43 Pounds to go

It's been a busy week preparing to take a couple of days off from work for some R&R and some fine craft beer!
I managed to lose 2.5 pounds last week, which I was hoping for since I did do some exercise last week and tried to not over do it on the eating side.  It was great to get back on the bike and see some positive results! Not sure how I'll do for next weeks weigh in, as I know I will be having more fun, then being good.  It will be a good test to see how I can have fun in moderation, and not gain all 7 pounds I've lost to date back in 5 days!
Wish me luck.  I'm gonna need it!

Balancing a diet with craft beer consumption

Basically the whole gist of this blog, right?  Billy Broas of Billybrew.com recently wrote a great blog post comparing the most popular diets and how they look at beer consumption.  You can find his blog post here.
The short of it is that most diets today do not take into consideration that many of us like to drink craft beer, and carbs from alcohol are not allowed in most diets.  Billy reminds us that "95% of people that lose weight on diets put it back on." So what does he recommend?

1. Drink in moderation - makes sense to me, just like I know I should eat in moderation.
2. Take a break - if you need to give up beer for a week or two to kick start your weight loss program, do it.  Most of the popular diets require it anyway. I had my week at Manatoc that was craft beer free.
3. Remember that we make bad eating choices when we drink - I mean, who doesn't love going to the Lizard and having a couple of beers with a pile of wings?

So my mantra going forward is "moderation" with increased exercise to help me make my goal.

What do you think?

I survived summer camp

I weighed in today.  I'm pretty happy with the result.  I've lost 4.5 lbs in the past 2 weeks.  Not bad.  The first week I was getting ready to go to Boy Scout summer camp as an adult leader for my son's troop and wrap up a bunch of stuff at work.  It was a stressful week.  Stress is my downfall, and the cause of much of my binge eating. I did manage to lose a pound or two before heading off to camp a week ago Sunday.  While I did a lot of walking around at Camp Manatoc, the food served is meant to replace the calories burned off by very active boys during very busy days.  Sausage gravy and biscuits, grilled cheese and tomato soup, and razorback steak were just some of the calorie heavy foods served.  I did watch my portions and skipped (most) desserts.  Add on a graduation party and a couple of 4th of July BBQ's and I am very happy to have lost anything at all! So I guess I won't complain.
I did manage to have a couple of great beers this weekend.  On Saturday night I shared a bottle of Hoppin' Frog Barrel Aged BORIS Royale that I had picked up at the bottle release back in May.  I thought it was outstanding and some of the guys who tried it were Miller Lite drinkers but were very impressed with the beer and were asking a million questions about craft beer.  I think I converted a couple of people that night!
On Sunday night I cracked open a bottle of Hoppin' Frog Barrel Aged Frosted Frog to celebrate Christmas in July.  It was awesome and aged well.  My friends were duly impressed that I would share it with them.  But then again, what are friends for?

Based on comments from some of you, I'm hoping you will be joining me on my journey to lose weight!

Any suggestions for meals (especially on the grill) to help me keep up the momentum?