Dieting

Exercising is going poorly but beer drinking is going swimmingly (see what I did there?). Eating was also on the rise which resulted in my body giving me the middle finger on Monday. I called in to work fat. Yeah, you read that right.

On Sunday I had Chipotle for lunch (that included 3 scoops of hot salsa) followed up by bacon cheese fries and crescent rolls for dinner. I ate a lot of other crap recently as well. When I woke up on Monday I wasn't sure if I was about to throw up or have a serious #2. The only thing I knew for certain was that I was grounded for the day.

I haven't been that embarrassed in a long time and knew I needed a change. I elected Weight Watchers for Men (online only) again. I do not go to meetings because I'm positive I'd lose my cool and tell someone (most likely a lady) that no one cares about their problems.

It probably isn't the best time to go on a diet but at least it will make me feel guilty when I have to track excessive eating. Weight Watchers says I should weigh under 180 pounds. My goal is 230 with a short term goal of 256. Sadly, 256 is a 10% drop...

Shake Weight for Men

Yup, that's what I said. I bought the Shake Weight for Men. I have no idea if it works but I was sore and I could only do about 3 minutes (1ish set of each).

My only complaint is the mirror on the end. I don't want to see how ridiculous I look.

More About Beer, Less About Exercise

This really isn't going well. Awesome people, great beer and excellent food yielded a great day. Baby didn't show up I was able to knock some back and then sober up later in the day in the event I had to drive.

Andrew: "I'm at Rick's. Any beer requests?"
Me: "Ask them what goes well with turkey and get that."The result, lots of saison style beer was consumed. I also had a Saison Du Buff (Stone bottling) on hand.

We had a Stone / DFH / Victory Saison Du Buff, DFH Bitches Brew (second run), Mikkeller Monks Brew, St. Feuillie Saison, Ommegang Tripel Perfection and Brasserie Dupont Saison Dupont. It was a great variety. I still don't like Ommegang. I want so much to like their beers. They are made in America and Belgian style. In theory that's perfect.

Thanks to Andrew, Rebecca, Norah, Aaron, Lil Kelz and Mel for making it an awesome holiday.

Another Week Of Failure

I didn't exercise at all this week. Same beer sits in the fridge. I may do a stress test on push-ups today and try to get 100 push-ups going again. I also (sadly) look forward to Stu's review of the shake weight.

While I didn't deserve it, we went to Dogfish Head for lunch on Saturday with Mel's Dad and brother Zack. In my not so infinite wisdom I had a Raison D'etre, a Burton Baton (possibly one of the best beers I've ever had) and a World Wide Stout (all on draft). I'll leave it up to your imagination how I felt after that.

It was a strange combo that ended up working out well. The Raison D'etre is a very smooth beer. Easy drinking first beer. Went exceptionally well with the nothing I was eating at the time. The Burton Baton is very hoppy on the front with a malty finish. Went surprisingly well with the spinach dip. The World Wide Stout is sweet, heavy and in your face. Fortunately I was eating BBQ chicken with a rather sweet sauce, topped with onion rings that were made with red onions. Ended up being a great combo.

While I haven't been able to tap the reserves this past week, I did grow the collection. James MacChlerie picked me up (thanks dude!) a BrewDog Tokyo and a Mikkeller Devine Rebel for my reserve stash. Still need to pick them up from him.

I stopped at The Perfect Pour today and snagged a Cisco Moor Porter, 2 bottles (a now and a stash bottle) of Saison du BUFF and a bottle of Hitachino Nest Sweet Stout which I've been wanting to try because of the cool label. They had a few more BrewDog beers I wanted but I didn't really want Mel to punch me in the middle of the store. It was two different bottles of Paradox. Also saw an aged Old Rasputin that I REALLY wanted but $25 a bottle is a bit much when I've already crushed my beer budget for the month.

Depending on how Mel is doing I may crack a couple of bottles with Aaron "Bedlam" Mosley on Thanksgiving.

Not Doing So Hot

It has been a rough week. When I get cranky, I eat. I got really cranky on Sunday which resulted in a trip to Outback for an onion and cheese fries. Not a great idea.

