Eggerts 1. Meet Billie and Ed.

I call this series, The Eggerts of Hayward.  This my great-great grandfather, Ed Eggert on his wedding day in 1903.  He married Billie Welch in Chicago.  Billie was his second wife.

 

This is a four generation picture.  Ed was born in Ohio in 1876.  Next to Ed is his son, Laurence, the result of Ed's first marriage.  Laurence was born in 1897 in Cleveland.  Ed's father, Lewis, was born in Germany in 1841.  Laurence's daughter, my grandmother, Audrey was born in Toronto in 1917.

This is Ed’s mother, Emma, she was born in 1845 in Germany.

Here is Ed with his older brother, Jesse.  Jesse was born in 1871.  He was 5 years Ed’s senior.

Ed's son, Laurence, when he was a boy, with his dog.

Ed’s first wife, Ella, nicknamed Lulu, with Laurence.

Ed, on the right, at age 27, 1903, the same year he married Billie.  The 1900 census listed Ed, then age 24, as a machinist.  After Ed’s divorce he moved from Cleveland to Chicago.  By 1923 he was Superintendent at the telephone company.  Ed does not look like a machinist in this picture.

Here is the house where Billie, Ed's second wife, grew up.  Billie was born in 1880 in Prince Edward County, Ontario.  She was the fourth of nine children.

The seated woman in this picture is Billie’s mother, Jane.  The adult man is one of Billie's brothers, Garnet.  The woman standing is Garnet’s wife, Sarah.  The baby belongs to Garnet and Sarah.  The little girl standing is Billie and Garnet’s youngest sister, Rossie.  Rossie was a late-in-life baby. Billie named Rossie after her boyfriend “Ross.”  But Billie did not marry Ross, Billie married Ed.

Billie's father, Robert, died two years after Billie married Ed.

This picture was also taken in 1903, the same year Billie married, at Billie’s childless Uncle’s home.  He is on the lawn with his wife and a servant whom they treated as an adopted daughter at the time, but she did not maintain that status.  Billie is also in this picture.  Note the difference between the opulence of the house Billie grew up in and her Uncle's house.  These homes were next door to each other.  Billie's parents little farm was a small cut-out slice of her maternal grandfather's farm.  Her Uncle received the lion's share because he was the surviving son while Billie's mother was a daughter.

Bertha and Billie Welch, up front, at a cousin’s wedding.  Bertha was one of Billie's sisters and was four years older than Billie.  

Here we are at Bertha’s 1898 wedding.  Billie was her maid of honor.

After Ed and Billie married they vacationed at a cabin on Round Lake in Wisconsin.

Here we have Billie’s youngest sister, Rossie, at age 17.

At the same time Rossie was 17, Ed’s son, Laurence, was also 17.  Laurence carried hard feelings against his father for leaving his mother.  He spoke of the day his father left and how his mother cried and cried.  They had to scrape to get money and rent bedrooms in their house.  These feelings of animosity were passed down to Laurence’s only child, my grandmother, Audrey.  Lulu was remarried by the 1910 census.  (She and Ed were divorced sometime between 1900 and 1903.)  Lulu’s second husband was well liked, but the hurt of that divorce never left.  

Laurence, Rossie, Audrey.  Here’s where the story gets a little complicated.  In the Summer of 1916 Rossie came to visit her sister, Billie.  Laurence came to visit his father, Ed.  Rossie and Laurence fell in love and eloped.  Billie and Ed were aghast and wanted to get the marriage annulled.  Rossie told them she could possibly be pregnant.  But she wasn't.  Their daughter, Audrey was born in 1917, ten months after the wedding.

In 1922 Ed and Billie bought a resort in Hayward, Wisconsin.  They must have loved vacationing at that cabin at Round Lake.  Billie never had any children of her own.  She loved animals.  Note she is the only one not holding a gun for hunting season.

Before heading home to Ontario, after visiting the resort, Rossie and Laurence stopped in Cleveland to see Laurence’s mother, Ella Lulu, who is here with Audrey.  Lulu died in 1924 from an accidental drug overdose.  She was plagued by obesity.  A doctor prescribed pills to lose weight.  She was so happy the weight was coming off she took more pills, thinking that would take the weight off faster.  She was greatly missed by her son and granddaughter.  

May 18, 1925 Ed and Billie

Billie in 1925

Ed at the woodpile in winter.

Ed and Billie with horses

Billie and June

Ed on horseback

Dressed to go out

The resort was not open in winter, but Ed and Billie lived there year round.

I love a person who writes on their pictures.

This is Billie and Rossie with one of their brothers.  

