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How do you eat/drink when you have a gig?

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placeboaddiction
placeboaddiction Posts: 451 Member
in Social Groups
My band is having a gig tomorrow. I've found every gig I've been part of I eat waaaaaaaaaay too much afterward, and drink way too much. Calories suck on gigging days.

Do you all worry about calories or just say screw it? I know self control plays a huge part...but just seeing how everyone does? Its hard to pass on free beer too... especially since I don't drink at all except for at gigs.

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  • alladream
    alladream Posts: 261 Member
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    For me as a singer, I eat really little earlier in the day, although I try to gauge what will help me not pass out/have decent energy and stamina versus what will make me heavy and crappy-feeling onstage. I spent this whole last week with some old rocker friends, and some days rehearsal was like 3 pm and later, going onstage like 10 pm, and so I could see what there was to eat (at a resort, so it was not all in my control), like small calorie-dense stuff (hummus etc.) to have early, and a ton o' water all day. I don't drink booze, so that helps me bigtime calorie-wise, and really, after a gig, I may be so wiped I eat maybe a yogurt with flaxseeds in it to keep digestion going, my vitamins, and call it a night. It gets tough when I do it five days in a row like this last week at this party, so that meant that EVERY day I had to look okay and be ready to rehearse etc., so no food got eaten really all week. Just my version of it as it worked out recently--!
  • carlajpatterson
    carlajpatterson Posts: 5
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    I'm a diabetic so I have to make sure I eat enough to avoid lows (I'm insulin-dependent). While gigging, I am on such a high, and so focused outwards (to the people I'm gigging with and/or the audience), that I can easily forget to eat all day/all night. Even when I was doing an internet improv show once a week from HOME, I had that problem. Just forgot to eat. So, I just make sure I have everything set up before I start and that I tell someone I'm with that I need to eat and someone will remember and ask me about it. Having stuff on hand that is what I should, and need to, eat really helps because I'm not being tempted by something outside of my own choosing. Last, but not least, if you're only drinking on gig nights/days, and it's really tempting, just bring your own beer...? Light beer...? Just a thought since I don't drink so I don't know if that would help.
  • steplander
    steplander Posts: 3 Member
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    Don't let the fact that it's free make you feel like you deserve it or that you're missing out on some sort of gig-bonus if you pass up a free beer for a free diet drink.
    If you think there is no "safe" food at the gig; Brown bag it.
    Our environment is overloaded with the wrong foods. If you think it's too hard to find it, BRING it with you.
    There's usually decent food to be found at a wedding gig, but the Sammy's BBQ Bar gig is probably not a safe-food paradise.
    Sure, the high-cal food and beer might be free for the taking at the gig, but we'll pay for it, one way or another, if we accept it.
  • Adforperu
    Adforperu Posts: 70 Member
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    Well I haven't had a gig since my new weight loss regime started, but usually 3 or 4 pints. And I MUST find a White Russian at all costs too!
  • grrrlface
    grrrlface Posts: 1,204 Member
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    I'm a singer so I eat light/high energy during the day but not too close to gig time.

    I have one or two drinks (JD and diet coke usually) but stick to water for the majority of the night. :)

    I am pretty good on gig nights, I'm generally too busy to worry about food/drink too much. :P
  • sgtbrown
    sgtbrown Posts: 58 Member
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    I typically have a small meal before the gig. During the time on stage I usually only drink water or low calorie Gatorade, throw in the occasional diet pepsi. No alcohol. I gave that up looooong ago. After the gig we usually grab a sandwich or something, but I never eat it all. After a gig I usually just want to get cleaned up and go to bed. Yeah, I know.....hard core rock star here.
  • bertalansomogyi
    bertalansomogyi Posts: 5 Member
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    I have a stomach a size of a peanut because of the stage fright, so I mostly drink water before a gig. After the gig is another story :)
  • retrobyte
    retrobyte Posts: 169 Member
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    I like a small meal before a gig, and because our gigs usually involve 2 or more hours on stage, I don't freak out if I have a couple of beers, because there's more than enough incidental cardio involved to burn off the beers, especially taking into account load-in and load-out lugging.

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