Welcome to the show. I am joined by MetPro coach, Jessee Davis. We are going to be discussing date nights on MetPro. Jessee, thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you for having me. It is always fun to chat and helps share the wealth.
Jessee, I am curious. When we talk about date night, why do you think that it is important to give people ideas about having a date night?
If we do not take time to grow every relationship that we have, it is not going to develop into something healthy and sustainable, just like our foods and our exercise. We take care of ourselves. For all of those reading this, you are trying to be better. We are trying to make better choices and live a healthier life, whatever that looks like for all of us. That is also nourishing those relationships. That is why first would like to say, when we think of date night, this is not just for somebody who has a significant other or a partner.
You can be single and you cannot have kids. There are people around you where you can say, “Let’s go hang out. Let’s go nourish this friendship. Let’s go nourish this relationship.” I wanted to try to think of different ways that we can be innovative and create not just a life of work but also of fun and joy and laughter. We should enjoy life a little bit too.
We call it a date night, but we should call it invest in your relationship night.
Whatever that relationship is, whether it is with your kids, your friends or your significant other. It could be with anybody. There are a lot couple of events that revolve around food. In our house, whenever I was dating my husband, even after we were married, we would have a lot of things that were about food.
There was dinner and a movie or it would be celebrating an anniversary, go out to a nice restaurant. Food factors into a lot of things, but if you are eating healthily and you are trying to reduce carbs or cutting out sugar, it can be tough to eat a lot of meals together. I am curious what ideas you have for how date night can be done that are not going to mess up all that hard work you are doing on MetPro.
As a coach, we know we talk about this every day to every client who has a partner. Even if it is date night with a child, maybe your kids are like, “Mom or dad, you guys are not doing anything fun. We do not get to go out for pizza.” They do not get to do these things that they find fun, finding a way to broaden our horizons and pick different things I love to do. As coaches, we are always talking about it.
I would definitely say that is one of the things I love about working here that we are always talking about, “What did you guys do this weekend? What was fun?” We’re encouraging outdoor living. Most of us live in California. We have the ability to have a lot of things that are date-related and that are outdoors. I try to do a good job of thinking of things that would be good for indoors and outdoors, crowds, not crowds. Hopefully, some of my suggestions will be helpful to them.
I am going to hold you to it because we are in the middle of a snowstorm and they have closed all the schools here in Missouri. It is an 8-degree windchill outside. Let’s see how you do, Jessee.
We will start with the at-home in no order of what is the most fun, but if we are stuck at home, we know that one thing we can do is bust out those old board games. I have a ton of board games. I like classics, but nowadays, board games have gotten so big in the last few years. I swear, every time I get together with my siblings, I got three sisters and a brother, and somebody is always bringing a new card game to the table. If you want suggestions on card games, just hit me up through email. I got plenty, but you can go old school. We could do Risk. We could do Monopoly if we have time. I do have children. Some of these games are like Life, but that is an old school game or chess. I am teaching them how to play chess.
Those are all good games. We can make it a game night. All ages included. One that I thought was creative was to do dinner blindfolded. Whatever you make, it can be MetPro approved. Who said we could not cook together and cook up the chicken and the veggies? You can make it a date night and cook healthy. We are at home. We got to eat dinner anyway, why do we not spend that time together? Sometimes if you are like me, it is either you cook or I cook. Why would we both waste time in the kitchen and cook?
My husband is ultra picky and we have to have two separate meals, Jessee, that is why. Not everybody is like that?
We all struggle. I thought that was fun. If you want to make it fun, you are not going to tell them what they are eating. It would be hard, but I thought it would be fun. That would be such a story to try to eat blindfolded or eat in the dark. If blindfolded is too much, turn the lights out or put up a nice little picnic in one of your rooms with the lights dimmed.
Try to guess the different flavors. Make it a whole game. I like that.
You could take it to another level if you are creative. I try to stay broad. I alluded to the picnic, so whether it is indoor or outdoor, we can always have a picnic. This is my theme for all of you people out there that have friends, family members or kids. Again, remember, date night does not have to be with a lover. It can be with a friend or a child. If you get things like a picnic basket and everything is in the picnic basket and you got all your silver. All you have to do is pack a little food and you start a notepad in the picnic basket. You are the first ones to use the picnic baskets on your adventure, and then you write your adventure in them.
You hand the picnic basket to somebody else. Somebody in your family, a friend, somebody at church, or whatever group that you have, and then everybody can share their picnic story. It is another way to create a healthy environment. We want to encourage others as well. I like the picnic basket idea. It is one of my favorites. You can find some crazy picnic baskets on Amazon. I have looked. I love picnic baskets. One of my favorite gifts to give is a picnic basket.
The last one for at-home is baking. We do not want to feel like we cannot use food as a date night. We want to learn the more productive ways to do it if we want to enjoy something. I challenge people that if you do like to bake and something that you do with your kids is baking, you can make a ton of things that are sugar-free or without added sugar. You add apple sauce or you add fruits like dates. There are a lot of things that we can learn to make that are going to be cleaner for you and for the family. We were talking about gelatin as a group because gelatin is a form of collagen and collagen is a big thing nowadays. Let’s see if we can make something with that gelatin.
