, white wine, dijon mustard, cheddar, caramelized onions, allspice and a 75/25 pork beef mix with a coarse grind. I have to say it was amazing, not just the sausage itself but meeting with about 12 others who also were keen sausagistas and learning a new skill in the process. It was a brilliant evening and I even ended up with a bag of sausages!

He’s Right, This Is Not OK.

Thanks to Fitbomb.com for once again bringing so much information into one place.

In the news today there are articles from the Canadian Academics saying that (read carefully) a HIGH BMR may not indicate a high risk for heart disease and such. This only points to what we all know that BMI is crap. HOWEVER… They are possibly (and likely) referring to people who qualify as high BMR mostly due to increased muscle density, high bone density and so on. They are not likely referring to inactive couch surfers who fill their faces with cheesecake and blame the BMI scale for making them feel bad. It’s not a disease is it…

What most people are getting from this is IT’S OK TO BE OBESE.Â Holy miss the point people!!

For some, this is another excuse not to exercise and to use the “love yourself the way you are” excuse to do nothing about their ballooning weight. I’m all for people loving their imperfections, just not the kind of imperfection that will kill you or be detrimental to yourÂ psychologicalÂ wellbeing. As soon as you stop avoiding the issue by throwing up your hands and saying “there’s nothing I can do, I love me the way I am” and leveraging that perfectly acceptable reasoning to cover your own laziness and lack of drive the sooner you will understand that if you really did love yourself you wouldn’t make excuses, you would get on with creating a healthier you.

Respect yourself, don’t excuse yourself. There is a life-altering difference.

R7D68 – Resting. Reviewing. Reviving.

I find it amusing, I suppose, that I suffered greatly on starting out with P90X. I have gone over my trials, tribulations and my entire journey in a previous post but going back over the last 2 years of home fitness I am amazed at how I blindly ignored my weight, choosing to focus on my perceived fitness. We can be so naive and deceptive when it comes to our health, fitness, body image and weight. It took a long time for me to see the truth.

I rested yesterday, another 4am work install made it too much for an Insanity workout. Instead, I bring you the story of my P90X journey that will prove to everyone the following:

1. It may not work the first time
2. If you don’t fix your diet, you may as well not bother.
3. If you stick with it, results will come.
4. Winners never quit, quitters never win.

I am on my 7th round of Home Fitness. Only since Week 3 of Round 4 have I discovered what really works.

If you are thinking about P90X or Insanity, don’t think, just do. If you are thinking about quitting because it is too hard, go to the funeral of a man who dies in his 40’s leaving a wife and kids behind because it was too hard for him to stay healthy. Ask his family if they sympathize. Ask yourself what your life would become if you had to spend the rest of it in a body you hate, others ridicule and most people don’t know how to escape.

Then do the work.

My P90X journey in a nutshell, taken from my “history” page:

It was obviously time for something to change. I was, for all intents and purposes, a 300lb man wobbling around pretending that I was something I wasnâ€™t. I had convinced myself that my size defined me and that losing â€œtoo muchâ€ weight would not sit well with me psychologically. I therefore made up my mind that I needed to convince myself that if I didnâ€™t get things under control I would not only have a severely diminished quality of life but in fact, I may end up with no life at all.

The 300lb scare was what I needed to get going. I joined Weight Watchers, and by the end of 2008 I had dropped 30lbs, got my 10% keyring and my 25lb keychain charm and was in a much better place. My weight stayed around 260lbs while I worked out at the gym during the winter and into the summer, remaining there despite all attempts to force it lower. At some point, I think I resigned myself to the notion that I was going to be over 250lbs forever, no matter what I did. That apathy immediately translated into weight gain. Once we started gymnastics coaching again in September of 2009 I was up at around 265lbs. That isnâ€™t the worst part. The biggest surprise was that after starting my P90X blog in June of 2009 I managed to GAIN almost 10lbs. No wonder there are no before and after pictures!!!

Ironically, it was immediately AFTER my first round of P90X that I realized something wasnâ€™t right. I had not been following the nutrition guide, thinking I would be OK doing my own thing and that was my problem.
One more note. I am not following the diet. I know, I know, each time I come across a site where someone says that I think â€œyou idiot, diet is the key, THE KEY DAMMITâ€ but in my case I have a legitimate excuse. I am studying to be a certified nutritionist and I am designing my own program.

