Category: Food Blogger Vs. Fat

It’s Week 7 in my journey to better health. Following up an exciting mini-vacation, things return to normal for me and my diet. What did that mean for my weight loss?

The Successes

For blog purposes, it was a short week (my last weigh-in was Monday and I’m writing this on Saturday). I had a couple opportunities for walks, including one evening walk with Julie and a few quick lunch break walks at work.

At my office, there is actually a walking loop marked in the parking lot and along the access roads.

It’s not a trail, just a series of signs that mark each .1 mile around the building. Most of the walk is through the parking lots, but for an office park in King of Prussia, the scenery isn’t bad.

The delivery road that goes behind the building follows a (usually) dry creek bed. It’s one of a few green spots in KOP that hasn’t been touched by development.

My usual walk takes me along the entire .8 mile loop. Some days I have to do a quicker loop and cut it down to 10 minutes. Other days, I can take my time and make a few laps. My lunch break record is two miles.

In addition to the walks, I spent my Tuesday evening mowing the grass. According to my Lose It app, my 1:15 spent mowing burned more than 400 calories.

As much as I hate mowing, I love being able to eat a little bit more on mowing days.

The Challenges

My biggest challenge came Thursday night while attending the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 awards at the Sugar House Casino (congratulations again to my boss, Ed Harris, for making this year’s list!).

The food at events like this are hit or miss. This was a miss.

For entrees, selection was limited to vegetable pasta, seafood pasta, a carving station and some cheese and crackers.

I hate seafood and I am not a fan of rare meat from carving stations so I settled on the vegetable pasta. My coworker Taylor rated it a 0 out of 5. I’ll be generous and give it a 1 out of 5, only because it stayed down.

So what happens when dinner is no good? You load up on dessert.

The dessert bar was much more appetizing than hot food. The chocolate mousse cake looked exceptional and I couldn’t pass on the miniature crème brûlée.

Dessert had essentially become dinner. While both looked better than they actually tasted (the cake was dry, the crème brûlée was runny), they still tasted better than dinner, but with way more calories.

The Results

Current Weight: 178.0
Weekly Weight Loss: -1.1
Total Weight Loss:  -11.4

Another week, another pound. My weight loss was right in line where it should be based on my net calories on the Lose It app.

The Week Ahead

It should be a fairly routine week ahead. The only major hiccup could come on Monday. That’s when the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board (my day job) hosts its annual Montco Golf Classic.

I won’t be playing in the event. Instead, I will be greeting groups on the course, stationed at one of the tees all day. Unfortunately, that tee will also have food samples from Maggiano’s Little Italy. Last year it was meatballs and chocolate truffles. Four hours on a golf course with Maggiano’s an arm’s length away? It’s going to take a lot of will power to get me through the day.

Evening walks, health-conscious snacking and a weekend getaway to Alexandria, Va. That’s the story of Week 6 of Food Blogger vs. Fat.

The Successes

Most weeks I start off by talking about all the great exercising that I did during the past week. But this time, I want to talk about all the snacks that I’ve been eating.

One of the best decisions that I have made this year was to start a subscription to Graze.

Every two weeks, I get a care package in the mail with eight assorted, well-portioned snacks. They range from single servings of popcorn to assorted nuts to sweets to mixes of all of the above.

My favorites are the kern pops – half-popped popcorn that defies explanation – and the themed nut and fruit mixes. I eat one snack every day at 10 a.m. and it helps get me through until 1 p.m. when I take my lunch.

I would recommend anyone who likes to snack (and who doesn’t) and needs help with portion control. It’s $11.99 for my box of eight snacks, that includes shipping and handling. I’m not getting paid to write this, but like anyone else who has a Graze subscription, I can earn a free box with a referral. So if you do sign up, use code “ZACHB769P” and help a blogger out.

Now for the exercise: I recorded 5.2 miles of walking between Tuesday and Thursday. Then Julie and I went off to our weekend getaway in Alexandria, Va.

Alexandria is a beautiful, historic suburb of Washington, D.C. located along the Potomac River. It’s a town filled with colonial architecture with a walkable downtown and beautiful riverfront parks.

It’s also just a short drive – or in our case, boat ride – from George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

We took a riverboat to the historic estate on Saturday during Mount Vernon’s annual Revolutionary War weekend.

It included a historic encampment of more than 100 men and women, a battle reenactment (not based on any actual battle), presentations on Colonial life and, of course, an appearance by General George Washington.

