I deserve a homebrew because....

[jimjohson]

IDAHBB, I just finished installing my kitchen cabinets. Took a day longer 'cause everything that could go wrong, did. (Naturally)

[mtsoxfan]

I can relate Jim... I replaced a kitchen once and there wasn't a square or plumb wall in that kitchen. Used my share of shims that day... How about pics of your handywork?

[Crazy Climber]

I deserve a homebrew because....
I've been dieting fairly hard for the past 3 months -- I set a goal of dropping 15 pounds (180-ish down to 165-ish) by the date of my annual physical, which is tomorrow.
I made it.
Starting tomorrow, I move out of dieting mode and into maintenance mode, which will be a walk in the park by comparison.
I plan to celebrate tomorrow night with a nice high-ABV, high-calorie homebrew!

[FedoraDave]

Nice job, CC!

I've been waging the Battle of the Bulge for the past 18 months, and while I initially dropped 50 pounds, I've gained some of it back recently.

Just remember that maintenance is often tougher than losing. I still struggle with old (bad) habits and laziness; hence the recent gains. But I want to be in the low 180s or mid 170s by my daughter's wedding in a little over a year, so that's my incentive to stick with it.

[Inkleg]

Way to go CC, congratulations.

[Beer-lord]

Right there with you CC. I'm at 176 and just trying to go down 8 pounds. I'm stuck. Exercise has hit it's peak and I already don't eat much. Perhaps a liquid diet of homebrew only?????
Best of luck on the physical.

[John Sand]

Wow. I only lost two pounds, 'cause the boat is in the yard. And climbing a ladder and sanding are harder than, well, anything else I do. And minus 2 put me at 238. But I stretch that over 77 inches, more if I raise my arms!
Seriously, good for you all. Healthier living will give you more years to drink beer!

[Crazy Climber]

Thanks, guys. Had my 50,000-mile (aka, 50-year) check-up today, all went very well.

Doc was pleased with my weight loss, but he did say that I'd be at an ideal BMI if I lose another 5 to 6 pounds. I suppose I'll try to get there, but not right away. I've grown weary of counting every calorie for the past 3 or so months. Gonna just RDWHAHB for the rest of the summer, and take aim at 160 in the fall.

For what it's worth, I use www.myfitnesspal.com to track my calories and exercise. It was recommended to me by my doctor at last year's checkup. I found it surprisingly easy and painless to use.

I drank a tester of my Irish Red after work to celebrate. It's not quite as red as I hoped, but tastes good. Gonna enter it in the New England Regional this fall and see what the judges say.

Also tried a Silly Sour http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/804/96412/ just to make sure I wasn't missing out on something great with this whole sour beer craze. Turns out I'm not missing out at all (IMO).

[mashani]

I don't just deserve - I *need* to drink homebrew, because this is my "short" bike ride and I am lucky to weigh 140 when wet (you do not want to know how many calories I can burn on a long one). Without homebrew I would vaporize.

EDIT: For the curious that top line would be 28mph, as I topped out at 27.7 this time around. This was me doing sprint interval like stuff on flats and false flats with easy spinning in between (easy is around 16-17mph), and stopping at all stop signs and traffic lights like a good boy. I wasn't even close to pushing myself to the max. This was actually a somewhat "lazy" ride as such.

IMG_0047.PNG (12.74 KiB) Viewed 1162 times

[John Sand]

Good for you. I actually need a little less homebrew at this time of year. Too many parties, dinners, and football Sunday have added some pounds. So I cut out my lunchtime beer, and cut out one dinner beer. That puts it around half of my prior consumption.

[mashani]

I start cross country skiing as soon as there is enough snow. So whatever I manage to eat this time of year that gains me a few pounds ends up getting burned off soon. Cross country ski burns even more calories then cycling when you go at a moderate/fast pace. Fast paced it's probably the most intense cardio workout there is.

[Beer-lord]

I've had a Nordic Trak since 1993 and use to use it 4 times a week but now since I go to the gym 3 days a week, I only use it once or twice a week but......I don't think I burn more calories on it than my bike. At least my scale doesn't think so. I do about 3-4 miles on it when I use it. I think they consider that machine to be a true, cross country ski machine. It's really lasted and was worth the money but no matter what I burn on it, 1 1/2 homebrews counter balances what I lost.

[John Sand]

Well, you sound pretty trim. I've only put on four pounds this fall, but I wanted to lose four! So I cut back on beer, and I'll go to the gym until March or April, whenever I start working on the boat. That will shave some weight. And I may be sailing to Bermuda in the spring. Night watches and sea-sickness will slim you right down!

[mashani]

@Beer Lord:

You can't "skate/freestyle ski" on a Nordic Track instead you are doing "classic" style with what's called a diagonal stride which is the most basic stride in classic style. Most people will burn 500-600 calories an hour doing classic diagonal stride. Where skating at a moderate pace is closer to 700 calories an hour (and your going a good bit faster).

On a nordic track (at least none that I've seen) you can't really simulate the full motion of full speed classic style, which is not done with a pure diagonal stride, but involves a lot of double polling and double polling with kicks where you may do kicks with pretty much all your weight on a single ski, with a double poll on alternate kicks (double poll involves using your core muscles to drive the poles, it's not just your arms), and a kind of full double pole technique that looks like jumping on the skis while you poll. Skate/freesstyle requires you to put all your weight on a single ski and alternate back and forth and it's a totally different method - it's more like ice skating or inline skating, except with a full sized ski to push off of - you are using a lot of core muscles and leg power to drive yourself along, and it involves various polling techniques depending on which "gear" you are in.

It's actually very difficult to truly master classic style and ski fast with it - it's easier to ski fast with skate style. But you must have a groomed surface to do it, where you don't with classic style - although a track or groomed surface makes going fast classic style easier obviously.

At a fast pace skate style, I can average 13-14mph over distances of 20k+, and I can sprint into the 20+ mph range (ON FLATS not downhill) and easily burn 800-900 calories an hour doing that. And I'm not even close to a professional racer, I'm just a well conditioned amateur who likes to race for fun. Olympic freestyle Nordic skiers have the highest recorded VO2 max numbers of any athlete, except perhaps for cyclists who dope.

EDIT: I posted some videos below that show these techniques.

[John Sand]

Mash, you deserve a homebrew for that.