Yes, and I am an idiot and I am designing my own downfall.. The fortunate thing was that I immediately began to feel the sting of jealousy that other people were able to get such amazing results with P90X and I wasnâ€™t. That sting was pride messing with me and in the words of Marcellus WallaceÂ â€œPrideÂ only hurts, itÂ never helps.â€.Â I continued with P90X, Insanity and hybrids of both until I got to my 4th round of P90X based workouts and was still gaining weight. This was ridiculous, and I was still happily working out and pushing myself hard, and even blindly considering myself to be fit while tipping the scale at 282lbs. My pride was indeed hurting me. My jealousy was becoming an obstacle, preventing me from doing anything for myself and endlessly comparing myself to others in loathsome hatred for their gains. In a final betrayal of my own motivation I had failed at 2 huge goals I had set for myself. 240 by 40 went by completely unnoticed and my goal to be a fit dad BEFORE the baby was born only ended up in frustration.

It was a fateful trip to Huntsville with my parents and a conversation with my Dad and Uncle that finally hit home in October of 2010. I returned home, ashamed that my parents had seen me in such an overweight state and decided I was going to take some nutrition advice for once. I investigated the Paleo Lifestyle and the lightbulb came on in my head. It was almost exactly what I had done years ago when I had my most successful weight loss. It was out with the grains and sugar and in with whole food. In retrospect, the best thing for me was not eating sugar and grains. My body was so overwhelmed by the sugars I was eating that as soon as I stopped I saw dramatic results.

I am not saying I am done, I am still around 230lbs and on my way down to my goal weight which is somewhere below 220lbs. Once I get there, I may see if I can get down to my University weight of under 200 just to see where I am happiest but I am glad to report that for now, I am able to set my weight without feeling hungry, without having any cravings and without preventing myself from enjoying what I love to eatâ€¦ meat!

*Update: Itâ€™s now July 2011 and I am sitting at around 235lbs with 18-18.5% body fat. This was a part of the entry for the day I posted those results.

At my heaviest back in 2008 (on my 1st wedding anniversary!) I was for all intents and purposes 295lbs at a whopping 30% fat. That meant I was approximately 200lbs of person and 100lbs of fat. If I wasnâ€™t disgusted enough at myself before I sure am now!

My latest numbers are a little more encouraging but still a little off base. I am down to approximately 18% fat at around 235lbs which means I am 195lbs of man and 44lbs of stored energyÂ Â Given those stats and knowing I should be about 12-15% fat, I should be aiming at a goal weight of around about 218lbs-224lbs.

R7D54-59 – Weekend Away, Injuries And Reviews

Let’s start at the beginning.

Friday was Max Recovery since I had made a discovery that I had never actually done an Insanity recovery workout. It wasn’t too tough, although less of a challenge than I expected and the next day I was sore which tells me that I am not stretching enough during my regular workouts. Saturday we headed out to Niagara Falls and the weekend looked like this:

Friday – Max recovery
Saturday – RKC in the room
Sunday – Off
Monday – RKC on the deck (injury?)
Tuesday – Chest and Back

The workout on Saturday was brief but tough, it was only 30 minutes but I did 34543 ladder with some swings and some snatches thrown in to make up for the lack of chinups. Saturday night we went out to the Casino after a Keg dinner that was tasty but pricey. Sunday was spent on the jet boat tour and in the casino with an amazing dinner at Copacabana Brazilian Steakhouse Â to follow. We all ate way too much but the food was pretty spectacular. Each time a guy came around with a huge spear of meat it was simply impossible to say no. After 90 minutes of hedonistic meat gorging we wandered back to the hotel and I for one passed out in a meat coma. Monday we drove back to Toronto and spent the day relaxing without the baby which was really odd and tough to get used to. I did a RKC workout on the deck that looked like this:

With 45lb KB

3 rungs with chinups
10 wallball shots
4 rungs with chinups
20 swings
5 rungs with chinups
10 wallball shots
4 rungs with chinups
20 swings
3 rungs with chinups with 70lb KB
20 swings with 70lb KB

At the time I felt pretty good, I had a pretty high workload I thought and I felt fine. In fact, according to Firstbeat, it was the toughest workout I have done with the exception of the day I ran almost 5k in 40 degree heat just to see if my new foot pod worked. The next day however I was very sore, in fact, my body was out of alignment like it is when I have a nerve impingement which made me think that maybe I was going to need another week off. I decided I should work out anyway, taking it easy during my Chest and Back workout and to my relief, my post workout stretch proved tight but also a huge relief. By the end of the day my back was fine and I was back on track.

