I Spent a Week Tracking Everything I Ate, Every Time I Worked Out, And What I Spent on Both

A look at one Philadelphian's week of healthy living.


Photographs courtesy Tom Wingert

Welcome to Sweat Diaries, Be Well Philly’s look at the time, energy, and money it takes to live a healthy lifestyle in Philly. For each Sweat Diary, we ask one Philadelphian to track everything they eat, all the exercise they get, and the money they spend on both. Want to submit a Sweat Diary? Email ccunningham@phillymag.com with details. 

Who I am: Tom Wingert, 30

What I do: Vice President of Marketing for City Fitness (I oversee the advertising, marketing, brand strategy, business engineering, and communications.)

What role health and fitness plays in my life: I exercise six or seven times a week, and I have several mental health practices that help keep me sane, such as putting my iPhone and Apple Watch away 15 minutes before bed and meditating for ten minutes before I get under the covers. But I also eat like, at least one pizza a week and usually several donuts. Balance, just in the extremes. Health is important to me because when I’m out of balance, I can’t be the best version of myself for the people that count on me.

Why am I doing this? Honestly, I know my diet is basically nonsense, so when I was asked to do a Sweat Diary during one of the most busy weeks of my year (2018 budgets due), I thought it would be a cool challenge with a whole lot of eyes on me to eat right. Or at least, okay-ish. I also look to be an example for folks that think they’re too busy to do things that are good for their body. Yeah, I work for a gym (series of gyms), but that doesn’t mean I have eight hours a day to be on a treadmill. I work out outside of my 8 to 6, and it’s just as much of a struggle to stay motivated and make time as it was at any time in my career. If I can do it, anyone can.

Paid Memberships/Health Subscriptions: None. My complimentary City Fitness membership is a nice perk of my employment there (all City Fitness employees receive complimentary memberships). In my job, I’m often asked to try stuff for free (usually with the hopes that I incorporate these programs/products into City Fitness’ portfolio), but I haven’t found anything game-changing enough to warrant personal investment.

Monday

Coffee at La Colombe. Photograph courtesy Tom Wingert.

4:30 AM — Every morning, I wake up, hit my Keurig immediately, turn on NPR and play a game of Madden NFL Football on mute. I’ve been doing this for a year. It’s how my brain turns on.

6 AM — I walk Meatball, my 75-pound pit bull that looks like an actual emoji. I walk him four times a day (oftentimes with help from his dog walker), sometimes more as he is strictly on-leash (not so great in the puppy ACL department).

6:45 to 8 AM — Work out at City Fitness Fishtown with sprints and high-volume upper body.

8 AM — Breakfast meeting at La Colombe Fishtown (Nizza oatmeal — whatever that is — and coffee, $11)

10:45 AM — Co-worker brings some sort of cocoa-drizzled popcorn to our WeWork Northern Liberties offices, and all hell breaks loose. I eat a ton of it. 

1:30 PM — I buy an Ahi Tuna ($11) from Poke Bowl in NoLibs (because I’m trying to be healthy or something). 

3:16 PM — I drink La Colombe coffee (free with my company’s WeWork membership) from WeWork rather than lean into mid-afternoon doldrums. 

5 PM — I run home to walk Meatball.

6 PM — I eat dinner at Hotel Monaco’s Red Owl Tavern because of its proximity to content partnerships with Kimpton Hotels. An influencer friend is doing a staycation at Hotel Monaco, which means my 16oz-steak with French fries is free.

8:30 PM — I take brief nap before taking photos of two college students (one of them being Meatball’s dog-sitter) going to prom (a.k.a. a sorority formal). 

8:45 PM — I receive a drive-by handoff of juices from Katie Rodger, Founder of The Juicebecause Day 1 of healthiness clearly failed. (Katie hooked me up with a free assortment of 12 juices for the week, because she’s awesome and knows I would be absolutely lost without guidance.)

9 PM — I take a call with a web developer on the West Coast, email back and forth with City Fitness’ lawyer finalizing a sponsorship contract with Live Nation for the Summer Concert Series from 2018-2020.

10:30 PM — I read some entirely non-work-related stuff before bed. In addition to my meditative practice, I try to read 30 to 60 minutes of non-work-related stuff (recently His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman) to maintain perspective and approach my work with a clear head.

Daily total: $22

Tuesday

Roast chicken and veggies for dinner. Photograph courtesy Tom Wingert.

5 AM  I do my coffee + Madden + NPR wake up routine.

6 AM — I drink my juice that Katie dropped off. (I would otherwise normally eat like, toaster waffles or something.) 

6:30 AM — Take Meatball for a walk. 