Billie’s family was always welcome at the resort.  

This is their grandmother Welch, Mary Mulholland Welch, who immigrated from Ireland.  

It's not hard to see who Billie resembled.

Ed shoeing horse

Fall was for hunting.

Billie called this picture "Old Man Eggert With His Dog."

Billie, is it hi or bye?  It’s see you next week because I have lots more pictures of the Eggerts of Hayward. 

The Diet that Took Off Most of My 110 Pounds

As soon as someone finds out I lost 110 pounds the first question is what diet?  There’s not one answer.  I was not on the same diet for all 110.  My diet has evolved and is evolving.  I’m going to tell you the one I was on the longest, but I also want to tell you the best diet is the one that works for you.  Find it.  Experiment. 

I’ve read at least 100 diet books because my weight issues have been, and are, lifelong.  So far as I can see there is only one thing upon which experts agree, green vegetables are good.  They disagree on everything else.  I can’t live on green vegetables.

The diet that has worked best for me is eating high protein, low fat, low carb foods every three hours keeping calories at 300 or under each feeding. 

I eat a lot of

Eggs.  They feel good in my body.  I eat them hard boiled.  I cook scrambled eggs in muffin trays so I have them ready.  I make omelets with spinach, peppers, canned green chilies, asparagus, mushrooms or lean taco meat.  I use whole eggs or eggbeaters.  I have gotten away from cheese, even fat free cheese.   

I like chicken, turkey, fish (which I am more likely to order out than cook).  I also like lean beef, but it doesn’t work as well in my body as chicken and turkey.  Bags of frozen shrimp are also easy to thaw out and eat. 

When I was heavier I made certain I ate a measured portion of nuts daily.  I love nuts.  I also read they prevent gall bladder attacks which are common in people who lose a lot of weight.  I once saw a co-worker on a strict weight loss program suffer a gall bladder attack followed by surgery the next day.  She was in a lot of pain.  I did not want that.  I also have a penchant for Kind Almond Coconut bars.

I have a love/hate affair with Quest Bars.  I love them, but am not sure they work as well in my body as well as whole food.  They work better than some things and worse than others. 

I used to say I was eating South Beach Phase One foods, but that allows you to eat beans and limited dairy.  They don’t work so well in my body.  That does not mean they won’t work for you.

I also like Muscle Milk Light, as a meal, not as a beverage.

I drink water, tea, coffee and I like Sobe Lifewater and Vitamin Water Zero.  Sobe Lifewater black and blueberry is my favorite.  Occasionally I drink a diet soda as a treat, not as a regular thing.  My favorite artificial sweeteners are stevia followed by sweet and low, because the others are made from sugar and the sugar impacts me.

Cheating.  What I learned about cheating is that one cheat meal can undo a week’s worth of weight loss.  This made it so not worth it.  I also found I could gain weight, even eating the above listed foods if I ate too large a portion.  Cheating takes days to recover from, sad, but true.  The cheating that worked best for me is pick an event, far away.  Examples are Bob and Sue’ wedding or Labor Day Weekend, the event can be a whole weekend long, but don’t make it too frequent, not even monthly.  You do damage your dieting over that weekend, but you give yourself enough time to recover.

After weight loss the next question that arises is how do you easily maintain that?  I’ll let you know when I figure it out.  

Here I am, at the annual Hispanic Women of Distinction Luncheon in 2012.

And here I am with my beautiful daughter at that same luncheon in 2014.

One Brief Life

Meet my great-great-great grandfather, Janne Osterberg. Janne was born in 1820 in Sweden. He was a man of the sea. This picture was taken in 1850. In 1855 Janne married Anna.  A few months later Janne died at sea, near Rotterdam. He was buried at sea. His personal belongings were returned to Anna when the ship returned to Sweden.  My Dad didn't know Janne's story, though he knew his great-grandmother's maiden name was Osterberg. Dad looked at that picture and made a comment about Janne's short life and all that was left of him was one picture. That got me thinking.

Anna, was 25 when she married 34 year old Janne. This picture was taken when she was 45. In November of 1855, months after Janne died, Anna gave birth to their daughter, Charlotte.  Anna never remarried.  I wonder why?  Did she not want her daughter to come under the control of a step-father?  Did she not want to come under the control of a husband?  Was Janne such a wonderful husband she felt he could not be replaced?   Was he such a terrible husband she did not want to repeat the experience?  Did she fear she would get pregnant again, and die, which was not uncommon, leaving her daughter an orphan?    

  

At 20 years old Charlotte married Martin. I’m going to guess since Charlotte was having her wedding picture taken they decided to have Anna’s picture taken too.  Over the next 17 years Charlotte gave birth to ten children, six of whom lived to adulthood.

