It's Friday...do we have a "biggest loser"??

WAFlowers · Post by **WAFlowers** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:37 pm

I finally weighed in, late (better late than never!). It appears that other than the 28 pound spare tire I neither gained nor lost anything.

I guess celebrating my wife's birthday at Olive Garden didn't help. Neither will the home-made carrot cake we're having tonight .

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:50 pm

WAFlowers wrote:I finally weighed in, late (better late than never!). It appears that other than the 28 pound spare tire I neither gained nor lost anything.

I guess celebrating my wife's birthday at Olive Garden didn't help. Neither will the home-made carrot cake we're having tonight .

B I L L ! ! ! !

JimH · Post by **JimH** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:58 pm

I am not getting on the scale. I think I am just gaining. Don't want to know.

Jere · Post by **Jere** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:39 pm

23 years of marriage in which we both swore never to bring a scale into the house, I broke down last weekend and bought one. It sits on the bathroom floor and throws me accusing looks. So, I am back on the nordatrac or on my rollerblades at least 4x week to not only lose the 20 pounds that snuck up on me but to get back into shape to return to the hockey rink and show those 20-somethings that us 40-somethings still know a few things or two.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 4:57 am

Jere wrote:23 years of marriage in which we both swore never to bring a scale into the house, I broke down last weekend and bought one. It sits on the bathroom floor and throws me accusing looks. So, I am back on the nordatrac or on my rollerblades at least 4x week to not only lose the 20 pounds that snuck up on me but to get back into shape to return to the hockey rink and show those 20-somethings that us 40-somethings still know a few things or two.

You GO, Jerry!!! And you are just the type of person to do it, too!!! Good luck (not that you'll need it).

snowdog · Post by **snowdog** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:07 am

Well, it's not Friday yet but since people seem to be posting to this thread during the week...

I went to the fitness club for the first time in six months this morning. About six months ago I stopped drinking my normal three regular cokes a day (currently drinking caffine free diet coke on my way to cutting it out all together). I also stopped visiting the "M&M Lady" at work. I swear she's got every M&M promotion ever done and keeps several open bags on her desk at all times. Anyway, about six months ago was also the last time I weighed myself because She Who Must Be Obeyed also threw out our scale about that time. I weighed in at 193 the last time (I've been as high as 200 but am considering 193 my "starting point" because I have hovered around there for a year or so).

Anyway, I other than cutting out the regular coke and M&M's and watching my diet a little closer I haven't done a lot of fitness stuff other then a little walking pushing my son's stroller now and then. It's been a real stressfull summer.

Keeping that in mind I weighed in this morning at 185.6 pounds. So I've lost a little over seven pounds just by cutting out some junk.

This morning was a pretty easy workout, don't want to burn myself out again. I started with a 60 minute walk on the treadmill at 3.6 miles per hour. I'll build on that as I go and add calestenics as well.

Now for the real kicker, my wife ran/walked in the Dublin Marathon the year before we met (1997). Her boss runs the Chicago Marathon every year. My wife has gotten inspired and has decided that in four years for her 45th birthday and my 40th we will both run in the Chicago Marathon. My short-term goal is to get in shape and back down to my target weight of 165 pounds. My plan to be marathon ready in four years is to be able to run at least one 5k next summer, a 10k the summer after that, a half marathon the summer after that, and finally The Marathon in four years. All do-able I would think.

If it gets me off of CPAP so much the better.

snowdog · Post by **snowdog** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:17 am

Hey, that's always been my motto. It was actually a habit I picked up when I was 17 and in Army Basic Training. You always ate the stuff you liked first because it was rare that you actually got to finish a meal.

peg wrote:I have a theory about eating.........
It is a well publicized one. You see it on cards and T-shirts.
Eat dessert first.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:35 am

Snowdog,

Infriggincredible!!! That is wonderful. What is it with men and weight loss? They seem to lose it so much quicker and easier than us. You stop three Cokes a day and some M&M's and you're down all that weight already? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, posting something like that, when people like myself have been struggling for over three months to lose almost 20 lbs. I am ALMOST at my goal, but it has been a constant watch-everything-you-eat type of deal. If I could have just cut out soda (pop, soda, cokes, whatever) and no candy and lose like that, I would have been elated.

Now, you have to be in great shape still to be able to do a treadmill at 3.6 for one hour with no recent exercise. That is fantastic. I am so jealous. I am able to do my brisk morning walks for about 45-50 mins/2 1/2 miles with no problem now, but I would never have been able to if I just started. I would have collapsed and the paramedics would have needed to be called. You ARE eight years my junior (can I use that as an excuse, please?) but I don't really think that matters. Just trying to rationalize here and figure out why I'm having to struggle so to lose it all.

