Weight Loss 2016 Week 6. DietBets, Roller Coasters, Weddings and Valentine’s Day.

I won my weigh out, but as far as I am concerned I won it on a technicality and it doesn’t mean squat unless I keep it up.  Weight loss is progression over time, and I’m getting sick of pushing for end-of-the-game results.  I prefer the feeling of momentum.  One night my friend, Davilicious, asked if I won in court that day.  I told him I did, but I won on a technicality.  He told me in football if you win on a technicality it’s still a win, no one cares if it’s a technicality.  I can understand that, but games and trials are over once you’ve won.  Weight loss needs to be forever or it’s not only a waste, it’s downright depressing, as in “I once was, but I no longer am.” 

I had some roller coastering this week because I attended a wedding on Friday night.  I need to learn how to incorporate these huge temptations into my program.  I like my friend Nancy’s approach for event eating.  I am working on a plan for daily eating incorporated with a plan for event eating.  I started a new DietBet this week.  I intend to keep starting them so I have weekly weigh ins that count.  They keep me on track. 

When I went to the wedding a friend there told me she had gone to the gym the previous week.  She thinks about me at the gym, as in, if Marian can do this, I can too.  It’s true, she can.  We all can.  I told her she was the third person this week who told me something similar, they look to me and tell themselves they can do it too.  I find that to be a lot of pressure, though I readily admit to bringing that pressure on myself. 

I spoke with the same friend over the weekend.  She was very upset because her long-time boyfriend found a new girlfriend, though he still calls my friend.  That happens so often, don’t even get me started.  I told her that you can’t control some guy, but you can take control of your body, and you can feel really good about it.  Then at least you have one thing to feel great about.

Which brings me to my end of this blog advice for this week.  I had three very close girlfriends all bitching and moaning about how their boyfriends suck for Valentine’s Day.  My mother once gave me some really great advice for boyfriends.  There was a guy I was crazy for, and he wasn’t so crazy for me.  She said don’t like him so much.  Don’t like him so much?  My 17 or 18 year old self asked.  How could I not like him so much?  I liked him SO MUCH.  She said pretend you don’t.  So I did that, and you know what, it drove the guy nuts.  He went crazy for me.  And you know what I learned, if ignoring some guy makes him go crazy for you he sucks.  He’s not worth much.  Did your boyfriend suck for Valentine’s Day?  Go to the gym.  Work Out.  Create your best life, move forward.  Watch what he does and decide what you want.  

Below are pictures of Mobley and I in 2014 and last week.  It's a continuing battle.  He had surgery, makes me wish I did.  He says I am to be admired.  That's one way he endears himself to me.

The Hillmanns of Brooklyn

Chapter 19

1922

Here we have Herman, Rose and 12 year old Marian

This picture is from a July vacation, but I do not know where they were.  If you know, shout it out.  

In 1922 a flu epidemic in Britain took 804 lives.

In 1922 President Warren G. Harding introduced the first radio in the White House and started making radio addresses. I would have to think the Hillmanns listened to at least one of those broadcasts.

In 1922 a challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, was rebuffed by the Supreme Court, allowing Marian to vote when she came of age, unlike her mother.

Double exposure at the New Jersey border. 

In 1922 Gandhi was arrested in Bombay for sedition.

Betty White, Bea Arthur, Norman Lear, Helen Gurley Brown, Judy Garland, and Mel Fisher were born in 1922.

In 1922 Joseph Stalin was appointed General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party

I do not know who this little sugger is.

In 1922 Toot Toot Tootsie Good-Bye was a hit song.

In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated and these giant bows Marian wears in her hair have apparently been in style her entire life.

At the start of 1922 it took 263 German marks to buy one US Dollar, by the end of 1922 it was 7,000 German marks to the dollar.  In 1922 Herman was proud to be of German heritage by 1945 he was ashamed of his heritage.

I used to play in one of these when I was a kid too, in a park in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea

Now it's August

Marian is second from the right

Rose is in the second row, far right, and she is leaning into the man next to her, which makes me think he is her father or an uncle.

Hillmanns albums come out on Tuesdays. Next week its 1923 and we're going to Rockaway and Lake George.