I bet there are some good baking opportunity ideas out on the MetPro website because we have recipes out there. I bet there are some good options.
Learning to bake but in a good way. I have made things with apple sauce. Sometimes I will use fruit juice instead if you are looking for something liquidy. There are lots of different things. Those are the things we can do at home if it snows and we do not live in California.
I like it. You have passed the test.
The most fun is going to be the ones that we get to move. The ones where we get to be outside and moving around. I do have a lot of couples that exercise. That is their date every day. They workout together, whether that is they go for a run or they walk the dogs. If you have the ability to make a routine out of it, that is even better because you know that you are going to get it in. I like to kill two birds with one stone. You get to hang out. You get to catch up on your date, and you get to burn some calories. That is always fun.
If you live in a place that has got a lot of nature, flowers, plants and wildlife, there are apps out there that you can download. My favorite flower plant app is PlantSnap, but it is older. There is another one called PictureThis. It has got a lot better reviews. I do not use that one, but I think I am going to download it and check it out. There are lots out there for plants and flowers. You can go exploring and find pretty pictures or plants and stuff to take pictures with. It is fun. I love to do it. We live in a very rural community in Chico, California. We love to do our things outside and you take that picnic basket with you. Take a picnic, go exploring and go for a hike.
It is a fun little scavenger hunt that you are building in there.
You might make your first one to know what kind of natives there are and what kind of plants are around and make that little hunt for the kids. What about going to the market? Some people have indoor markets and outdoor markets. I know it is COVID, we are going to wear a mask or whatever the needs are going to be per city, but going around, getting your fresh produce, and keeping it local. I am a big advocate of the closer to home I can get, the better off everyone is. Take a stroll in the market. We have a Sunday morning market that is year-round. Those are my favorite things to do.
How about putt golf? If you live in Seattle, you can go to Pike's Market. I have a couple of rockstars in Seattle that I know. You guys get to Pike’s Market, which is the best one I have ever been to, but I have not been to the mall and then bowling or putt. We can do things that are going to get you going, get you out and get you moving. It is super fun, not anything too hard, but the whole family can do it as well. Nothing food related right now. If we are used to bowling and we are like, "When I go bowling, I need to have a beer,” then plan for that.
Plan for bringing a non-caloric beverage or having something else. Take some gum with you. Create a new habit in case there is an old habit that you associate with drinking and eating. We can go for bike rides. This is fun, depending on where you live. You can rent the tandem bikes, so you guys are riding on the same bikes.
I am picturing it. I am like, “There would be an injury ten seconds in.”
I like the one that is side by side. We can make a bike ride fun. If you have your own bikes and you want to go for a ride, that is good. I like to go back to being a kid again. Grab a ball, go to the park, and kick it around. If you have a backyard, get a soccer ball. These are things where if you have a group of friends, maybe guys can all pitch in and get a ball. One person gets a basketball. One person gets a softball or gloves, and then you guys rotate them. You are like, Date night is switching.
It's creating things where you do not have to invest in all that equipment yourself.
For all of those people that love dancing out there, that is a calorie burner for sure. Make sure you eat dinner, then go dancing. Do not go dancing on an empty stomach or you can dance at home. We can put that music on and dance in the living room. I love doing that. I will dance anywhere. I am a dancer for those out there. Going to those indoor trampoline places is big. That is fun. Speaking from a mother who had children the all-natural way, trampolines are not something that I do, but for those out there, maybe those younger couples, trampolines could be fun. If you do have access to water, we can go kayaking, paddle boarding and windsurfing.
I got to move out of the Midwest. These are so fun. You cannot do any of that here.
I am going to be speaking to a specific demographic, but then that makes you say, “We got to get away from this sight. We got to take a weekend getaway.” One thing that I think is cute is how hard it would be to recreate your first date. I thought that would be a fun one. Remember back to the very first date and be like, That would be fun to recreate that.
If it is food or you went through a brewery for your first date, do it and have it be an off-plan meal.
The other ones I was going to say would be our weekend adventures. If we do have time to say, We work Monday through Friday. There is no time for shenanigans. We got to work. We got to eat.
It is boring. It is not fun. You need to make a weekend getaway. You have to put that on your calendar. For sanity, and work-life balance, if that is not a word that is overused yet, go camping. I love camping because you pack your food. You have to. If you do not pack your food, where are you going to camp that you do not need to eat? Make sure that you have all the foods that you need and get into the outdoors, bringing what you need.
I love camping and getting to the beach. If you cannot get to the beach, watch the sunrise or the sunset wherever you live. Sit outside. Sit somewhere where you can connect with that sunshine. I do not know if you have heard, but there is an app for everything. An app that I heard about is called Turo. That is one that I use and you can rent a car. You can rent a car for a day. You can run a car for a weekend. Whatever you want to rent a car for. They have cars on there that are Teslas, Bentleys and a really nice Mercedes. You can rent a car for a weekend by that. That would be a fun date. Take a road trip.