I also rocked all you can eat wings on Thursday. Had about 10 beers this week too, which isn't good.

I hope to go swimming this evening. I put a beer in the fridge, an Ommegang Tripel Perfection. I haven't really earned it but maybe tomorrow I will have it anyway if I make it to the pool tonight.

I generally don't have a high opinion of Ommegang but I don't think it's a fair opinion. I'm fairly certain that every time I've had one of their beers I was in the mood for a Labatt (Labatts depending on who you ask) Blue, not a beer that required some thought.

I relocated my "cellar beers" to the basement. They were in the back of my liquor stash in the dining room but it's cooler down there. I'm in the process of figuring out a better way to keep them cool and stored out of the way in our limited space.

Picked up two more beers today at Norm's Beer and Wine. I snagged a Cricket's Nocturne (it's made in NJ so I had to try it) and a HE'BREW Jewbilation Fourteen which I think will make it's way into the cellar stash. An Ommegang Three Philosophers (2010 vintage) went in the cellar as well.

Ahoy You Scurvy Dogs!

Went swimming again tonight and earned my beer. As mentioned, it is Heavy Seas Prosit! from their Bomber series (stole that off the bottle). This stuff is stellar. It has very nice floral front, though not overly bitter, followed up by a warm (says 9% ABV on the bottle) malty flavor. The heat and floral notes stay with you for a fair bit.

I've never seen an Imperial Octoberfest before. I'll keep my eye out again next fall (it actually came out in August).

Overall I'm eating better. I am going to attempt to exercise self control on Thursday at Buffalo Wing Factory. Perhaps 1 beer and 30 to 40 wings (that's a huge improvement, sadly).

Bought a Membership

A 25 pass for the price of 20 membership anyway. I have to go at least 24 more times.

Survived another 10 laps at the pool. Pushed myself a little harder than I did Friday but don't hurt as bad as last Monday.

I'm more and more interested in an exercise I see people doing where they have a board and they just kick and do a zillion laps. In my head that's like jogging but without any impact and in the water, which makes it more awesome by default.

I also realized I should have simply avoided being fat. Yeah...

Week 2 Beer Purchased

Picked up a bottle of Heavy Seas Provsit! (limited run beer that I believe stops right about now) while at Whole Foods snagging a bottle of Stone Vertical Epic 10.

I've put it in the fridge, as I decided to do with the Stone Smoked Porter once purchased. It acts as a constant reminder that I need to stick with this exercise thing. Reward motivation works for grown ups just like it does for kids and pets.

Survived Week 1

Did another 10 half-assed laps in the pool. There were no empty lanes at the pool for laps so we went in the open area which wasn't a good idea. We should have waited.

I felt a little guilty and I hurt way less so I clearly didn't push myself as hard as I should have. I'll call that a good sign.

Earned my first Beer! I did get the Stone Smoked Porter. I'm not sure what my favorite beer is but this one is certainly top 5. Could easily drink two bottles (it's a double deuce). At about $5 a bottle, it's a fantastic value. Nice smooth taste that one would expect from a quality porter.

Target for next week is 3 times. We'll see how it goes.

500 Meters In A Pool

I only swam about 250 meters. The other 250 meters was me on my back, splashing like an idiot.

In other news, I weighed in at 307 pounds this afternoon, fully dressed. Gotta lose a lot of pounds.

It's My Wife's Fault

Jym: I really miss drinking craft beers. I need to start picking one up each week.
Mel: You gotta earn it and you know exactly what that means.
Jym: OK *sigh*

In order for me to sample new beers once a week I have to exercise. This week I am going to attempt swimming and see if that is a path I can proceed down. Mel is going to go with me as apparently that's a very pregnant-compliant form of exercise as well.

As for beer, I'm going to snag a bottle of Stone's Vertical Epic to put in the beer cabinet and find something else I've been wanting to try, possibly Stone's Smoked Porter. I may travel as far as Chevy Chase Wine and Spirits. I want a bottle of BrewDog Tokyo for the cabinet as well and they have it in stock.