Weight Loss 2016 Week 5

I figured the easiest way to get this blog out every Monday is to start writing ahead of time. 

I beat the crap out of my first diet bet 0f 2016.  Yes, Victory!  I pulled more weight the day after I posted my last blog and lost 7.6% out of a 4% bet.  Not only that, but I ate really well Monday night:  steak and mushrooms with some red wine, so yum.   Last Tuesday I only had 1.6 pounds to lose to meet my next bet, which would also put me to that January 9^th goal to which I have been striving.  I was concerned about the Super Bowl, an eating holiday. 

I lost 110 pounds in 2013 and 2014.  In 2015 I tried to find normal.  There was no normal.  My daughter has had extensive orthodontic work.  We were always warned she must wear her retainer because her teeth want to go back.  My weight wants to come back.  So rather than finding normal I need to find normal within the dichotomy.  Marian wants to be her 150 pound best but there is some part of Marian’s body that says she is supposed to weigh more than 200 pounds.  I am not compromising, I am getting to 150.  The DietBet victory helped.  The real challenge isn’t 150.  You can go hard and get to that weight, but if you can’t stay there what good is it? 

Tuesday I was happy as a clam about my weight.  I ate right all day.  I ate dinner at about 3 PM.  The next morning I was up a pound.  Wednesday I ate right all day.  I skipped dinner.  I worked out for 2 hours.  Thursday morning I weigh exactly the same.  I am pissed.  Why is this not working?  I have a weigh in Tuesday morning.  I need to be 2 pounds down.  Pissed. 

My friend Nancy has lost 15 pounds over the last two months.  She is tiny, 15 pounds is a lot on her.  She eats one meal a day.  If she eats anything else throughout the day it is really tiny.  She describes to me how she went to a Burger place and had half a grilled cheese sandwich, a beer and a Frankberry Cereal Milkshake.  She talks about that milkshakes for two days.  I am jealous.  Nancy enjoys her food.  I would like to enjoy food.  Thursday I follow Nancy’s plan.  I eat at a luncheon:  prime rib, salad, potatoes (about a tablespoon, diced), green beans and chocolate pudding for desert.  They said it was mousse, it wasn’t.  I went to the gym for about an hour and 15 minutes.  I wake up the next morning the exact same weight.  At least I enjoyed lunch.

Friday I eat very little all day.  I go to a funeral where I eat, bad food, sweets.  I wake up in the morning another pound up. 

Saturday I ate exceptionally light.  I went out to dinner.  Sunday morning I am rewarded with the same weight I had Tuesday.  I am very happy.

Sunday I also ate exceptionally light, but then I went to a Super Bowl party and caved to that temptation and ate too much “bad” food.  I didn’t step on the scale this morning because the party was in Naples and that’s where I was.  I didn’t pack my scale, I think that would have sent me into paroxysms of self-loathing.  We’ll see if I can get myself back down in time for the weigh in.  I like Nancy’s system.  I’ll see if that can be my normal.

Hillmanns 18

The Hillmanns of Brooklyn

Chapter 18

1921

Mohonk Mountain House and 

Civil War Veterans

Join the Hillmanns on a trip to the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York and watch a parade of veterans which I'm pretty sure includes Civil War vets.

Check out Rose, our bathing beauty.

Marian and Herman in canoe. Have you noticed that if Herman is not in his swim trunks he is wearing a suit no matter what he is doing?

In 1921 Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics.

I think that's Marian up front, but I don't know who the rest of them are.

Marian up top.  The rest are still unknown.

Mother and daughter hamming it up.

Marian atop a hay bale.

Prince Philip was born in 1921 and, as I type this, he is still alive.

Mohonk Mountain House, the resort on the cliff.

Eating strawberries.

Group on Bridge

Herman on the rocks, in his suit.

The Hillmanns:  Rose, Marian and Herman

Mohonk Mountain House

It still looks EXACTLY like this.

Rose's mother, Henrietta is next to Herman. Henrietta's mother died when Henrietta was 18. Henrietta was the 2nd of 5 children. Her father, a Lutheran minister, remarried. His wife, Emma, Henrietta's step-mother is to her left. Emma was two years older than Henrietta. Left of Emma is her daughter, also named Emma.