8:33 AM — I’m pouring my third cup of free coffee at WeWork Northern Liberties.

12:30 PM — I crank out a quick landmine workout of my own invention at City Fitness Northern Liberties with some full-body stuff mixed in. I’m joined by Pat Gallen from CBS 3. I have another juice as a pre-workout.

2 PM — I receive some frustrating information about Philadelphia zoning code, and in response, I shove a club sandwich from The Foodery in my mouth ($7). 

5:15 PM — I swing by Acme, buy chicken and roasting stuff for dinner ($19) and take an Uber home.

6 PM — I put the chicken in the oven, then go offline and read some non-work-related stuff. 

7:30 PM — I eat a bunch of the aforementioned chicken and roasted vegetables. 

10:15 PM — In bed, I pass out almost immediately.

Daily total: $26

Wednesday

Drinking loads of juices from The Juice this week. Photograph courtesy Tom Wingert.

4 AM — I do my wake up routine.

5:30 AM — I jump in an Uber to an early workout because it’s extra early and extra cold.

6:15 AM — I drink another juice as a pre-workout. I still haven’t had any caffeine today.

6:30 AM — I get my a$$ kicked by City Fitness’ WE/FIT program, am reminded why I hate group exercise, wonder how I get myself in these situations, then am grateful because, “Wait…I know all of the reasons for this.”

7:45 AM — I drink one of The Juice charcoal juices Katie dropped off in the dry sauna, while contemplating the existence of God.

8:30 AM — I buy a Starbucks Americano and sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich ($6).

1 PM — I relocate to WeWork at 1601 Market Street and eat some leftover chicken and veggies from last night.

3:45 PM — I have been working in a spreadsheet for a long time. I’m starting to fade, but I want to avoid caffeine — I try to stop drinking caffeine after 1 p.m. for the sake of my sleep. I opt for decaf Chai instead, complementary at WeWork.

5 PM — I leave the office at a reasonable hour, take the subway home, and applaud myself for being a normal urban professional.

6 PM — I read non-work-related stuff with ginger tea, very impressed with own ability to balance life and work.

7:30 PM — I think about doing financial projections, but instead I go to Pizza Brain in a social context and eats four slices of pizza. ($24)

10 PM — I go to bed after not working for five straight hours.

Daily total: $30

Thursday

Workout at City Fitness Fishtown. Photograph courtesy Tom Wingert.

5 AM — I do my wake-up routine.

5:45 AM — I drink The Juice green juice, feeling healthy.

6:11 AM — I log onto the internet, diving back into financial projections.

9 AM — I rip up my legs with some heavy front squats and functional lower body exercises at City Fitness Fishtown, preceded by juice and followed up by more juice (despite what it may seem, caffeine intake is at probably 50% normal).

10:15 AM — I log back onto computer, drown in spreadsheets.

11:30 AM — I eat a lunch of leftover chicken and veggies.

1 PM — I find free hot chocolate at WeWork and go absolutely HAM.

2 PM — I remember hot chocolate does not have caffeine, so I switch to coffee.

6:30 PM — I walk Meatball, then take an hour break to read something non-work-related.

7:30 PM — I go back online, then finish and submit 2018 projections right around 11 PM.

11 PM — I set an alarm for 4:30 AM, then pass out immediately.

Daily total: $0

Friday

The best days end in pizza. Photograph courtesy Tom Wingert.

4:30 AM — Do my wake up + coffee + Madden + NPR routine. 

6 AM — I leave my apartment and take El to Center City

7:45 AM — I take another WE/FIT class at City Fitness Logan Square with our corporate partners at Deloitte. I actually have a good time, as I was a little bit better prepared for social exercising than on Wednesday.

9:15 AM — I drink some The Juice juice with some regenerative supplement, convince myself I’m the healthiest ever.

10 AM — I have a meeting with my boss (City Fitness’ CEO Ken Davies) and a prospective vendor. Meeting goes on for four hours.

4:51 PM — I board a train to the suburbs (Glenside), where I’ll hide for the next 36 hours, reading at my parents house where I don’t need to worry about anything.

6:30 PM — Parents decide they want pizza (free! — thanks, mom and dad) for dinner. I eat seven slices of pepperoni pizza.

8:45 PM — I pass out and basically die.

Daily total: $0

WEEKLY STATS

Money spent: $78

Workouts done: 5

Juices consumed: 8

Slices of pizza eaten: 11

Average hours of sleep at night: 6

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