Halloween update

My experiment with not tracking my food intake is going pretty well.  It's certainly easier to not log all the food I eat, and I have not gained any weight as a result. Having said that, I have not lost any weight either.  I can't totally blame my eating habits as I significantly cut back on the amount of exercise I was doing.  Between the need to take a bit of a break, the shorter days and crappy weather it was a pretty easy decision.  The last two days I have been back at it and it does feel good to exercise again.  I guess on some level I did miss it.  Crazy, right? Not really!  From WebMed:

Improved self-esteem is a key psychological benefit of regular physical activity. When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain.

Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine. For example, the feeling that follows a run or workout is often described as "euphoric." That feeling, known as a "runner's high," can be accompanied by a positive and energizing outlook on life.

So, there is scientific proof you do feel better after exercise.  That must explain it why I missed it!

Next week I will most likely track my food and concentrate on good workouts as the following week both will be hard to do.  But more about that in my next post!

Weight loss and marketing

For the past couple of weeks I've been hovering around the 40 pound loss mark.  43 pounds one week, 39 pounds another week...it's all good, because during that time, I've continued to exercise and to eat right (most of the time!). I've mentioned in the past here on the blog, and to people that have asked me in person how I did it, about my need to track everything that passed my lips.  Whether I was being good or bad, the need to track it was important to me. This was reinforced recently at Content Marketing World during a talk by Ahava Leibtag.  She was discussing "Put your content on a diet" and mentioned the "5 Rules for Behavioral Change", abstracted from Weight Watchers.  Point #1 was "If you bite it, write it". Documentation in marketing is just as important as documentation in weight loss. Point #2 was "You can choose not to count it, but it still counts" True statement, and I chose to count it so I had no one to blame but myself if I did not make my weekly goals. It has also taught me a life lesson on how many calories are in food, but also what portions of that food I should be eating, and what, at the end of the day, would satisfy my hunger. Points 3-5, "Schedule it in your life", "Find a strong support group" and "Make it a lifestyle change"are equally important, but 1 and 2 have been my mantra during this time.

Last weekend I went back to Marietta College for homecoming.  When traveling and eating out, it is always a struggle to log the food I've eaten.  So I decided to take a break from it.  On Monday, I decided to continue not logging my food.  It's been harder than I thought. The good news is I still think as if I need to log it, so when considering seconds or grabbing that Mallomar, I think about what impact those actions will have on my weight.  My official weigh in is always on Monday morning, so I'm not sure how this experiment will end, but it has been a great experience knowing that I can do this and not be so anal about logging everything, every time.  Having said that, on Monday I will probably start tracking my food again!

I still have 15 pounds to go to my final weight, so I need to be focused on that, but I know once done, I can put the food scale and FitBit app away, and keep the weight off based on the lessons I've learned.

Weight loss update

My last two posts focused on the race I participated in (which is great), but I haven't talked about my weight loss since the end of May. I did meet my initial weight loss goal as of my weigh-in on June 1st (woo hoo John!). Since then I have managed to stay under that weight except one week when my parent's were here visiting.  Here is my Fitbit chart from that time frame. 

Suffice it to say, 3 full meals a day, afternoon cocktails, decadent deserts and limited opportunity to exercise took it's toll on my balanced calorie plan! Typically, my week is more yellow and green then red.
Having said all that, I'm still exercising regularly, eating better than I was last year, and on target to get to my final weight (and still below goal #1).  Also, I have 2 races planned in the next two weeks. If you had told me that a year ago, I would have laughed at you! So here's to continuing the downward trend...

Running a 5k tonight

Last night I picked up my number and race swag for having registered for the Black Box 5K today. It's been almost 20 years since I've run in a road race.  I'm a bit nervous.  Pre-race jitters. I shouldn't be. Honestly, this is an outcome of exercising and losing weight I had not anticipated.  The good news is I got a cool beer glass and this shirt out of it.
The better news is that instead of ordering an XL, that I've worn for years to try and hide my fat, it's a large, and it fits!
Wish me luck, and I'll see you at the finish line, where they will be serving beer! (Yes, beer. I am the Craftbeerloser guys!)

I never thought this would be easy....

When I started this little journey, I really didn't think it would be easy. However, in the first couple of weeks the weight seemed to melt off.  I was pretty excited. 
However, as I get closer to my first goal, the reality of weight loss has reared it's ugly head. Don't worry, I'm not giving up and going back to my bad habits, but it has not been as easy recently as it was in the beginning.

While the trend is going in the right direction, I need a couple of good weeks to get back on track. I'll admit, I probably got a little cocky as the weight came off.  Big mistake! Let me add an additional disclaimer here - We did get a new scale a couple of weeks ago which resulted in a 3 pound weight gain.  The good news is on this new scale, my weight is more accurately tracking. More on that in an upcoming post.
OK, so back to purpose of this post.  While hitting a bit of a road block, 1) I'm very happy with my progress on the treadmill and I'm actually looking forward to getting outside soon and running, 2) I can walk up stairs without getting out of breath and 3) my clothes are definitely looser on my body.  Three really good outcomes of my progress to date. Having said that, any suggestions on getting over this hump would be appreciated! Also, look me up on Fitbit if you have one to keep me moving (I may be competitive, and I may walk extra so I beat you!).