Well, I'll put down the jealousy and tell you that it's great what you're doing. And having a wife like that is certainly incentive and inspiration. Go for it!!! I'm sure you'll be running that marathon beside her. What about Reilly??? Will he be training along with the two of you???

WAFlowers · Post by **WAFlowers** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 1:32 pm

Sleepless on LI wrote:
WAFlowers wrote:Neither will the home-made carrot cake we're having tonight .
B I L L ! ! ! !

I was very good; I had only one very small piece and resisted going back for seconds. I'm also going to resist tantalizing you with the details of how amazing this cake is even though I'd really like to brag about it.

I could share the recipe but it wouldn't do anyone any good. One of the ingrediants is so many teaspoons of "spice mix", and we don't tell anyone what the spice mix is! My mother-in-law went to the grave without passing it on to any of her daughters, and we spent the next 5 years trying to recreate it! Luckily we had samples of her cake in the deep-freezer for reference for the first few years.

The secret is in our will for our children.

I'm not making this up.

snowdog · Post by **snowdog** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:25 pm

WAFlowers wrote: My mother-in-law went to the grave without passing it on to any of her daughters, and we spent the next 5 years trying to recreate it! Luckily we had samples of her cake in the deep-freezer for reference for the first few years.

That reminds me of a tv episode. Your mother-in-law's name wasn't Nestle Tollhouse was it?

WAFlowers · Post by **WAFlowers** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:31 am

snowdog wrote:That reminds me of a tv episode. Your mother-in-law's name wasn't Nestle Tollhouse was it?

That's appropriate; I sometimes feel like we're living in a soap opera -- a badly written one at that!

No, her name was Anneke Medema (Dutch).

Her mother's name was Anneke, she named her first daughter (my sis-in-law) Anneke, and my sis-in-law named her daughter Anneke. I feel priviliged to have taken the only photograph of all 4 generations of Annekes.

WAFlowers · Post by **WAFlowers** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:49 am

Speaking of being good, I had to deliver 13 dozen extra-large cookies that my daughter baked today. Not even a crumb made it past my lips. And with how good her chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter and spice (ginger molasses) cookies are, that is a major feat!

Look out Mrs. Fields, you've got competition developing! .

peg · Post by **peg** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:01 am

A good carrot cake is a true treasure. I have never understood the need for secrecy with recipes though. I have always felt that the really good ones should be shared not lost.
I have gotten the homemade angel food cake down pat. Low fat, lots of sugar. Not as good as the "Better Than Sex Cake", it is wonderful!!!
I have lost those pesky two pounds again, it took a year to gain the weight so I can't expect it to leave much quicker.

I really do enjoy food and especially the sweets, 13 dozen extra-large cookies would not be safe around me!!

WAFlowers · Post by **WAFlowers** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:30 am

peg wrote:A good carrot cake is a true treasure.

It sure is. For years everywhere we went (all over North America) if a restaurant or bakery had carrot cake, we'd buy some to try. It never measured up to my mother-in-law's cake

I have never understood the need for secrecy with recipes though. I have always felt that the really good ones should be shared not lost.

My wife was using her mother's cakes in her business for weddings. She ran "All Occasion Cakes & Chocolates" out of our home in Canada. After we get a green card she hopes to do something similar here. Actually she wants to move up to wedding coordinator and probably do a few cakes on the side.

Sharing recipes when you have a business isn't a good idea.

I have gotten the homemade angel food cake down pat. Low fat, lots of sugar. Not as good as the "Better Than Sex Cake", it is wonderful!!!

I bet! I love angel food cake, esp. with fresh strawberries on the side. YUM!

I really do enjoy food and especially the sweets, 13 dozen extra-large cookies would not be safe around me!!

It wasn't easy for me either!

snowdog · Post by **snowdog** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:56 am

My wife would love to make wedding cakes like that. She makes a killer cheesecake as well as "normal" cakes but just doesn't have the patience for the decorating part. She had a friend that had been a pastry chef in Chicago for ages and I was trying to get her to apprentice under him or something when he packed up and moved to Ireland to open a business there. Now it's become a "when we win the lottery" kind of thing.

WAFlowers wrote:My wife was using her mother's cakes in her business for weddings. She ran "All Occasion Cakes & Chocolates" out of our home in Canada. After we get a green card she hopes to do something similar here. Actually she wants to move up to wedding coordinator and probably do a few cakes on the side.