by Evo Terra on November 7, 2011
in Brew Diet
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Diet time by Simon James on Flickr
It’s been a full week after the end of the #BrewDiet. You’ll recall that’s when I spent the month of October subsisting on sausage and beer. Yes, I’m serious. You’re probably wondering one of the following:
Have you fallen off the wagon yet?
What do you mean, yet? Dick. But no, I’m not. Just hopped off the home scales. They read the same thing they did last week. The trick is portion control. And that I want to keep in mind. Always.
I bet you were sick and tired of beer and sausage, huh?
Not in the least. In fact, I’m continuing to make beer a big part of my diet. Once you get accustomed to having a beer for breakfast, it’s kinda hard to go without. I’ve been to two beer-centric events since the end of the diet, including the fantastic RAREaffair™ put on by The Beer for Brains Foundation. Not just the best beer event I’ve ever attended. It might have been the best event ever.
I’m still eating sausage, though not exclusively. Now I’m experimenting with different combinations. Like madras lentils and beer-braised bratwurst. Exquisite!
What was the first thing you ate after the #BrewDiet was over?
A single piece of pizza from Otto Pizza. Very tasty. And I was full afterward.
How screwed up are your liver enzymes and cholesterol?
Not in the least. My doctor finally got off his ass found time in his busy schedule to write a blog post from the final time I saw him. He says:
… his triglyceride level dropped by half, his cholesterol dropped by a third, and his “good” cholesterol increased. There was never an increase or a blip in any of the liver enzymes. His fat mass dropped, the only non-fat mass of his that decreased was that tissue associated with and supporting the fat mass (I know, sounds complicated). His muscle mass maintained itself.
You’ll want to read the whole piece, as Terry takes a scientific look at some conventional wisdom we have about weight loss.
So… what’s next?
I keep on keepin’ on. Losing weight is easy. Keeping it off for the long term not so much. So I’m trying to keep it up. And I’m also working on some extensions of the experience. Maybe a book. Maybe a presentation or two. Maybe more things than that.
I’ll check in from time to time with progress. Thanks for playing along at home!
by Evo Terra on November 1, 2011
in Brew Diet
DSC_5774e by Zach Klein
Well… that was that. Yesterday was the final day of one month of drinking beer and eating sausage. I called it the #BrewDiet. And it was a grand time. And it was for SCIENCE!
Thanks to all of you who encouraged me along the way. Extra thanks to those of you who contributed by sending me beer. Much appreciated!
OK, let’s get right down to it.
Beers consumed:
- 100 “uniques”. That’s a beer I’ve never had before. Or if I did, I hadn’t yet put it into Untappd. I started at 308 uniques and ended today at 408. No, that wasn’t planned. But I do appreciate the simple math.
- ~154 total beers. Why the tilde in front? Because let’s face it, there were plenty of evenings (like last Saturday) when not all the beers went into Untappd. I don’t think I missed any uniques, but I know for a fact I missed plenty of beers. That, and many were bombers which classify as two. So I’m betting the number was closer to 200. 200/31 = 6.5 beers a day. Sounds about right.
- ~62 sausages. Again with the tilde. Look… most days I had two. On rare occasion I had more than that. But for the first 6 days, I only had one. I’ll count them later, as my blog posts have (I think) all of them. So for now, I’m going with the 2×31 for the answer. Expect a more accurate accounting (redundant?) when the book comes out. Yeah, there will be one.
OK, that’s the intake. What about the results? I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I know I was.
Weight Loss Stats
First, let’s set the baseline.This is important to those of you keeping score at home. None of these things changed in the last 31 days:
Body Type: Standard
Gender: Male
Age: 43
Height: 5′10″ (though my license says 6′ even, because I am still a growing boy)
But here’s what did change. I’ll give you before and after numbers from the doc’s fancy scale:
Original Weight: 199.0 lbs
Ending Weight: 185.1 lbs
Here, let me help you with that math: that’s a loss of 13.5 pounds! Fuck it! I’m rounding up! 14 pounds LOST. Eating sausage and drinking beer!
But hey, that’s just weight. We all know that weight changes with fluid. Is it all that surprising? Let’s look at the rest of the numbers:
Original BMI: 28.6
Final BMI: 26.6
That’s a net lost of 2 BMI. I’d be more excited, but I don’t know what BMI means. But it’s down by two, so that sounds good to me. If you care, look it up. If you know, good for you! I don’t care. Don’t bother telling me in comments. Because I don’t care.
Original Fat %: 25.3
Final Fat %: 21.4
OK, I’m smart enough to figure out percentages. That means that I lost 4% (rounding up, remember?) of my my mass as pure, nasty fat. That sounds pretty fantastic. And according to the “target” numbers on my doctor’s fancy scale, that’s within the “desirable range”.
Didja here that? I’m desirable!
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. That Fat % number translates directly to fat mass:
Original Fat Mass: 50.5 lbs
Final Fat Mass: 39.5 lbs
If the word “fat mass” doesn’t sound nasty to you, what the hell is wrong with you? I’ve dropped 11 pounds of fat mass! And if I were to travel to the moon, those 11 pounds of mass would still be gone! I love physics!
But you’re not a physicist. You know what the scales tell you. And those scales would say something different on the moon. And I’m not likely to travel to the moon. Ever. Which kind of sucks. But I’ll get over it. Why? Because I lost 14 pounds eating sausage and drinking beer, bitches!
Yeah, yeah… some of you want to know about my cholesterol, lipids, and other funky blood serum stuff. I’m going to let my doctor discuss those results. Suffice to say that I’m not dropping dead anytime soon. In fact, my panel looks better than when I started. No, I’m not kidding. Stay tuned for that.
What’s next?
Keep it off, obviously. But that’s a post for another day. I have some ideas… and this isn’t over!
by Evo Terra on October 31, 2011
in Brew Diet
smile by Miles Bader
If you’ve been following me on Facebook or Twitter, you already know the score. I’m a very, very happy man.
If you’re not following me there, then you’ll have to wait for the final results. Because in this post, all I’m going to do is tell you about my intake. They call this “cliffhanging”. Deal. The other post will be out tomorrow AM.
And that’s it! Or is it? Tune in tomorrow AM for another installment of… #BrewDiet!
Oh, and Happy Halloween!
by Evo Terra on October 30, 2011
in Brew Diet
Project 365 Day 16: The Drugs Don't Work by Greg McMullin
Short day. Short post. Read about yesterday to find out why.
And I’m spent. Literally. Here’s to tomorrow. The last day (?) of the #BrewDiet.