So what of the reviews?

The Keg – Niagara Falls, Ontario

It’s lobster summer which usually means an attempt to cover their insanely overpriced meals by adding lobster and giving them fancy names. However, nothing, even lobster, is going to soothe the sting of paying $45 for a plate of middle of the road restaurant food. The restaurant was packed, but we were seated quickly and our waitress was very attentive, friendly and happy to get 50% of our order right. Actually to be fair, she did put in the order correctly we can only assume that the kitchen messed up the thing. 2 of our 4 dinners were correct, but Nicole got a salad with no dressing (although she had asked for balsamic dressing which THEY DON’T HAVE!) Â and another of our party got a baked potato with her sides nowhere to be found. The problem wasn’t only with the order being wrong, but also with the fact it took 10 minutes to get put right. As I rightly predicted, the managerÂ apologizedÂ and offered to pay for desserts for the whole table which we gladly accepted. As far as the food goes, I had ordered the scallops wrapped in bacon followed by the steak topped with lobster seafood mix. Both dishes were acceptable, there was a total of 2 tiny claws of lobster on my lobster dish which was a total rip off but all in all the taste was good.

For dessert I had the cheesecake but in retrospect I wish I’d had the creme brulee. I don’t know about you, but for me the Keg gives me the same feeling every time, the food is good, just good enough that you don’t wan’t to complain about the price but once you leave you realize you just got ripped off. I’m not saying the quality is bad, it’s not, but the prices are all about 20% too high.

Â Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours Niagara Falls Ontario

This was an amazing outing. About 45 mintues of the best laughs and thrills you can get while getting completely drenched in river water. Make sure that you plan on a warm day because even with the water being 80 degrees it was still chilly for some. The boat is a massive 3 engined 1500 HP beast that can do 360 degree turns and run level 5 rapids like they are nothing. We learned a bit about the area, the falls and the rapids themselves but the highlight is running downstream through the rapids as the boat scoops thousands of gallons of water over you. It was a great adventure, something I would recommend to anyone going to Niagara. It’ s only $60 per person so it’ s well worth the price, just remember a change of clothes!

Copacabana Brazilian Steak House Niagara Falls Ontario (Website down)

There are plenty of bad reviews for this place but we decided to go anyway since the lure of the place is too strong for a meat freak like me. The only real complaint I had is that the idiot woman who seated us complained that we couldn’t have the table instead of the booth since “everything” was reserved. Obviously she was not thrilled to have to work, didn’t care about us or the way she treated us and was basically your typical asshole twenty something stick insect who thinks the world owes her something because she thinks she is hot. Anyway, the place was pretty fun, loud and filled with good looking waiters and waitresses obviously catering to a younger crowd. The process is that you get some sides from the buffet area and wait for the meat guys to come around and cut meat off their giant skewers onto your plate. There are 17 different kinds of meat on offer and I think we tried them all. As long as you don’t expect a quiet restaurant to chat with friends and you don’t mind a fast paced and energetic vibe you should enjoy yourself here. The meat itself was, for the most part, very good. They have encrusted meats, cheese stuffed meats and good quality steaks on offer. The meat was, I have to admit, salty but not to the degree that it was offputting. The cheese stuffed prime rib was fantastic and I had at least 3 servings of bacon wrapped sirloin! I would definitely recommend that you go at least once, it’s very much like being on vacation in a tropical island, it’s loud, the wait staff are sometimes forgetful but always happy and the place itself is like a tiny getaway. I think we would try the one in Toronto to compare experiences but next time I will have to remember to 24 hour fast before hand. It did take me 2 days to get over the amount I ate, but that is a sign that we all had a great time!

Doubletree Hilton Niagara Falls Ontario

We have stayed here before and obviously since we returned we liked it enough! The room this time was a little bizarre and since we had 4 of us in one room utilizing the pull out couch for 2 of us it was a great experience. For the other 2 however, they were sleeping on a pullout that was barely a double and filled the extra room completely. There was only a single bathroom for all of us and the main room had fixed curtains that blocked the corner windows which I found bizarre. Last time was better, I have to admit, but this time was cheaper overall. I think for the future though it would be worth getting separate rooms. We had breakfast in the hotel on Sunday and once again the buffet was well stocked, had anÂ omeletteÂ maker at their own station and the food was good quality, hot and well prepared.