I did not have my tracker on to count the miles that we walked over the course of the weekend, but I did track the time. Between Friday and Sunday, we spent 7.5 hours walking. Walking from store to store. Walking around the encampment. Walking to and from our hotel. Just walking.

The Challenges

We also spent a lot of time walking to restaurants. Alexandria, like all great downtowns, is loaded with amazing restaurants and sweet shops.

One of our first stops on Friday was to Alexandria Cupcake for an afternoon snack. The cupcakes were phenomenal.

I had the vanilla bean and chocolate – a vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing and a raspberry on top. It was nearly perfect. The icing was so rich and so chocolatey. And it was such a simple thing, but the raspberry was a brilliant touch.

Our dinners weren’t any lighter. On Friday, I followed up my rich treat with an even richer dinner at Virtue Feed & Grain.

It was a modern gastropub in the historic waterfront with an eclectic menu that included my duck meatloaf with tomato marmalade, vanilla sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts.

I absolutely loved the meatloaf. The tomato marmalade on top gave it that perfect balance of sweet and savory. And duck is always flavorful, a darker meat than chicken or turkey with the right amount of fat to work in a meatloaf.

On Saturday, we visited RedRocks Old Town, a craft pizza restaurant in the style of Nonno Alby’s or Rocco’s here in Berks County.

It would have been a good idea to share my spicy chorizo pizza with Julie (or my friend Josh, a resident of nearby Arlington, Va., who joined us for dinner). But I didn’t. I had just spent the day trudging through the rain at Mount Vernon. So I ate the whole thing.

The Results

My normal weigh-in day is Saturday. Obviously, I wasn’t at my scale Saturday morning so instead, I weighed in on Friday morning before I left and again on Monday morning, after the weekend away. Here’s the average of the two:

Current Weight: 179.1
Weekly Weight Loss: -0.5 lbs.
Weight Loss Since Start: -10.3

There was a full one-pound swing between the two weigh-ins, but I’ll consider it a success. And I fully expect to normalize my weight loss at my next weigh-in on Saturday.

The Week Ahead

It’s a routine week for me, hopefully filled with evening and lunchtime walks, less dining out (minus a the weekly blog post, of course) and much-improved weather.

I’m looking forward to it.

It’s Week 5 of Food Blogger vs. Fat, and my journey to better health continues. Here’s a look at the week that was.

The Successes

Last week, I was bemoaning the weather as I watched the raindrops fall outside, ruining my plans for a bike ride.

Instead, Julie convinced me that a walk around the Berkshire Mall was just as good.

Walking in, we stumbled upon the Pretzel City Rod & Custom Car Show. About two dozen hot rods and custom classics were on display throughout the mall.

It certainly made the walk more interesting. And after a couple brief detours into stores – there are far fewer that we are interested in than when we were teenagers – we recorded 1.5 miles of walking.

Sunday was much better as we did a 3.5 mile walk through Wyomissing Park and beyond.

Wyomissing Park is one of our favorite walks and the Pinewoods Trail is a big part of that. There is nothing like the Pinewoods Trail anywhere else in Berks County.

The trail winds through a grove of pines that outlines the park along its border with the Highlands. It’s a different world inside the pines – quiet, dark and eerily enchanting. It’s the perfect springboard for a lengthy walk.

Thursday night was lawn mowing night and on Friday I squeezed in a walk at work and nine holes of disc golf in the evening.

The Challenges

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I recorded no exercise. It was my longest break from exercise since I started this healthy journey.

And on Wednesday and Thursday my caloric intake came in just over my limit. But Monday and Friday were well under my limit so my net was 500 calories under budget.

The Results

As I have gone through this journey, I have settled into a bizarre pattern of alternating weeks of great results and mediocrity. Last week was mediocre. This week was better.

Current Weight: 179.6
Weekly Weight Loss: -2.8
Weight Loss Since Start: -9.8

Back into the 170s! I’m not quite at 10 pounds lost since I began, but seeing that seven in the middle of my weight feels good.

I still can’t explain it, but the trend continues. Perhaps it’s just a case of timing. I’m sure I didn’t lose 2.8 pounds all in one week, but I did lose three pounds in two weeks, which is a good, consistent weight loss that leaves me nearly five weeks ahead of schedule.

The Week Ahead

It’s another crazy week for me this week, concluding with a weekend away in Alexandria, Va.

