For The Love Of Port

Fess up folks: who is doing the New Year's diet/get in shape thing? (and if you're doing it, how are you doing??)

I hate being a "New Year's Resolution" person, cuz they almost always fail, but I have to admit that I chose the ringing in of the new year (actually, my return to work on Jan 2nd) as my time to make a positive change in my life.

Because I need to do some drastic stuff to quickly lose some big pounds, but in a healthy way so it won't all just come back to me, I have dropped my wine/port consumption altogether. (For the moment) It makes me cry, just typing about it, but at an average of 2-4 bottles a week, it was contributing an approximate 3000-5000 extra calories per week to my intake. May not sound like much, but 3500 calories is an extra pound... do the math - it adds up quickly!

Once I get rid of 15-17 lbs and can fulfill my workout duties a bit easier (I have ballooned right up over the past year with injuries keeping me from working out, and my newfound discovery of all this GOOD STUFF TO DRINK) I should be able to introduce a decent amount of Port back into the diet... just more intelligently than I was doing so before. I am ashamed to admit that I was letting the bottle drive instead of the other way around.

I'm looking forward to getting some good Port back in my system, but doing it intelligently. I think this may even be a good thing for me, because it will force me to drink better Port, less often rather than lesser Port in excessive quantities.

Good luck to all, no matter what your goal(s)! May we ALL be granted strength to survive these difficult time!

Todd

Hi Todd,

I'm 10 days into mine. I'm bored and hungry and missing my Port. I'm desperate for my first target, the 19th Jan, to turn up.
I've got a 6 bottle 85 Tasting lined up with two friends, including Fonseca, Dows and Martinez. I'm almost as excited at the thought of the chips and steak before it!
Then its back on the diet until the 28th, when I'll be attending a simply world class 66 Tasting, including the renowned Nacional(watch it be corked!). Thats 15 bottles out of about the 26 or so that declared!

So I just have to keep my head down and focus on the Targets.

Alan

Alan,

What a tremendous reward to have at the end of the month! Very nice. It certainly would keep me on the straight and narrow path. I will admit to having gone off the mark once or twice in the past week and a half, but nothing that a good hour-long run on the track or outside (despite the frigid -25C temps!) can't fix!

Keep up the good work, as tedious as it may be, and may the '66 Nacional be as good as the day it was bottled. (Well, with the 40 years of age anyway!)

Todd

Todd-

I'm part of this crowd, though mine is, thankfully, not a "resolution". My wife and I both decided that we were not happy with our respective weight and level of fitness (the latter for me is more of my focus), so we have challenged each other with a few tough goals. The impetus for my wife's drive to achieve is her 20th high school reunion coming up, rather than the flip of the calendar to '08. I'm just along for the ride.

I can feel a bit of my stamina coming back, but I'm easing into it (especially the running) slowly as I have had injuries in the past trying to get back to my 18-year old cross country form a bit too quickly (I don't expect I'll ever run another sub 4:30 mile, but to be able to run a 6:00 without feeling like I'll die would be nice!)

I haven't weighed in yet. I find that only weighing myself once a week is a better way for me. Many times, there is just no change from day to day. If I stick to calorie intake reduction, and increased calorie burn, then I usually see some change every week. My target weight is 185-190 (I'm 6'3".)

I hope everyone who is striving to improve how they eat, and how much they exercise has much success, and that it translates into a new routine that you can sustain permanently.

Cheers,
R

Hey Rich... good approach. One I heartily agree with. I typically shun the scale altogether and focus on other, more athlete-like measurements such as VO2Max, body fat percentage, and how I feel after running a hard mile in the middle of a 10k run.

Have you really run a sub 4:30?? That is awesome! I don't think I'll ever be able to accomplish that feat (started running too late in life and am built more like a running back than a runner) but I could dream! :)

Anyway - good luck!

T-

My one shining achievement in track. I managed a 4:28 mile (16 seconds better than my previous PR) in an invitational meet that my coach wasn't even going to sign me up for. Funny part about that race is that at 4:28 I was DEAD last. The top five guys were all between 4:05 and 4:14, and one of them was a sophomore teammate of mine (I was a senior.) I was actually a much better cross country runner than I was a track man, but all of that faded away when I went to college and hung up the shoes. Been trying to recover "some" kind of form ever since.

Today, I'm happy with 20-30 minutes of easy running, or a 1-2 hour ride.

Keep on keepin' on!

Rich

I know myself and realize that New Years Resolutions work for the short term no matter how well intentioned I might be. So instead of going on a full scale diet, I am starting with something which is similar but can be far easier for me to contend with. With that in mind, what has a great effect for me, is to decrease my portions. No more 24 ounch Porterhouse steaks. Now if I can only find a way to stay away from all the bread while in restaurants ... and even harder, when in Portugal (which has the best bread in the world).

Okay so I'm on this train, or slow moving wagon train too. Not really a new year resolution since I have been trying to get into this popular Pilates Boot Camp Training for months.

In any event they gave us little forms to also track what we eat and so not to be embarrased in front of my class, I have been eating a bit South Beachy dropping carbs/starches. I also have dropped Port from my diet, but more becuase I overindulged on new Years Eve....

....and TODD---I am going to just try and wipe your Port = Calories ditty from my mind....Cause I'll give up solid food before Port and you can pry my Port from my cold dead hands gripping my Riedel

Now that we FINALLY have snow in Anchorage as of last week, I have again started back up in the outdoors skiing as well.

Overall goal is to shed some pounds and a few inches and get back my mountain biking/running/hiking endurance back.

Even I have cut back after the new year, but its not a resolution. Just time to lose 1-2 pounds and get back into race condition for the new race season. So more miles on the bike, less junk food, and sad to say...a little less Port and wine. Of course I may not do so good on the drink-less-port in February thing

I started on 1st Jan with the objective of eating healthy meals and not drinking 6 days out of 7. It is now day 17 and I have eaten healthily on 15 days and only had a drink 4 times. Not quite on target but much better than I expected.

I too will be rewarding myself with 14 or 15 glasses of 1966 VP at the end of the month. However, in recognition of the continual need to train ones body to cope with the rigours of life, Alan, Simon Lisle and I will be sharing 6 bottles of 1985 on the 19th Jan just to make sure our livers are still up to the task

Derek

Derek,

A liver is a terrible thing to waste. Even worse is letting it rust.

Derek T. wrote:However, in recognition of the continual need to train ones body to cope with the rigours of life, Alan, Simon Lisle and I will be sharing 6 bottles of 1985 on the 19th Jan just to make sure our livers are still up to the task

Derek

Exactly, Training is always the key here. We all must keep ourselves in Port drinking shape at all times