At The Park

This morning we met our friends James and Ginger at a park near their house. James was late in arriving, said to showering. He did look exceptionally clean, so I have no reason to doubt the story. The kids mostly played by themselves or with their respective siblings. However, after about 30 minutes or so, there started to be some interaction. It didn't last long as Jacob's stomach wasn't feeling well, so we headed home. He's been fine, so hopefully it was a false alarm. Behind the scenes at Statistically Insignificant Musings Actually, it was Reuben who had to go the doctor today. His asthma has kicked up and once he starts coughing he doesn't stop until he gets an inhaled steroid. Today it took 2 doses in only few hours, so the doctor wanted to see him. He's now on a liquid steroid for a prescribed cycle rather than on the as needed basis with the inhaler. While Reuben was at the doctor, I broke out an ungifted Hanukkah present from Uncle Steven and Aunt Tracy, knowing it would occupy Jacob and Faith for long while. Jacob especially loves Gears!Gears!Gears! We still have a bunch of gifts still to open. But, they are still overwhelmed with all the new toys.

Let The Competition Begin

The stage of growing up that I have dreaded since the twins were infants has finally come. And, I know from my childhood, it will last a long, long time. What is this stage? Sibling competition. Just in the last couple of weeks the taunts started and now in the last couple of days it involves everything. "I get dressed faster than you" - Reuben "I finished my mac and cheese first" - Jacob "I'm taller" - R "I pee'd faster" - J (said in a crowded restroom at the museum of natural history to the amusement of all) "My poop comes out the fastest" - R You get the idea. Its very annoying and just about always leads to a more heated argument. There may be some hope, one of Jacob's taunts this evening was, "I ate all my carrots first."

In Search Of A Publisher

The Tortoise Guide To Weight Loss

Before Not the best picture for highlighting how heavy I got, but its all I got. Being the photographer, I'm usually behind the camera and not in photo.

I have now reached a milestone on my diet, the loss of 30 lbs and am now weighing what I did in college. Starting last May, after my back went out while staining my deck, I decided to lose some weight figuring it would lessen the burden on my back. Various friends of mine had recently started diets or fitness programs, such as Atkins and Body For Life, so I felt that at least I would have some support in the beginning. My problem was simple and obvious; I ate too much. My normal day started with breakfast, either a bagel with cream cheese, McDonalds, or nothing; followed by lunch out with friends; and then a big dinner with seconds. Since I knew the issue, I didn't think I needed to follow someone else's “official plan”. As far as weight loss was concerned, I simply planned a way to try and cut 200-300 calories (a candy bar) out of my day. This sounded easy enough and based on some measurements made from an online calorie calculator, it seemed to justify the worthiness. According to CalorieControl.org, a 6ft. 230 lb man would maintain his weight with 2809 calories a day. The same man weighing 200 lbs maintains his weight with 2566 calories a day. Thus the basis for the 200-300 calorie reduction, even if those calorie numbers were only approximations. Slowly but steady the weight would drop off until another equilibrium was reached.

So how to cut the calories and keep the weight off:

Find the low hanging fruit. In my case is was frequent high calorie breakfasts and an afternoon snack.

1. For breakfast I decided to limit the number of bagel shop breakfasts to at most 3 times a week and no McDonalds. In its place I substituted a rice cake (I like the plain and apple cinnamon) with 2 soy sausage links; 50 calories for the rice cake and 70 calories for the pair of sausage links. This probably cut 300-400 calories 2-3 times a week.

2. For afternoon snack I decided to have a rice cake in place of anything else I was snacking on at work. This probably cut 100-300 calories daily.

Cut out gorging. If you have a big lunch, then no seconds at dinner. Lite lunch, feel free for seconds or dessert.

1. If I was still hungry after dinner, I'd have a rice cake or an apple. Fibrous food are key. They are typically moderate in calories, but really fill you up. The rice cake is doubly good. It's bulky, but low cal and it must expand in your stomach because it satisfies hunger feelings. I figure this step cut 200-400 calories a day.