While at my conference in Tucson, I won a silent auction for a three-day, two-night getaway in Alexandria so we are making the trip before the sweltering summer hits the Washington, D.C. area.

But that means two things: 1) I can’t weigh in on Saturday as has become my custom – we’ll be leaving on Friday – and 2) I’ll be dining out for all three meals.

Hopefully I can make smart choices that keep on track and not lose the ground I have gained over these first five weeks.

Week four of Food Blogger vs. Fat is now in the books – that’s a full month of work and a full month of results. Here’s an inside look into how it’s going so far:

The Successes

I started the week with one of my favorite hobbies (and Julie’s too): disc golfing.

For those who aren’t familiar with the sport, disc golf is just like real golf only you’re throwing discs (don’t call them Frisbees) at a basket instead of hitting golf balls into a hole.

Berks County is home to four disc golf courses (with dozens more in the neighboring counties), including two of them on the fringe of the city of Reading – one at Alvernia University and one at Laurelain Park in Muhlenberg Township.

Laurelain is a nine-hole course that opened at the end of 2016, and is our favorite of the two courses. For us, it’s a quick drive up the Warren Street Bypass to River Road up to Muhlenberg.

The park – with its disc golf course and walking paths – is a hidden gem. It’s a quiet neighborhood park that really only brings outsiders for the disc golf and soccer games.

Many of the holes at Laurelain are wide open with minimal trees, but some holes are heavily wooded and two have water that very much comes into play.

It’s a lot of fun and a lot cheaper – average discs cost between $10-20 each – and less time consuming – we did our nine holes in about 35 minutes – compared to real golf. There’s also no greens fees (though some golf courses have actually installed disc golf baskets and do charge a nominal fee).

But it is just as frustrating when you miss a short putt with a disc as it is on a green.

The rest of my week was all walking: a total of three hours and nine miles between Sunday and Friday.

The Challenges

This week was actually fairly easy as far as sticking to the diet and exercise. The only exceptions were Tuesday when I didn’t record any exercise but did come in under my calorie limit and Wednesday when I came in 130 calories over my daily limit (my current budget on my Lose It app is 2,051) but did manage 30 minutes of exercise.

The Results

As is usual, I weighed in on Saturday morning, and here’s what the scale said:

Current Weight: 182.4
Loss Since Last Week: -0.2
Loss Since Start: 7.0

It was an OK week for results. Coming off a week where I lost 3.8 pounds, I wanted to slow down this week, but was hoping to be closer to the one-pound mark.

Still, I’m ahead of pace by three pounds and I have a lot of motivation coming into the new week.

The Week Ahead

As I write this, it’s Saturday afternoon. The rain is coming down outside and I’m frustrated because I had planned to be out on a long bike ride right now. Instead, I’m stuck inside with my stationary bike as my only real option right now.

The rest of the week doesn’t look much better with rain forecasted three of the next five days. That may mean a trip or two to the gym or timing my walks to miss the raindrops.

After a hot start in my first week of Food Blogger vs. Fat, things slowed down for me as my weight stayed the same between Weeks 1 and 2. Week 3 was all about getting back on track.

The Successes

For the first time since I started I current wellness plan, I recorded seven consecutive days of exercise – a total of 15.14 miles walking for the week.

It started on Saturday – weigh-in day. After a flat week, I decided to start off in a big way: a 3.67 mile walk along the Rebers Bridge Connector Trail.

Starting from the parking lot at Rebers Bridge, we walked west along the trail to the entrance of the Blue Marsh stilling basin. It’s a hilly walk with about 120 feet in elevation change, but a rewarding one as well.

We stopped short of the ascent to the Visitors Center, about another .25 miles further along the trail, saving that for another day.

The weather this week could not have been better, and it was evident along the trail with the beautiful flowers that were starting to poke up.

Following up on our Saturday success, Julie and I ventured out on a 3.5 mile walk on Sunday.

We were visiting my parents in Robesonia so we did a walking loop that we used to do when we were still dating, climbing the hill around the former Robesonia Furnace property before descending along Freeman Street and returning by the Conrad Weiser Middle School.

I walked every day during my lunch break at work, except Wednesday when Julie and I instead did a 2.5 mile walk into West Reading.

The Challenges

On Tuesday night, I was at Citizens Bank Ballpark for my first Philadelphia Phillies game of the season.