How did I get here?

Note: Apologies for this post, obviously I thought I was much faster that I actually was.  Thanks to my brother Joe for setting me straight!

When I graduated from high school in 1980 I weighed 145 pounds. I was a running machine.  If memory serves me correctly, I ran a 4:32 mile my senior year.  I probably ran a 4:50 something mile.

Me in my leaner HS days!


In college I was running sub 25 minutes for 5 miles in cross country.  Not shabby! Ok, I have no clue how fast I was in college, probably sub 30 minutes, but who the hell knows!

OK, so the rest of this is pretty factual!

My sophomore year I was plagued with some injuries and did not run competitively after that.  Of course I gained some weight and the last race I remember running was the Corporate Challenge in Central Park in the late 80's early 90's.  It just about killed me!  I was done as a runner.
When I got married in '93 I weighed 185 pounds. It's been a weight roller coaster ever since, and hopefully I'm on a better healthier path now.
The reason I mention my running past is I'm considering running a race this summer.  Nothing big, just a 5k, but for me it will be a huge accomplishment!

He's back....

My last blog post was almost 3 years ago. I was not successful in losing the weight I had originally planned. No excuses. I failed.

This will be the third time I have tried to do this (losing weight and blogging).  Since the last time I tried this, in addition to gaining back the 17 pounds I lost, I also managed to gain 5 additional pounds. On January 19, 2015 I weighed 230 pounds.  That is the most I have ever weighed.  I felt horrible, I was short of breath.  I had to wear clothes that didn’t fit anymore.


On January 26th, thanks to a program at work, I purchased a Fitbit Charge HR basically for free. Between the tracker on my wrist, and the ability to easily log the food I eat via the Fitbit app, I have managed to lose almost 20 pounds. I’m hoping this stupid thing on my wrist will help change my life.  I'm not back to my lowest weight from the last time I tried this (although I've lost more weight), but I think I have a better idea on how to do this.

I have decided to attack this in two phases. In Phase 1 I want to lose 30 pounds. That will bring me to 200 pounds. The last time I weighed 200 pounds was in August of 2007. (Edit: August 2010, still along time ago!) Today I’m eating better, I’m watching my portions and I’m exercising regularly. I'm relatively confident I can achieve my Phase 1 goal.

The plan for Phase 2 is to lose an additional 25 pounds.  I know that will be harder to accomplish.  I have not seen 175 since my college days. I’m hoping that between the exercise and the lessons I’ve learned with eating better, and controlling my portions, I can do this.  I’ve also decided that being a little hungry is not a bad thing. I know that in order to have a big, unhealthy meal every once in a while, I need to balance my calories throughout the day. Exercising everyday gives some wiggle room

The other thing is I love beer. Craft beer. An America IPA like Fatheads Headhunter has approximately 225 calories.  I’m not giving up my beer (that would not make much sense for a person with a blog called Craft Beer Loser) So I must decide daily, based on what I’ve eaten, and how much I’ve exercised, if I can have a beer (or 2) each day.  I can live with that…..

Today I feel better, my clothes fit better, and I don’t need to catch my breath after climbing a flight of stairs. I’m hopeful this third time is the charm…Let’s do this!

If any of you have tips that have worked for you to keep off the weight you have lost, please share!

It's been a while...

I'm obviously not the most consistent blogger of all time...I go months in between posts, then I try and keep it up...but life (and laziness) keeps getting in the way.  Historically, it has been the same with my weight loss...The good news is that while there will always be ups and downs, I have been able to keep the weight off that I have been losing and been managing a consistent downward trend.

I have now lost 17 pound (woo hoo!)

That is good.  Especially given the recent stresses of work, home life, family stuff and poison ivy.  Yes, poison ivy!  Back in June I got a nice rash and it is really uncomfortable when I get hot and sweaty.  That has meant no exercising.  Luckily, I been able to control my eating and have lost weight even though I have not exercised in 3+ weeks. (Today I did get on the treadmill and it felt great!)

The next couple of weeks should be interesting as I am going to Florida to help my MIL get through her second dose of chemo for colon cancer.  I will have to figure out a way to exercise away from my normal outlets.  I'll also have to watch out for my stress eating...wish me luck!

40 for 40 update

I've been "religious" (haha, get it?) about keeping to the plan.  Either on the treadmill or on the bike, I've done 40 minutes or more each day.  Unfortunately, I've only lost one more pound (for a total of 6 to date).  I've come to realize I don't have a craft beer drinking problem, but I do have an eating problem.  I can binge eat with the best of them.  And it is definitely triggered by stress.  I need to figure out how to work on that very quickly, because I can't exercise much more than I am, and most days I only have a beer.  So wish me luck as I try reduce the amount of food I'm eating.
In the meantime, there are only a couple of more days left in Lent, but I think this exercise thing is now part of my routine, I feel great afterwards, so I won't be giving it up (see what I did there?) anytime soon.

