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!