This is the house in which they raised their children, it had been in Martin’s family for many generations, and still is.  

This is Martin and Charlotte's second child, Otto.  Their first child, Ava, lived less than a year. In 1903, when he was 25, Otto immigrated to the United States. In 1909 he immigrated back to Sweden, where he lived the rest of his life

This is my great-grandmother, Martha. In between Otto and Martha was a son, Harold, who lived less than a year. In 1905, at age 23, Martha immigrated to America. She married a Swedish immigrant named Lindquist.

This Harold was born one year after Martha. His parents must have missed the first Harold. Surviving Harold was a bold man because he was the first to immigrate to the US at the age of 18 in 1899.  His older brother and sister followed him. He also changed his last name for some reason that had to do with employment. 

The beautiful Anna was born two years after Harold. Anna, and her younger sister and brother, remained in Sweden.

Here are the last two children, Ester and Janne. They both came two years apart.  Janne is the oldest.  Janne is named after Charlotte’s deceased father.

Two years after Ester, Charlotte had a boy, Elias, who lived less than a year. Charlotte was pregnant again one year later, that pregnancy ended her life as well as the unborn child's who was never named and whose sex does not come down through history. Charlotte died shortly after giving birth.  She knew she was dying.  Her daughter, Martha, shared the story of her tearful farewell with her grandson, my father.  After Charlotte's death her mother, Anna, who had been widowed for 37 years, moved in with Charlotte's husband, Martin, to help him raise the children. Like Anna, Martin never remarried.

So let’s go back to that first picture of Janne, who had that one brief life, dying at age 35, after having been married for less than a year, and leaving his pregnant wife.  She had one daughter, Charlotte.  Charlotte had six children who lived and four who died shortly after birth.  Among her children was my great-grandmother. Those six living children produced 12 children, including my grandfather.  I do not know the number of descendants past that level, which include my father's generation, my generation and my daughter's generation. I must disagree with my father that all Janne left of himself was one picture.

Exercise, My Progression

Exercise, My Progression

Exercise was a critical component in my 110 pound weight loss.  I always exercised a little.  I was always physically active.  I entered my first diet contest with the strong belief I could win.  I mapped out a plan to get there and told myself for the 60 day contest I would go to the gym every single day, except Christmas.

This picture was taken about 10 days before the diet contest started. 

At the time this picture was taken I had already lost about 35 pounds. 

At the start of my weight loss journey, prior to entering weight loss contests I weighed 272 pounds.  At that weight, the only thing I could use at the gym was the exercise bike.  Even then I enjoyed the elliptical machine, but after 10 minutes my calves hurt too badly to stay on the machine.  Once I hit 250 I could stay on the elliptical for an hour.  For a long time, and very many pounds, I rotated between the stationary bike and the elliptical machine.  I would have only done the elliptical machine because I love it.  It is fun, like dancing.  “Why not just dance?” you might ask.  Because now, using the elliptical machine at the highest incline and resistance is building a lot of muscle in me.  I alternated between the elliptical and bike because a co-worker knew I was using the elliptical and she asked if I was still using the bike.  I said no.  She said when I used the bike you could see my leg muscles developing and the elliptical developed other muscles.  That’s why I alternate.  That being said, I am a firm believer the best exercise you can do is the one you will do.  If there is only one thing you will do, do that one thing, it’s better than nothing. 

Now I alternate between the treadmill, exercise bike, elliptical, rowing machine, the circuit machines, Zumba, cross fit, body works, swimming, yoga.  At home I use free weights, floor exercises and yard work.  I increase resistance and incline on the machines.  I use the treadmill on the highest incline, same with the elliptical.  I use the Precor elliptical on the highest resistance.  I use the Life Fitness elliptical right about the middle, it’s a much harder machine.  If you hurt the next day, lower resistance.  If you have burning or sore muscles, do something that uses different muscles. 

I have considered using trainers.  I have talked to a lot of trainers.  I am sure there are good trainers, but I have found trainers and their programs are like reading diet books, which I have been doing for 40 years.  They disagree.  They can’t all be right.  I am telling you what worked for me.  I urge you to take what I tell you and find what works for you.  The results of your effort are quantifiable, measurable.  A scale and a tape measure tell you if what you are doing is working.  If what you are doing is not working, try something different.

