Monday, September 26, 2011

#BrewDiet: The Beginning

Did you hear the one about the guy who's diet consisted of nothing but craft beer and sausage for the month of October?

Me either. But you're about to. Me too, since I'm the guy. That's right. During the month of October, I'm only drinking beer and eating sausage. Yeah. I'm serious. And yes, I'm being monitored by a physician.

In case you hadn't heard, I like craft beer. A lot. I've been pondering the idea of a "beer fast" for sometime now and am ready to give it a shot. Oktoberfest seems a good time to try it. And unlike those who've attempted to re-create the monks' habit of fasting with beer-only, I'm playing fully into the spirit of the season, adding sausage to my diet. Hey, my doctor says I need a little protein to retain muscle mass, and who the hell am I to argue with a doctor? Especially when he says I need to eat sausage!

The Plan

My plan is pretty simple and is as follows:

  1. Keep the protein intake to about 30 grams daily. That's not a lot. According to MyFitnessPal, that's about one big sausage link.
  2. Drink beer. I only drink quality craft beer, and they bring their own protein to the party. Not much, but some.
  3. Keep total calories around 1700 per day. With the kind of beer I drink, that roughly becomes 5 or 6 beers, plus a sausage. A day. Every day. Morning. Noon. Night. Oh, and three other times. Life is good.

And I'll keep it up for the entire month of October. Which, with client meetings and travel, will be interesting. But I'm nothing if not tenacious.Yes, I'll drink plenty of water. And I'm rather addicted to my morning yerba mate, so that's continuing. But other foods are out. Call me crazy.

Follow my progress

I'm also reaching out to the fine folks that run Untappd, a beer check-in app that I've been evangelizing for a while. I'm hoping to convince them to make a special badge for people who drink along with me. No, I don't expect you to try and keep up with me. But maybe you win a badge if you drink one beer with me each day, or maybe 5 of the beers I check into each week. Not quite sure how that all works. I'll leave it to them.

Untappd is the best place to keep up with my daily drinking, though I will try and post a daily re-cap of everything here as well. I'm picking #brewdiet as my hashtag and have already secured the domain, pointing it right back here. So if you already follow me on Twitter (hint: I've moved recently) or are my friend on Facebook, you'll see the Untapped postings show up there.

Calling all Magic Fridge supporters...

For those of you who have been following me for a long time, you'll recall something called "The Magic Fridge" from years ago. I'd like to kick that off again, as I have a mostly empty refrigerator just waiting for a chance to shine. Should you wish to contribute to my month-long experiment:

Evo Terra
1849 E. Guadalupe Rd
Suite C101-186
Tempe, AZ 85283

Please be advised that there may be laws against shipping beer from your state. I'm pretty sure there's no law against me receiving beer, as I've had it shipped to me before. Wrap bottles in bubble wrap and pack tight with more wrapping on the box sides (all six of them) and the bottles should make the trip. Please include a note so I can give credit where credit is due. While our grocery bill will go down, our beer bill will certainly go up. Your support -- should you choose to give it -- will be much appreciated.

Someone get a doctor!

And as I said earlier, I am doing this under doctor supervision. I'll see Dr. Terry Simpson (MD, FACS) each and every week. Quite possibly at his place while he's cooking up some sausage dish for me. He says he has reindeer sausage. How can I pass that up? Terry and I are both skeptics, so we're looking forward to gathering some data on this process. Yes, we realize the sample size is a touch on the small side, but a sample size of one will still gather more data than the Paleo diet has acquired.

And speaking of data; here's where I'm starting:

Body Type: Standard
Gender: Male
Age: 43
Height: 5'10" (though my license says 6' even, because I am still a growing boy)
Weight: 199 lbs
BMI: 28.6
Fat %: 25.3
Fat Mass: 50.51 lbs

That's me. Not too shabby. I've never been what you might call a thin or athletic man. Hell, not even when I was a kid. But all things considered, I could be in worse shape.

Weekly, I'll post the new numbers. I don't really have a weightloss goal with this, though Terry thinks I'll shed at least 8 pounds and drop a few percentage points. I suppose that all depends on how well I stick to the plan, right? Here's to hoping.

Wow. A post this long is making me thirsty. Anyone got a beer?

16 comments:

  1. You should come to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival.

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  2. Yes, I should. But alas, I've commitments here filling up the calendar. And I'll be in no condition to drive!

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  3. Does this plan include breakfast? Extra deodorizer? Separate bedrooms?

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  4. Yes. No. As needed. In that order, Debbie.

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  5. What I learned about shipping the time I made a Magic Fridge donation:

    It's always illegal to ship alcohol via the U.S. Postal Service. I believe it's a federal crime even.

    There are no laws that prevent UPS or FedEx from shipping alcohol, but they have their own rules. Usually they only allow it when either the shipper or the receiver is a licensed liquor retailer/distributor.

    So, the best way to do it is use UPS or FedEx and lie about what's in the package. "Homemade preserves" is always a good description because it accounts for both the weight and the glass. If they figure out it's booze they may get mad, but you won't get charged w/anything.

    ~Sharon

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  6. Sage advice, Sharon! Ah... the good old days!

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  7. [...] I mentioned this morning, I’m doing this under doctor supervision. And not in a condescending [...]

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  8. Fascinating. Best of luck.

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  9. [...] guest on our brewcast, Evo Terra, recently announced to the world his intention to go on a brew diet for the month of October. For the space of one month each day he will consume only one large sausage link and five or six [...]

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  10. [...] One week ago today, I went in to see my physician, Dr. Terry Simpson. My beer-and-sausage only diet wasn’t slated to begin until the following Saturday, but it was a good time to establish a baseline. All that was recorded at the bottom of this post. [...]

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  11. [...] It’s all Evo Terra’s fault. Did you hear the one about the guy who’s diet consisted of nothing but craft beer and sausage for the month of October? [...]

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  12. [...] we teased a bit about our next feature, a return of Evo Terra to the podcast to talk about his brew diet. We spent a bit more time discussing the more work safe version of the diet I am undertaking in [...]

    ReplyDelete
  13. [...] today, there will be five more entries chronicling my month-long experiment of eating sausage and drinking beer. The end, as they say, is [...]

    ReplyDelete

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