Get a digital scale and weigh yourself daily, if not twice daily.

1. This is key. Definitely weight yourself every morning, same time, with the same amount of clothing. This helps you make minor daily modifications. My rule is to use the scale as a guide to not putting the weight back on. But, I've found that if you concentrate on not gaining weight, you will wind up losing weight.

2. You will go into lulls where you are keeping your rules, but your weight doesn't budge. This is where the weigh-ins are critical. Just make sure you don't gain during these lulls. Soon enough, two to six weeks, the ounces will start to drop again.

3. Weighing yourself daily or twice a day will also help you learn what foods are contributing more than others to gaining weight. Its essentially your daily calorie measurement device.

Think like a tortoise; slow and steady. Who cares how long it takes as long as its in the right direction.

1. I figured at 200 less calories per day, I would drop 1 pound a month. Not sure where I computed this, but it seemed like a reasonable target. I wound up shedding pounds at about double that rate, but I also probably wound up cutting out about 500 calories a day on average. After losing 8 lbs. in the first month (that's the easy weight), I averaged just under 2 lbs a month. It does go in waves. You are stagnant for 3 or 4 weeks, then in one week you drop a whole pound (my scale is 0.5 lb resolution). Then you return to stagnation and so on.

Summary: Only time will tell if I can really can keep the weight off. I think it will last at least a good while, because for one it doesn't feel like I'm missing anything. After about a month or so on my plan, my need for the rice cake replacement as an afternoon snack went away. I no longer wanted the snack. Also, my appetite has shrunk a bit with my desire for seconds at dinner now pretty uncommon. Perhaps its just Karen's cooking ;-) I'm also not sure how much longer the weight loss will go. At some point, my new equilibrium point will be reached and I have no plans to further reduce my calorie intake. I don't really know what my average calorie consumption is but I'll bet its close 2600 which means I should be right about at my equilibrium. However, this past week was one where I dropped a whole pound after a 2-3 week lull; my normal cycle. I would figure as I approached the new equilibrium the rate of decrease would slow, so far I haven't experienced this.

Other notes: I did not increase any fitness activities, obviously if you do its all the better. Secondly, I've been asked by several people if I feel better. In all honesty, I don't. I don't feel any worse either. Maybe if I exercised more it would be different. I think I look a little better in the mirror. My back has not gone out again, although I do feel an occasion tinge. Probably best of all is that I'm wearing the first suit I bought out of college again; nice wool pin striped suit with lined pants. In all I've lost about 4 inches on my waist.

After Not a dramatic change, but I certainly look thinner.

Bizzaro World

Now that I got my good friend James all excited, this has nothing to do with Superman. Karen and I took our kids to the Museum of Natural History in DC this morning. For some needed background to the story, in case you don't remember our boys are about 3.5 years old and my daughter is about 2.5. Well after going through the museum we went to have lunch in the museum cafe. Who should sit next to us... A family with twin boys about 4 and another kid (a son) about 3. After exchanging pleasantries and the looks of true understanding, we exchanged some contact information. On our way out, I wished them a quiet evening. We both laughed understanding the plight of the ultimately unachievable.

Another Bike Day In December

Movie from yesterday. The boys have a cough, but it was too nice to stay inside.

More Presents

This morning we gave the kids a video game set "Vtech Smile" (from Uncle Marc of FL) that takes a slew of available game cartridges. Reuben and Jacob played it today with varying degrees of success. I think they will quickly master the joystick, but they still need some work. The games are pretty good. The one we played today was kind of like an early Nintendo Mario Brothers game, except with letters. I'm going to try out the other games during nap time for the sole reason of helping the kids later understand the games ;-) Tipper also got into the spirit this morning.