Workout motivation

Things are going pretty well on the weight loss front.  I'm down 5 pounds, and getting into a good routine on the treadmill each morning before work, now that I have given up my gym membership.  Also, this awesome weather has allowed me to get out on the bike a couple of times.

To get me moving early in the morning I've found a motivational song to start each work out compliments of Young the Giant:

"My body tells me no,

But I won't quit, 

Cause I want more,

Cause I want more!"

And yes, I really want "less" weight, but you get the point! 
Do you have a song that motivates you?

40 for 40

Lent is upon us.  This year I decided I was not going to give anything up.  I have been reading that it is better to do something new, something worthwhile during lent. Yes, it's good for the kids to give up candy and desert, but for us adults....As a result, I have added a couple of spiritual things to my daily routine, but I also wanted to do something positive for my body, and help me get to my weight loss goal. 40 is a very important number in religion.  From Wikipedia:

The number forty has many Biblical references: the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai with God (Exodus 24:18); the forty days and nights Elijah spent walking to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8); the forty days and nights God sent rain in the great flood of Noah (Genesis 7:4); the forty years the Hebrew people wandered in the desert while traveling to the Promised Land (Numbers 14:33); the forty days Jonah in his prophecy of judgment gave the city of Nineveh in which to repent (Jonah 3:4). Jesus retreated into the wilderness, where He fasted for forty days, and was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1–2, Mark 1:12–13, Luke 4:1–2)

So I came up with "Forty for Forty," meaning I would exercise 40 minutes each of the forty days of lent.  Pretty good plan if you ask me! Starting on Ash Wednesday I did my 40 minutes on the exercise bike at the gym.  Today and tomorrow I hit the treadmill.  Wish me luck!

Back to ground zero

As you can see from all the posts I've been making (not), I've been really dedicated to getting in shape and losing weight (not).  Actually, I'd been doing not too bad, maintaining 7-8 pounds lost for the past couple of months. For some reason Super Bowl, and the week after, have always been a bad time for me weight wise (can't imaging why....).  As a result, at my weigh-in this morning, I was back to my original weight when I started this project back in June.  To say I am depressed about it would be an understatement.  But, there are some good things that have happened over the past couple of months:

• I (believe) I am kidney stone free (not that many of you knew I had/get kidney stones).  Part of ensuring I stay that way is I drink 10-15 8 oz glasses of water a day.  I am quite hydrated, which is a good thing. 
• I pretty much keep to 1-2 craft beers a day, which keeping with one of the themes to this blog is good.  Shows self-control and indicates that my weight is not caused by beer drinking.
• I bought a new bike after the holidays.  With the nice winter weather we've had, I have actually ridden a couple of times already which is a good thing leading into the spring, where I know bike riding will help me reach my goal and keep me healthy.
• Rose bought a treadmill.  I'm torn on this one as I have a pretty good morning routine, getting to the gym a couple of days a week to ride the exercise bike.  However, having a treadmill at home will allow me to exercise everyday inside until the weather gets bad, regardless if I am working downtown (where the gym is) or at home.  I have been on it a number of times since we got it last week, and so far I am enjoying it.  Who knows, maybe I'll start running again.
• Rose wants to lose weight also.  If both of us are on the same page food-wise, it will be easier to keep on track.

So there you have it.  50 pounds (again) to go in 300+ days.  Should be an interesting couple of months trying to kick start my program.  Only time will tell if I can do this....

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?

About this blog

Today is June 25th and I turn 49 1/2 today.  Honestly, I'm not all that bothered by the fact that I am almost 50. What bothers me is that when I look in the mirror, I'm not happy with the "beer belly" that I have acquired over the years. The extra weight I am carrying around does not look good, and is not healthy. I know this can and will most likely impact my health as I get older.  It's time for a change.  And the time is now.

The original title of this blog was going to be something about being 50 and losing 50 but I could never come up with a catchy title. I was drinking some beers with my friend Brad and discussing my ideas for the blog, and he suggested tying in my love of craft beer along with my journey to lose the 50 lbs.  Craft Beer Loser was born!

Drinking good beer and losing weight should not be mutually exclusive.  Drinking locally brewed beer, which utilize only the very best ingredients, should not be a bad thing!

So off on this journey I go, documenting for myself and whoever is crazy enough to read my adventures as I lose weight while drinking great craft beer!

Prologue

Today I was at the hospital getting a sonogram to see if I have kidney stones again...as I lay there on the table, I pondered the fact that my belly probably reminded the technician of a pregnant women's (albeit a quite hairy women) in her second trimester....I think I need a beer....