If you have somewhere that you guys have been like, “I have always wanted to drive there and check that place out,” get the rental car and make it fun. That’s utilizing the technology we have nowadays. Take a little boat ride or take a cruise for a weekend or something, depending on where you live, getting out in that water. If you are also lucky, you could do a hot air balloon. I have never been on one. That is definitely on my bucket list. That is a fun date night right there. Sit down with your people and write down your bucket list. What is it that you guys want to do? Let’s plan like we have learned in life. The more we plan for things, the more they are going to come true. The more likely they are to happen.
The other thing that is going on these days is called paint and sip. People like to drink alcohol when they paint. I was in Chicago visiting my sister for Thanksgiving. We were in Chicago for Thanksgiving and we did spray and sip, but we do not drink. My sister does not drink and her girlfriend does not drink. We went and had a great time. I wish I had my sprays. I could show you guys. We learned how to spray paint. That was so cool. You can do these more artistic things. You have something to take away from it. You will always remember that date. It was really fun.
Check whatever you have got in the area. Even if you need to Zoom, I bet you could do one at home if you have the equipment. You go to the art store to see what you need. You could google how to paint a sunflower or something. That is what I learned first with my sunflower. Go to the bookstore, walk around the bookstore and get some books. Take some out of the shelf.
Go to a certain genre with your significant other or whoever you are with and try to find your guys' favorite books. You can read it together. That would be really fun. Shout out to Coach Ryan. He and his girlfriend have a book called The Adventure Challenge. He is always telling us about the different adventures that they have been on. One of them was to go to the bookstore or find a stranger and have them give you a recipe to make.
I remember him posting about that. That is so fun. I love that.
He did a good job. He is a great coach for those of you that do not know. Coach Ryan, fun fact about him. If you want to find a good book, check that one out. I got our active ones. We have got our home ones. We have got our bucket list. That is the one we need. We have got the usual suspects like going to a concert, going to a comedy show or putting on a good new movie on one of your favorite streaming devices.
You mentioned something important about any of those. If you tend to go places like concerts, for me, it tends to revolve around there’s usually a drink or two. Either plan to go off of your plan and think about that, strategize beforehand, or add a new thing into it so you do not feel like you are missing out on that aspect of it if you do some of these things. Keep it fresh and fun, but that you are not missing food that you can change up.
It is very important to me and it does break my heart when I have a client say, I am so sad because I have not been able to go out with my friends since I started MetPro.
I am like, That does not sound fun at all.
It is learning to live a new life. When we go out, this is one of my favorite tricks. I am going to go get the drinks. I am going to like, I will go grab the drinks.
I will get a club soda or sparkling water or whatever. They do not know that there is no vodka in it. Get a drink for real.
There are different ways that we can go about it where we do not have to be so obvious. Sometimes, people will be like, I am on a medication right now and I cannot drink.
They are not going to ask you what medication you are on unless they are your best friend and they know you are lying anyway. If it is a business thing and you do not have to drink, I know that it is not really a date night, but those are little tricks for those that need it. We got you.
Those are a ton of great ideas, Jessee. There are so many good things to think about. It is almost like brainstorming because even if some of these ideas do not work, they are great to get thought starters for plans for later on in the season or taking a trip. Those are all fantastic ideas. I wanted to share with our readers too that if you are a current MetPro client, if you refer a family member or friend in the last two weeks of February 2022 and they sign up, your MetPro coach has a special treat for you. I do not mean like we are going to send some candy to you. I mean a good treat.
For those readers out there who do not know about MetPro, I want to give a little bit of background. It is a coaching company that helps individuals with highly specific goals such as weight loss or performance. We also have a MetPro basic app. It pushes the boundaries of nutritional innovation by utilizing a unique algorithm. That predicts how your body will likely respond. It gets smarter the more you use it. MetPro is not about gimmicks, fluff or oversimplified macro tracking. It is not a simple food logging app, either.
People who are willing to shop and prepare for the meals that it provides can expect highly individualized adjustments every few days as it learns how you are responding. With each adjustment, you are going to get a detailed analysis of how your metabolism is responding, an individualized adjustment to your meal plan, an algorithm explanation of why it is making this recommendation, and what to expect next. MetPro even provides optional workouts for all fitness levels.
If you are looking for a simple food logging app but you are not willing to shop or prepare for the meal plans provided, MetPro may not be for you. However, if you are ready to invest in yourself and want the most complete solution to mastering your metabolism, go to MetPro.co/basic and you can try it free for fourteen days. Jessee, I appreciate your time. Can you give people your email address to reach out to you if they have questions?
It is Jessee@MetPro.co. I will be happy to answer any questions or debunk any myths.
That is all for this episode. You can find all of The MetPro Method episodes anywhere you get podcasts or you can go to MetPro.co/podcast. Be sure to follow the show and rate and review. That lets other people know what they can expect from the show. Also, follow MetPro on social. You can learn more about MetPro at MetPro.co. I will be back next episode. Until then, remember consistency is key.