As I write this, I am currently getting to the gym at least 4 days a week an hour a day.  I frequently get in more.  I use free weights at home 3-4 days a week and do abdominal floor exercises at least 4 days a week.  As my weight has gotten lower, but is still not as low as I want it, I view it as the more the better.  I do not think this schedule is over doing it.  I have not “found” the time to do more than this, but I don’t think it would be a bad thing.  I was talking to a doctor last week to who told me she commits to a nine hour weekly work-out schedule, and then she looks for more.  She has no weight problem, nor did anything in her physical appearance make her look like she worked out that much.   

I did not make it to the gym all 60 days of that first diet contest.  I ended up getting a bad cold.  I kept working out on that cold.  The cold got much worse.  You’re not supposed to work out on a bad cold.  Your body needs the same immune system to heal the cold as it uses to repair your muscles.   I bet I lost a solid 2 weeks at the gym.  I still won the contest.  Here I am at the end of that contest:

This is how I look today.

Your weight problem does not go away because you lose weight.  It’s like having braces, your teeth always want to go back to the old position.  My body has a tendency to hold on to weight.  Exercise has so many benefits.  It gives me energy.  It helps keep the weight off.  It helps me sleep better.  It shapes my body.  It makes me strong.  Here is a powerful, attention grabbing benefit, Barbara and I weigh about the same and are the same height.  I am a size 8.  She is a size 16.  If that doesn’t speak to you I don’t what will.  Exercise for weight loss is not a single incident.  It has to be incorporated into your life as something you do.

Fat Genes

Do I think obesity is genetic? Possibly.  Do I think there are people who are predisposed to being fat?  Yes.  Do I think that if you’re fat you can’t lose weight? No. 

Meet my great-great grandmother, Ella Buck Eggert Jacquemann, shown here with her son, Larry. Most people have 16 great-great grandparents. I have pictures of 14 of my great-great grandparents. She’s the only one who was fat

Ella didn’t like being fat. She disliked it so much she went to a doctor. He gave her a weight loss drug, and it worked. She was so happy the drug worked she increased the dosage. It killed her in 1925 at age 45. She was greatly missed by her only son and granddaughter. Her granddaughter, my grandmother, told me stories about her.

Her son, Larry, was also fat. He got so fat he had trouble walking. People loved Larry Eggert. He died the year before I was born, but I met many people who loved that man. He was kind, generous and fat.

Larry’s only child, my grandmother, Audrey, was also fat. She didn't like being fat.

She was also kind, loving, generous and devoted to her family.

I was thin when I entered First Grade

I was the fattest kid in the Second Grade

By the time I was 8 years old my mother and grandmother were aggressively dieting me, trying to fix the problem, it didn’t work.  I got bigger every year.  This is my Fourth Grade picture.

            It didn’t work for them. It didn’t work me. My grandmother and parents were well intentioned. I remember my grandmother telling me repeatedly how much she hated being fat. She prayed not to be fat. She prayed my mother wouldn't be fat. (Both my parents were fat. I don't have a good picture to show you, plus they are both still living, might not like it.) Grandma prayed I wouldn't be fat, etc.,  My grandmother never saw a thin day in her life, and that is sad. 

My pattern of dieting has never stopped.  I do not know that it ever will.

Then I had a daughter. I never prayed my daughter wouldn't be fat because whatever she was I would love her. I did vow to never diet her, and I didn’t.

She always ate whatever she wanted. I’m not advocating that method. It was reactionary anti-dieting. I am sure it led to dental issues, but she’s not fat.  She is also a model.  Follow her on Instragam Lily Lindquist.

 I don’t know if fat people carry a gene that makes them unable to process certain foods. I don’t know if fat people have a gene that made them carry more weight when they moved from physical labor to brain labor. I do think aggressive dieting can make you so hungry you compensate for it in a meal that is too large. The Bible says the iniquities of the father carry over to 3 and 4 generations. Is that how long it takes to learn? I don’t know.

I am my own work in progress and my own experiment. I know it can be learned.  You may have fat genes, but you can overcome them.

I Am A Viking

I was walking on stage at karaoke when Johnny Caruso stretched out his hand and offered to help me up.  “I got this,” I told him and walked on stage.  “But Marian, I wanted to help you.”  Note to self, must remember, men like to be helpful.  My parents raised me to be self-reliant.  I cannot tell you the number of times my father drilled into me, “You are Viking.”  Vikings are self-reliant.  Vikings travel the world taking what they need.  Vikings establish new territory.  No one conquers Vikings, and during the world wars they remained neutral.  Nothing is better than being Viking. 

I have eight great-grandparents, only two were Viking.  Those two hold the hallowed position of being my father’s father’s parents which endowed me with the awesome Swedish last name.  In the United States, a Swedish last name on a female conjures up the image of a statuesque, beautiful, blonde, blue-eyed, liberal, sexy woman. 