Final Night of Hanukkah

Hanukkah is done... well almost. Our family is so generous we still have gifts to give out. So I guess we are extending a few days. With 3 menorahs I guess we could go 24 days ;-)

No puppet show without a ticket! Grandma and Grandpa of LI sent this puppet theatre and the kids immediately took to it. They put on a pretty good show too. Reuben is my new intern blog photographer. He has really taken to his camera, a gift from Grandma and Grandpa of NM. BTW, Don't be fooled by the above icon. Things are still wrong with picasa posting. The new defect is that if you have more than 2 pictures nothing shows up. No errors reported, just no post. So for this post I lost the first attempt and then tried just posting the first 2 pictures. I added the third picture by editing the post through blogger directly.

Faith "Playing" With TMX Elmo

This thing cracks me up. I think I need one for work ;-)

Hanukkah Night Seven

More stuff.... Oy Vay! More Thomas stuff for the boys and more cinderella stuff for Faith. Tonite I also put together a puppet theatre from parents that they will see in the morning. Stand by for pictures.

TMX Elmo !!!

Faith got the coveted Tickle Me X (10th anniversary) Elmo last night. The thing is hysterical. When tickles it rolls around on the floor laughing and then somehow manages to stand itself up.

Hanukkah Continues

Here are some pictures from Hanukkah tonight taken by Reuben, Jacob, and Faith with their new Fisher Price digital cameras. These are from Reuben: This is from Jacob: And these are from Faith (with just a little help)

65 Degrees in December

Remote control cars, playground equipment, 65 degrees, who could ask for more.

Kid Endorsed Healthy Latkes - Cabbage Latkes

Karen made delicious cabbage latkes, following a recipe from the Washington Post that I clipped. Karen ever the doubter thought 1) they would be terrible, and 2) even if they were good the kids wouldn't eat them. Well, they were very good and the kids devoured them. It was strange, but they tasted very close to what "traditional" potato latkes taste like. Not sure how the cabbage channels the taste of fried potatoes.

Spring in December

65 degrees in mid-December. Can't beat it. After breakfast at IHOP we hit the park at Mantua and tried out our new remote control cars, $2.50 @ Target. They were at least worth $7.50 ;-) Actually they work pretty good. We had at a lot of fun at the playground too... Tonite was night 3 of Hanukkah. The kids opened Nana's firehouse present and Uncle Steven and Aunt Tracy's Little People's Hanukkah set. Its pretty clear they will be well used toys.

Sesame Street Live

Today I took the kids to Sesame Street Live. All had a lot of fun and were very well behaved. And its a good thing, because it was just me with them. Long story short, Karen got sick last night. 8 hours in the ER and all is well. Turns out is was just a fast moving, severe stomach virus. Kids had a great time at the show which was at the Patriot Center, which is only 15 minutes away; a big plus. We saw lots of muppets singing and dancing and even Burt in a white tuxedo dancing the hustle. Our kids really enjoyed it. They were singing along to the ABC song and interacting with the show when prompted. Good morning all around. I then got in a 2 hour nap to help me through my company holiday party tonite. Blogger Beta Issues: When posting from the web interface, pictures are scaled in resolution, but no longer in size. They are now much too big for a web page. Posting from Picasa2 had resolved this problem, but today posting from Picasa no loner worked :-(

Happy Hanukkah

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. We broke our new menorah which is in the shape of train that my parents got the kids. In pre-school the boys made us their own menorahs. They were covered in glitter; Reuben blue, Jacob yellow of course. Tonight Faith got her first Barbie doll. She was very excited. The boys got garbage trucks and couldn't be happier. The trucks also came with a garbage dump DVD. Reuben watched the whole thing with his mouth wide open. Faith also got a new leotard for ballet class that she was more than happy to show off.

Firefighters Reuben and Jacob on the job

Today was the letter F for show and tell so they wore the hats and jackets to schoo. Nana just sent these new jackets yesterday. They love them. We also sent pictures of them with Uncle Marc the fireman to school too. There were lots of Fs associated with the pictures. Oh! And of course Faith wanted to know where her fire fighter jacket was and be in the picture too. This is the bouquet of flowers that Faith picked out for her room. She picked the flowers herself. -Karen