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.

Blogger of the year?

Posting blog posts once a month will probably not earn me blogger of the year recognition (if there is such a thing), so I will try to be more active...
I think where we last left off I was maintaining my weight loss post accomplishing goal #1 of losing 30 pounds.  Still true. I've been maintaining 35 pounds lost for a couple of weeks now.  It's been hard to lose weight when there are parties, cookouts, brunches, making Sean's favorite meals before he goes back to school...but I'm in a good place of balancing all of that with exercise and (still) tracking everything I eat.  I know once he goes back, I'll be able to settle into a better routine of cooking better meals for Rose and I.

Today I ran in my 4th race.  The 5K for JA Donut Run here in Hudson.  It was a nice, small (101 runners) event starting at the new green in downtown Hudson.  I came in 14th overall, 4th in my age group.  Who knew 50+ so was competitive?  There were 5 of us in the top 15 overall! I'm gonna have to up my game if I want to win my age group! I felt pretty good and the weather and temps were perfect, so unlike the Winking Lizard "Shot in the dark" 4 mile race last month when it was in the 90's, I was able to finish with no walking and actually felt pretty good.  I missed a PR by 17 seconds.
So, all caught up...hope everyone is having a great summer, and I hope to be a bit more active in the upcoming weeks.

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...

Race results

Prior to Saturday's race I posted a picture of the finish line on Instagram with the caption "My one and only goal"

Since I had not run 3.1 miles consecutively, either on the treadmill or outside, I really was not sure how I was going to do or if I could run that distance without stopping.  My training consisted of mainly interval work on the treadmill; 90 seconds walking at a 16:40 pace, followed by 30 seconds at a 8:32 pace, usually for an hour or 90 minutes.  If I wasn't doing the intervals, I would walk for an hour or more at the 16:40 pace.  Sometimes I would go longer, 5-10 minutes at the faster pace, but never for a full workout.  Honestly, during training, I was a bit scared to go out a run...I wasn't sure how I would do...I did run outside twice, but I had to walk off and on, although not to the extent on the treadmill.

My initial goal in January did not have a race in it at all.  My goal was to lose weight, while continuing to drink craft beer.  This race thing was a "nice" outcome of my training. I was pretty nervous before the race.  I was glad only 150 had registered.  It was a nice size group running through the neighborhoods of Westlake.  I had picked up a Garmin Forerunner to track my training, but it was really helpful during the race, knowing what my pace was, how far I had gone. I had, of course gone out a bit fast, you know, all that adrenaline, but I felt good, and kept it up.  Mile 1 and 2 went by rather easily, but then I got tired.  I thought about walking a number of times, but I kept looking for people in front of me to target to catch up to.  I remember Coach Roth (HS cross country coach) telling us to pull them in, like on a rope.  40 years later that's what I did, one by one until I could see the finish line.

When I was done, I looked at my watch - 24:05 - holy crap!  I called Rose, I ate my banana, I drank my free beer (The best friggin' beer ever!) and I talked to some people I knew.  I was exhausted, I had nothing left in me.  I had a 45 minute drive home I had no idea how I was going to do :-) There were some issues with the official timing of the race, so they did not have the results after the race. Today they posted the official results and I finished 2nd in my age group and finished 23rd overall.  The chip results from the race had me at 24:09, I'll take it!

I plan to run in a couple of more races this summer.  I'm not sure I can replicate this accomplishment, but I know that it's all about the PR, bettering yourself each time you go out, so here's to a 24:00 in my next race!

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!)

Goals....

If I behave myself today, I should officially weigh in tomorrow at or under my initial goal of 200 pounds.  30 pounds lighter than when I started.  The last 3 weeks I've been close, and during that time I have been under 200, but the official weigh in day is Monday, it it doesn't matter what I weigh on any given day...except for Monday...
While I've struggled the past couple of weeks to lose the last couple of pounds, there's been vacation in Florida, stress at work, a tweaked calf muscle, Memorial Day weekend (and ribs, and coleslaw, and, well, you get the idea!), I've managed to stay focused on the end goal.
I've realized that I enjoy the exercise (and can certainly see and feel the results) and I'm ready for the next part of the plan. I've signed up for the Rock 'N' Hops: Black Box Brewing Co 5k run for next Saturday.  I'm pretty excited.  It's been a long time since I've run in a race.  I'm not sure I'll be able to run the whole thing, but it's all about getting to the finish line. Without dying. Right?
So stay tuned for the results.  Either way, I'm excited for the next part of the journey. 175 here we come!

Let's talk calories in beer...

I've realized, that except for a post about what I was doing for Cleveland Beer Week a couple of years ago, I haven't really talk about beer in the blog, even though it is such an important part of the blog.  So let's change that now!
One of the things that became apparent as I started tracking my calories, was that beer was full of them.  Not exactly an epiphany, but what was eye opening was the caloric difference between beers.  The other thing I noticed was that it appears to be pretty difficult to determine the true caloric content.  While a beer may be 8% ABV, residual sugars in the beer can impact the true number of calories in a beer.  So, since I am not a chemist, I looked for an easy guide. I found a simple one on the Beers of tomorrow website.  There is a chart you can download for reference. It makes it real easy to estimate the calories. I like easy.
So there you have it, and easy way to estimate your beers.  You can now know, based on the calories left in your daily budget, whether you should have that pale ale or imperial stout!

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!