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    Home » Everything Amish » Plain Culture

    Thursday Weigh-in, Olive Garden, etc

    Published: Mar 24, 2016 · Updated: Mar 24, 2016 by Kevin Williams | 4 Comments

    My half-eaten fettuccine alfredo.....

    My half-eaten fettuccine alfredo.....

    Aster adores her "Nonna", my Mom and I adore getting to eat a meal without a squirming toddler in my lap! Mom is looking good! I won't say her age, but I'm 43....and it's not like she had me at age 20...so do the math from me and you'll get within range!

    Aster adores her "Nonna", my Mom and I adore getting to eat a meal without a squirming toddler in my lap! Mom is looking good! I won't say her age, but I'm 43....and it's not like she had me at age 20...so do the math from me and you'll get within range!

    By Kevin Williams

    Okay, last night was my Mom's birthday.  And we celebrated it by going to that most American of Italian chains: The Olive Garden.  The chain has experienced a bit of a resurgence of late, but it'll never be 'real' Italian to me.  Save that for some hole-in-the-wall dive in Boston or New York or even a Mom and Pop place in the heartland.  Or better yet the time my non-Italian speaking parents (my brother and I were with them, but have no memory of this, unfortunately) were exploring the Italian countryside and ended up at what they thought was a restaurant in the rural hinterlands.   After talking their way in and sitting down to a dinner of wonderful homemade noodles they found out later they were in a convent (I'm thinking all the habits should have been a tip off?) .    I laugh thinking about the mystified Italian nuns trying to communicate with my parents that this is "not a restaurant" and they come in and sit down anyway and , I guess, the resigned nuns figured hospitality was the quickest way to get rid of their American guests and fed them.   But, wow, I bet those were some of the best noodles.  My Mom attests that they were and later found out that these convent noodles were renowned in the pasta world.  So Olive Garden is a bit of a come down in that sense. Spices and flavor are absent at Olive Garden as they try to appeal to the widest swath of palates.   What do you think about Olive Garden?  Nice place to eat or overpriced faux Italian?

    Those of you on my email list (if you aren't on it, why not?:) know that I've been battling weight.  No, I'm not terribly overweight, but my weight has (I can now said had) been steadily climbing on a daily diet of 2 - 3 Cokes, constant grazing, and a bum knee that kept me from running.  But the knee is better now so I am running, I've swapped out the Coke and beer for unsweetened tea, reined in the grazing and upped my fruit intake and, voila, the weight is coming off.

    So, here is over a year's worth of weigh-ins, you can see where I am today:

    YEAR 2015

    JANUARY 20: 233.4

    JANUARY 27: 232.6
    FEBRUARY 3 : 233.6
    February 10: 234.00
    February 17: 232.2

    February 24: 230.4

    March 3: 230.00

    March 10: 223.7 (anomaly, was sick that week)

    March 17: 226.3

    March 24: 229
    March 31: 231.4
    April 7: 229.6
    April 14: skipped
    April 21: 231.00
    April 28: 231.00

    MAY 5: 233.00

    May 12: 228.00

    June 9: 231.4

     Dec 17: 234.3
    2016
    Feb 17, 2016: 239.00  (all-time high...at this point grew alarmed and frustrated, switched out sweet tea for water and unsweetened and axed the breakfast sandwiches and replaced with fruit)
    March 9, 2016: 231.2
    March 17 2016: 231.8
    March 24: 230.00
    So,  an even 9 pound drop in about a month....that's not bad...I need to just stay the course.  But then the dilemma hits at times like last night when I'm at the Olive Garden for my Mom's birthday: watch it or indulge?  I decided to indulge in the fettuccine  alfredo, although to my credit I ended up taking half of it home, when I would have typically eaten the whole plate.  I'll have the leftovers for lunch today, athough I'm not sure if it would have been better to just eat it all and be done with it last night, instead I'm spreading the alfredo sauce over two days. And the unlimited bread sticks....SIGH....
    I don't know...I know losing weight is tough and I feel like if I don't let myself license to splurge, I'll abandon my efforts.  But I'll also face another dilemma with all the "Easter candy" that'll probably arrive in our house this weekend. I guess I just need to nibble on that slowly and spread it out over months as opposed to eating a whole chocolate bunny in a day.  It's not like I need to lose a ton more...20 - 30 more pounds would be great.  I did take inspiration from a friend's wife's blog detailing how she lost 150 pounds.  That to me is mind-blowing, looks like she has converted her blog to a Facebook page here.
    One added bonus of the lower weight: I can fit into my size 34-30 jeans, the size I had worn since high school.  But, alarmingly, by mid-February I just couldn't even get them on anymore, not even force myself into them, so I had to get 36-30s....so nice, 34-30s, nice to be back!

     

     

    « Aster's Kitchen: Amish Caramel Cinnamon Squares
    Just Plain Rosanna: Marvin's Mishap »

    About Kevin Williams

    Hi, my name is Kevin Williams and I am owner of Oasis Newsfeatures and editor of The Amish Cook newspaper column.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kat

      March 24, 2016 at 7:46 pm

      Oh Kevin I think you are doing great on your weight! You can't deny yourself on special occasions it will backfire on you so just keep going and keep exercising and it will come off. Slow weight loss is a good thing. Just don't obsess about it. Life is so short and it's meant to be enjoyed.
      Happy birthday to your mom! May she have many many more!

      Reply
      • Kevin

        March 25, 2016 at 9:22 am

        Thanks! Next indulging: Easter candy!

        Reply
    2. Kathy Barnes

      March 25, 2016 at 9:37 am

      Congratulations on your weight loss. I'm proud of you. Also the picture of your mom and Aster is precious.
      Kathy

      Reply
      • Kevin

        March 25, 2016 at 10:00 am

        Thanks, Kathy, I'm plugging along...Easter will be a challenge,but I'll probably just indulge and deal with the consequences later...hope you have a great Easter!

        Reply

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    Kevin Williams - The Amish Editor Amish Cook Column

    Hi There, I'm Kevin!

    Welcome to Amish365, where I share my knowledge of Amish cooking and culture! I’ve spent almost three decades exploring Amish settlements and kitchens from Maine to Montana and almost everywhere in between. I’ll occasionally throw in stories of my travels, journalism adventures (I’m a Pulitzer prize-nominated journalist), fascination with grocery stores and Kmarts, and much more!

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