Now Herman is taking the picture and Rose has joined the group.

Henrietta Siegele with a man I can't see but he is very possibly one of her sons.

Henrietta Steffen Siegele, Rose's Mom

A Steffen cousin. I can't identify most of the Steffens. I keep waiting for some of their descendants to join Ancestry.com.

Did someone call the cavalry?

On Armistice Day 1921 the Tomb of the Unknowns was dedicated in Arlington, and they were honoring their veterans in NYC also.

Hillmanns albums come out on Tuesdays. Next week it's 1922.

Weight Loss 2016 Weeks 3 and 4

I said I was going to get a weight loss blog out every Monday.  I had good intentions.  I didn’t get one out last week.  I did work 7 days that week.

So how did Weeks 3 and 4 go?  It’s a mixed bag.  I lost 6.8% of my body weight in the month of January.  I have a DietBet.com weigh out tomorrow.  I expect to win it with ease.  I have another DietBet.com weigh out the following Tuesday.  I need to lose a few pounds to get there.

After my last blog I had one friend tell me with the manner my weight fluctuates I should see an endocrinologist.  I had another tell me to see an acupuncturist.  I am more inclined to see the acupuncturist.  I hesitate to see an endocrinologist because my whole family has a history of obesity.  Most of them have been to endocrinologists.  Only one was diagnosed with a glandular problem and put on medication.  She got larger on that medication and her body did not look good.

To review, I gained weight in 2015 in general.  I gained more weight over the holidays. I lost in 2016, but ate carby, fatty crap for my birthday and gained weight.  I still haven’t gotten back to my January 9^th weight.  That is my current goal.  But my weight has been pretty stable.  Last Monday it went up, to my great chagrin.  This week it is down.  I feel like it is, in general going down.

I am also back at the gym after a long absence.  First, starting in October I had a leg infection.  It got better.  I was at the gym for two weeks, and then I got a bad cold.  It got better and then came the holidays.  Immediately following the holidays I got another chest cold.  It’s gone, in the last week I was back at the gym.  It feels great. 

This is how I looked this week. 

You can’t see my body too well in this picture.  The guys said I looked great.  Guys are like that.  Hang out with guys. 

I know I sound like a walking advertisement for DietBet.com, it is the best tool I have found to keep me on track.  Knowing I have regular weigh ins helps so much. 

My great challenge is eating meals out and booze.  I am a social animal.  I have been very good with the meals.  I have drank some booze, not too much, but some.  Could I lose more weight if I didn’t drink at all?  Maybe.  Can I drink sometimes and still lose weight?  Time will tell. 

The bad news is two weeks ago I told you I wanted to hit January 9^th’s weight, and I’m still not there.  The good news is in January I lost 6.8% of my body weight.  Weight loss only counts over time.  Next week I want to tell you it’s January 9^th.  

Hillmanns 17. 1921 Coney Island and the Girl Scouts

THE HILLMANNS OF BROOKLYN

CHAPTER 17

1921

This week the Hillmanns take us to Coney Island and a very large Girl Scout event, New York style.

On a chilly day in April Herman and Rose took 11 year old Marian to Coney Island.

It was closed, but it sure made for a great photo op.

Herman and Rose

Peek-A-Boo

In June there was a big girl scout event in New York City.

In 1921 the death penalty was abolished in Sweden

Marian with Captain Tomes

In 1921 the Communist Party of China was formed

In 1921 researchers at the University of Toronto discovered the hormone, insulin

In 1921 the first Miss America pageant was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Looks like a sheep herding exhibition, exactly what I would expect to see at a scouting expo.

Troop 55

Nothing says summer like ice cream.

Marian tells us that this was her first masquerade.

It was for Fourth of July.

Where am I?

Does anyone know?

It's near New York City

It's a hard picture to see but if there is one thing I have learned by now it's that these people liked to go swimming, en masse

Rose and Marian, this is love, in July 1921. I wonder how much longer those big bows are going to be in style. Next week we join the Hillmanns for the rest of 1921 with more swimming, a picnic, a visit with Rose's family and a parade of WW1 veterans. Join us on Tuesdays