Viking self-reliance extends to my core.  I saw a friend at karaoke and asked where her husband was.  He hurt his back moving the mattress.  I acknowledged mattresses are heavy.  I told her I am working on a project involving rock, which is also heavy.  I was thinking about buying a wheel barrow but it is a single project.  Once it’s done I would have to store the wheel barrow.  It’s not worth it.  She asked how I was moving the rock.  Hauling it by the bagful.  She thought I was nuts.  No sweat, I am Viking.  When I buy the rocks at Home Depot they ask if I want help getting them in my car.  Absolutely not, I had no trouble getting it on the cart, I can load it in the car.  What do they think I am, a wuss?

When my daughter was little she wanted Christmas lights on the outside of the house.  That is filthy work.  I did not hesitate getting up on that ladder and stringing the lights amidst the dust.  Heck, I painted the entire house by myself.  I am a Viking.

Even a Viking has limits.  When Lily was little I purchased a swing set from Toys R Us which was no more than a quarter mile from my home.  I paid $40 to have it delivered.  My mother asked why.  Because the box weighed 200 pounds.  I cannot lift or move a 200 pound box.  It was being delivered to the back yard.  Then I was paying a man to assemble it.  She shook her head in disbelief. 

A company was going out of business and offered my daughter a 6’ framed mirror.  She wanted it.  Would I pick it up?  I met her at the business.  She shows me the mirror and tells me it is heavy.  I lift it, its okay.  I had already put the car seats down.  There is a man working on the asphalt.  “Ma’am, can I help you.”  He asks.  “I’ve got this.”  I tell him, “But thank you, I appreciate it.”  We load it in the car.  We go back upstairs to peruse the rest of the stuff the company does not want.  The owner looks at me and asks, “How did you do that?”  “Do what?”  “Lift that mirror.”  “I’m very strong.”  I tell her.  “I am a Viking,” I tell myself.  “That’s unbelievable.”  She says incredulously.  “I work out.”  I add. 

Being Viking extends beyond housework.  When I was pregnant I was told if I wanted an epidural I must preregister.  Two weeks before Lily was born my doctor asked if I preregistered.  No.  “Why not?”  He asked, “Do you hate yourself?”  I registered.  I do not hate myself.

A lot of people ask what kind of weight loss surgery I had.  None.  This is often followed with, “You/She did it the right way, diet and exercise.”  I lost 110 pounds with diet and exercise, but you do whatever you need for yourself.  It is your body.  I am not here to tell you there is a right way or a wrong way.  If you want to lose weight I encourage you to get yourself there however you want.  You do not always have to be a Viking.

Diet Soda and Belly Fat

If you are a female who was old enough to drink soda in the 1970s I am sure you were introduced to Tab, drink of the gods.  Yes, long before Diet Coke there was a strange tasting diet cola named Tab, all females drank it.  Tab does not taste like Diet Coke and is probably an acquired taste.

In 1980 I went on a school trip to Mexico City.  The first thing all us girls wanted when we got home was Tab.  We craved it.  We talked about it when we were together.  Wish we could have a Tab.  Alas, there was no Tab in Mexico City.  There was also no drinking age, so we subsisted on Sangria, cerveza and tequila, much to the chagrin of our chaperones, who succeeded in getting us banned from the hotel bar.  But money talks, we bought alcohol directly from the back of the bar.  

Fast forward to 2015, I am still keeping tabs on my weight, and I occasionally enjoy a Tab.  My refrigerator is stocked with them.  When I am invited to a BYOB event put on by one of my former high school classmates, I bring a 12 pack of Tab.  Most do not know Coca Cola still makes it.  Tab excites them, takes ‘em back. 

You can only imagine my mortification when I read an article last week that said a study showed taking out all other factors, even one diet soda contributes to weight gain and dangerous belly fat.  NOOOOOO!!!!

I had to put that to the test.  On Saturday all I ingested was coffee, water and Tab.  I did not eat anything to eliminate all outside factors.  Yes, that’s the kind of crazy I am.  Prior to beginning this experiment I weighed myself and measured my waist.  Throughout the course of the day I drank 3 Tabs, which is 2 more than I would drink on any given day. 

The next morning I again weighed myself and measured my waist.  My weight was down 5 lbs. which I expect to see back as soon as I eat.  My waist was down an inch.    

From this very small sample I conclude occasionally partaking in a diet soda will not increase my belly fat.  I think people who drink diet soda tend to have larger bellies than people who do not that’s why they are drinking diet soda, they want their belly to be smaller.