There’s a thousand reasons and theories behind my stature. I’ve heard it’s the carbs. I’ve heard it’s the red meat (although that’s very limited thanks to the Mrs.). It’s high-fructose corn-syrup. It’s processed foods. It’s yatta yatta yatta. Bottom line: It’s me, it’s me, and it’s me. Much like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I’ve got a theory (it’s not rabbits)… but let me digress.

I’ve tried low carb. It worked well. I lost weight. I put it back on when I reintroduced carbs. I lather, rinsed, repeated, and gained and lost weight in true yo-yo style. Of course, I believe I did this with style and grace— more of a Yo Yo Ma style. I will not give up carbs. I love pasta. I love bread. My favorite meal in this world is Paglia e Fieno. For crying out loud, I bake bread and cakes every day. I’m not giving up carbs. Period.

I’ve pretty much already cut out soda… but on late nights at the bakery, Yeni and I have been known to do the Diet Dew. Hard. Like crazy hard. When I drink soda, I don’t gain more weight. When I stop drinking soda, I don’t lose more weight. I cut out soda simply because I’m not a big fan of soda.

I don’t eat that much red meat. At the most, once a week. Normally, once every two weeks. Although, if it were my choice, I’d eat a steak twice a day, every day. At the Peter Luger Steak House. My wife doesn’t eat red meat and therefore we don’t buy red meat. When I eat red meat, it’s only because we’ve gone out to eat.

In the past, I’ve tried Atkins. South Beach. The 40/30/30. The “eat what fits in your hand” diet. Vegetarian (longest week of my life). Here’s my belief (props to Kevin Smith^[1]): These aren’t diets; they’re lifestyles. If you’re living in the Atkins/No carb lifestyle, go for it. