Secret

People ask me almost daily, "What is your secret to losing so much weight? What is your motivation?" I really had no idea at the time...Well, I think I finally figured it out. Ready? Here it is:

The Secret to Weight Loss - "When you don't feel like it, do it anyway." What the hell does that mean?? You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning, and you are a bit sluggish. You may be achy. You don't feel like going to the gym before/after work...well, the secret to weight loss is....you do it anyway. You know how you go out to eat and you could just MURDER a bacon double cheeseburger with a mound of fries...and you really don't feel like eating healthy-type fare (i.e. grilled salmon with steamed veggies)? Guess what...you do it (eat the salmon, not the cheeseburger) anyway. There it is, folks - my secret to weight loss. This all came to me as I was in the middle of running the boarwalk yesterday (which I really did not feel like doing!).

My Motivation - Besides the obvious (Angela and the baby), I am motivated by several things on a daily basis:1) Seeing photos of myself a couple of years ago 2) Having clients notice my weight loss and tell me how good I look 3) Being able to shop at normal stores and buy normal sized clothes (I cannot begin to tell you how good that feels after having to either shop at "Big and Tall Male" or order stuff online because no store carries the hugest size possible) 4) Going to the gym/work/store/wherever and seeing overweight, old, bald guys. Now, I know that I can't control or change the baldness or the aging process...but I damn sure don't want to be fat anymore, and THAT I can control.

So there ya go. I guess anytime anyone asks me that question again I will either cut and paste this post or just direct them to my blog...

Oh, and here is the 32-week belly shot!:

Mother's Day

We had off from work Sunday and today, so we decided to do something nice for Mother's Day (while we still can!) - we went up to a Bed and Breakfast in Glenwood, NJ.

The day started off with me deciding to go for a run on the boardwalk - I ran it end-to-end in 39:58. A personal best! After a shower, we headed out, gassed up the Jetta, and headed northward to NJ.
A short 1 hour and 40 minutes later, we pulled up to an idyllic spot, the Apple Valley Inn (www.applevalleyinn.com). We were greeted by the owners of the inn, Lauren and Leigh, and were immediately shown to our room, which was gorgeous and had its own fully functional fireplace!
We also were informed that we were the only guests that night, so we had the whole of the house to ourselves. The house is incredible - built in 1831 (but newly renovated), has a bunch of rooms, including a lounge to relax in, and (of course) the beautiful dining room.
After dropping our stuff off at the room, we headed out to explore the surrounding area. The inn actually is on the border of Northern NJ and NY State - so we headed up back into NY. We went through a lovely town called Warwick and stopped for lunch.
After lunch and a walk around town, we headed to an artsy village called Sugar Loaf. We bought a few things here and headed back towards the inn.
On the way back, we saw the sign for the Applachian Trail...so we decided to stop and go for a walk.






After a 2.5 mile walk, my waddling wifey had just about enough...so we headed back to the inn to relax for a bit, then went out for dinner - at a pub in Warwick. They were super nice and even gave Angela a Mother's(-to-be) Day Rose!

After dinner, we had a little walk around the beautiful property surrounding the inn. After 10 minutes of that, I think Angela (and baby) could walk no longer, so we headed back to the room to settle in and watch Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy (best show on TV!) and drifted to sleep.






We woke up this morning to the smell of bacon cooking. I cannot describe to you how GOOD that was! We went in to breakfast - OJ, strawberries, fresh homemade banana nut pancakes, bacon, banana muffins and lemon-poppy cake. I swear to you, it was the best breakfast I have ever eaten (Angela agrees heartily!). It was EXTREMELY hard for me to decline a second helping, even though it was offered several times - I am still around 20 lbs from my goal after all!! Before we left, we chatted to Lauren and Leigh about the area, being vets, and their cat Calvin. Our picture was taken (below), and we were VERY sad to leave. It felt like we had made friends as well as had a relaxing day away from home.


So, despite getting stuck at the George Washington Bridge for an hour in traffic, it was still an incredible day away. We fell in love with the area - there were farms (including cows, sheep, alpacas and horses that came right up to the roadside), hills, wineries and tiny villages everywhere. It felt like the UK...felt like home. All being well, we hope to move up there in the next few years or so. In the meantime, however, we shall return to the inn when we can...hopefully sooner rather than later!

BONUS PHOTO - We are now doing belly-shots every 2 weeks instead of every 4...so here is the 30 week belly-shot!:

One more race photo with the Jones Beach tower in the background...yes, we are in pain.