Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 17: Is Exercise Truly a Food Critic's Best Friend?

Required Eating

Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 17: Is Exercise Truly a Food Critic's Best Friend?

Posted by Ed Levine, May 9, 2008 at 8:45 AM

As some serious eaters may have noticed, I have started writing a weekly restaurant review. I'm looking forward to my reviewing stint, but I am wondering about its effect on my diet and life. Two more restaurant meals a week, piled on top of all the other food I eat in the name of the work and life I love, will put even more pressure on my "all things in moderation" regimen.

So I decided that I have to increase the frequency of my exercise regimen. Other restaurant critics, like Frank Bruni of the New York Times and Michael Bauer of the San Francisco Chronicle, have told me that what I would describe as fanatical, maniacal, obsessive exercise regimens have helped keep them trim. The question, serious eaters, is whether doubling down on my exercise regimen will do the trick and enable me to eat more and weigh less.

I actually tried it this week.

The weather was glorious, perfect even, earlier this week in New York. It was so perfect that I got my bike out of storage and rode to work and back twice this week. It's about a 20-minute ride door to door from our home to Serious Eats headquarters, and my heart-rate monitor tells me I burn a little more than 200 calories on average each way.

Added to my twice-weekly squash games, in which I burn 550 calories each time I play, I'm basically burning about 1,500 calories a week with this doubling-down regimen. If exercising four times a week increases my margin for eating error, it's worth a shot.

Let's see how my bike riding affected my weight this week.

I stayed even. I guess that's not too bad, considering how much barbecue I ate this week. I have now lost eight pounds since I started my diet 17 weeks ago. I'm hoping my shiny new black Specialized bike will help me continue to lose weight and still eat like my livelihood depended on it.

12 Comments | Tags: bicycling, diets, Ed Levine's Serious Diet, health

12 Comments:

Could you please describe the exercise regimen that Frank Bruni and Michael Bauer told you about?

cupcup at 10:15AM on 05/09/08

I think you'll have a hard time shedding more pounds without an exercise routine that isn't a bit more... regimented. 3-4 days of week of truly vigorous exercise for 30-45 minutes, including a mix of cardio and weight training, and I guarantee you'll drop more weight.

Fillippelli the Cook at 10:21AM on 05/09/08

Ed!! Jay Rayner - my fave food writer in the Uk is experiencing the same as you:

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2272047,00.html

Keep Going!!

Man83 at 10:46AM on 05/09/08

Riding a bike is nice, but unless you are going up lots of hills or racing, you are not pushing yourself, building muscles, and increasing your basal metabolic rate.

But like everyone will tell you, the best exercise is the one you will keep doing.

peekpoke at 10:48AM on 05/09/08

Exercise is everyone's best friend, but do it for the other benefits rather than the weight loss. To lose 1 extra pound you have to burn 3,500 calories exercising...that's a LOT of exercise. The food choices one makes ends up making a bigger impact when it comes to pounds. The non-weight related benefits of exercise are much more important!

peachfish at 11:09AM on 05/09/08

I think the increased exercise is a brisk step in the right direction. I also agree with the other commenters: Mix in some weight training. It's not a huge calorie burn, based on time, but it makes a big difference in the long run. Also, don't use biking as a centerpiece of your exercise routine. Unfortunately, bikes are efficient machines and they don't really give you the benefit of carrying around your own weight. That said, better to commute on a bike than by cab or subway. I'd shoot for 2000 calories/week of exercise mininum, with closer to 3000 per week if you really want to shed pounds. The benefits of exercise are not just the calories burnt, but also elevated metabolism, time away from food-rich environments, and the sense of well-being and accomplishment that comes from mastering physical challenges.

Harold Check at 2:27PM on 05/09/08

Free weights or machines?

Ed Levine at 2:53PM on 05/09/08

Contrary to advice you've been given, you do not need to race your bike or take on hills to gain cardio benefits. Even if you rode around in "granny gear" for a half-hour, you'd be burning calories and using your muscles.

The best thing about adding exercise to a weight loss plan is that it will help you "shape shift" faster.

Susquehanna at 3:04PM on 05/09/08

I love to ride my bike and I think its a great form of exercise. I think the rule of thumb with any exercise is its better if you get a bit out of breath(or your 75% heart rate-measured by going as hard as you can for 10 mins then that heart rate is 90%), then you know you're burning calories.

I try to do strengthening exercises twice a week, especially those for my core. You could get a personal trainer for a short time. I use a mixture of free weights, a stability ball and sometimes machines. Whatevers available to me at the time.

If you ride your bike for longer than an hour at a hard pace you might want to take a snack.

jennywenny at 4:57PM on 05/09/08

I just read the Jay Raynor Man83 linked to up top. I loved it. It was so inspirational I went to my gym at lunch to find out when I could get a lesson from a trainer with the machine circuit.

Ed Levine at 6:34PM on 05/09/08

I think a trainer is a great investment. They'll best know how to give you a balance of weights, machines, isometrics and other kinds of resistance work. I like trainers because they instruct, push, and, perhaps best of all, help count reps when you're too dead tired to think.

Harold Check at 8:56PM on 05/09/08

Glad to be of service - just got back from a weekend in brussels - so i am scale avoiding too, best of luck

Man83 at 5:26AM on 05/14/08

Add a comment:

Previewing your comment:

HTML Hints

Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>

Comment Guidelines

Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.

If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.