I was in a Club Box with my colleagues from work, staring at a mini smorgasbord of cheesesteak, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken fingers, potato salad and coleslaw.

With my Lose It app by my side, I made the healthiest decisions I could – vegetable dippers for an appetizer, two sliders, one chicken finger and a heap of coleslaw: 800 total calories. I did so well with my afternoon walk and my lunch that I was able to splurge for a slice of brownie for dessert.

Thursday night, I had to navigate another minefield at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Avoiding the hot dogs and churgers, I opted instead for a bowl of chili and chips from Pauline’s Soups, leaving me with enough calories for a hot chocolate to warm up with.

The Results

So did the exercise get the job done? Or did I overdo it at the ballpark?

Current Weight: 182.6
Weekly Weight Loss: -3.8
Weight Loss Since Start: -6.8

After a slow week, it was a fantastic result. But I would prefer to be losing at a more gradual pace. I was almost 2,000 calories under my weekly budget. This week, I want to be much closer to my goal number in hopes to be closer to the one-pound mark.

The Week Ahead

Weigh-in day is Saturday so I consider it the start of my new week. That means Easter Dinner (or more appropriately, two Easter dinners) on Sunday. And Wednesday evening I will be at a networking event at Dave & Buster’s in Plymouth Meeting – not exactly the healthiest place to grab dinner.

There’s also a little more trouble in the forecast with rain expected, especially during the second half of the week. That could slow down my walking and force me to use the exercise bike (blah).

It’s the second week of Food Blogger vs. Fat. In my first week, I dropped three pounds. Here’s a look at my second week in search of healthier living.

The Challenges

If you read last week’s blog, you know that this week was a travel week for me. I was attending a digital marketing conference in Tucson, Arizona. That meant two cross-country flights, seemingly unlimited amounts of food and a lot of sitting.

I flew out on Sunday and missed my calorie target by nearly 300 thanks to a poor selection of food at the airports in Philadelphia and Phoenix. In Philly, I picked up an Auntie Anne’s pretzel as my in-flight snack. In Phoenix, my lunch was two slices of cheese pizza (not my choice, they were sold in twos).

While I managed to stay under my calorie count for the remainder of the trip, I did splurge with ice cream twice and did not have the healthiest breakfast options.

The Successes

Knowing that I’d be spending most of my days sitting, I drug myself out of bed early each morning (5:30 local time) to start my day with a morning hike.

The conference’s resort – the JW Marriott Starr Pass – is located on the edge of the Tucson Mountain Park and features a two-mile loop trail, as well as a connection to the larger trail network.

Monday morning, I took to the loop trail for the first time, taking my time on a trip through the mountains before the Arizona sun became unbearable.

On my trip, I came across two herds of deer scaling the nearby hillside before climbing myself. The trail ascends 300 feet to the top before winding its way back down the other side. The elevation change is constant – and, at times, steep – making the descent back to the resort feel so much better.

Tuesday was the most exciting of my three hikes as I followed the Bowen’s Trail into the heart of the park.

Bowen’s Trail is named for Sherry Bowen, a newspaperman who moved to the area with his wife and built a stone house in the mountains. The home still stands, abandoned, in the heart of the park. It was almost exactly 1.5 miles from the resort, and a great goal for my hike.

The hike was flatter – only a 150-foot elevation change – but a little longer and no less challenging. The reward at the end was the homestead, an oasis that is completely out of place in the wilderness.

The roof is gone, but the foundation and walls still stand. In one corner of the home, you can still see the fireplace. A few vandals have left their mark in graffiti on the floor, but the house is largely untouched.

It was definitely worth the hike.

Wednesday morning I took one more morning trip along the loop trail – one more climb to the top before returning home the next day.

The Results

So, how did I do during my week away?

186.4 lbs.
Loss Since Last Week: 0.0 lbs.
Loss Since Start: -3.0 lbs.

It was a break-even week for me. Part of me was hopeful after all of the hiking, but with so much time sitting – in the conference, on airplanes and in terminals – it wasn’t enough to make up for it.

But coming off a first week where I lost three pounds, I knew week two would be hard no matter what. I still feel good about where I am at.

The Week Ahead

I brought a little bit of warm weather home with me as temperatures are expected to rise to more than 80 on Tuesday. That means there is no excuse for me to get outside and exercise.

And with the office closed on Friday, I will have a whole day for a walk, hike or bike ride.

The biggest obstacle this week comes Tuesday when I join my marketing team colleagues at the Philadelphia Phillies in a club box. The box includes dinner – in the form of an unlimited buffet. If my will power can hold out, it’s the only roadblock to a great week.

Last week, I introduced Food Blogger vs. Fat, a new feature that will chronicle my journey to better health.

Writing that blog was easy. Now, the hard part – the weight loss goal of 30 pounds in 30 weeks has begun.

My starting weight for the challenge: 189.4.

The Successes

Overall, my first week was a success. On Wednesday, I dodged the raindrops for a 1.5 mile walk around our office complex, tracking everything with my Endomondo app.

A lap around the buildings and through the parking lots is .8 miles (there is actually a mapped out route with signs every one-tenth of a mile). I was able to complete two laps in 30 minutes before the rain reappeared.

On Thursday night, Julie and I met up with my friend Heff (you can call him Matt) at Reber’s Bridge for an evening trail walk. We went westward along the trail for a three-mile round trip, avoiding the fresh puddles and racing the sunset back to the parking area.

On Saturday morning, I went on another three-mile walk. My route takes me from our neighborhood to the Wyomissing Post Office, into West Reading, and back across the bridge into Berkshire Heights.

The Challenges

Using my Lose It app, I log every calorie that I take in and every calorie-burning exercise that I do. My daily budget to start is 2,096 net calories. This is a moving target as the more weight I lose, the fewer calories I am allowed.

On Monday, I missed my goal, coming in 314 calories over budget thanks to a (delicious) dinner at Mission BBQ. That night, I was in Philadelphia for WWE Monday Night Raw so the only exercise I was able to get was the walk from the parking lot to the Wells Fargo Center and back (and a very slow lap around the concourse).

Friday, I came in 297 calories under budget, but it was the only day that I logged no exercise. The persistent rain left no opportunity for outdoor exercise, and after logging my dinner, I took a night off.

The Results

So how did I do in Week 1?

186.4 lbs.
Loss Since Start: -3.0 lbs.

It was a strong start, for sure. But there is no way that this weight loss rate is sustainable, even if I continue coming in under my calorie count. The results will slow down and normalize, now that the recently-gained weight is gone.

The Week Ahead

This week is when the weight loss goal really kicks in, and it’s also one of the hardest weeks that I have. As you read this, I am attending a conference in Tucson, Arizona. That means two cross-country flights, and at least two airport lunches.

With breakfast and lunch provided at the conference (and the hotel’s relative isolation from downtown Tucson), it means no real choices for four of my meals.

However, there are several hiking trails nearby, an opportunity to explore downtown on Tuesday night, and perfect weather for doing laps in the pool (no poolside selfies, I promise).

If I can stick to the plan, I will be back here with more good news – and great photos from the dessert – next week.

The Bad News

Berks County Eats is making me fat.

OK, that’s a bit of an overstatement, but my love of food and my lack of self control has led to me ballooning to my heaviest weight in more than 10 years.

On a recent wellness visit to my doctor, my official weight was 194. That may not seem too bad to a lot of people. But I was in the mid-170s just a few years ago. The doctor also told me that I had high blood pressure, this for someone two months shy of 32 years old.

With that reality check, I knew it was time to make a lifestyle change before my weight and blood pressure continued to trend upward.

The Good News

Good News: Berks County Eats isn’t going anywhere.

Better News: I’m bringing my readers along for the ride, whether you like it or not.

My goal is to lose 30 pounds in 30 weeks. And in order to hold myself accountable, I’m going to be doing weekly check-ins here on the blog in a new feature: Food Blogger vs. Fat.

I’ll share everything, including my weight and weekly caloric intake.

But I’ll also share fun stuff, too. This is an opportunity for new experiences in and around Berks County. I’ll take you with me on hikes, let you ride along on my mountain bike and hit the links for a round of golf (or disc golf). Julie’s even threatening to take me to a yoga class.

My new diet and exercise regimen has already begun. On Saturday, Julie and I went for a 2-mile walk through Wyomissing. And on Sunday, I dusted off my stationary bike for a 30-minute ride.

The Weekly Check-In

Admittedly, my home scale weighs significantly less than the doctor’s office. But in order to track my weight every week, I have to base it on my home scale. So here’s my official starting weight:

189.4

This is my first full week of calorie counting so next week’s blog will feature the first full check-in.

Look for my next weekly check-in on Tuesday, April 4.

See the full Food Blogger vs. Fat journey here

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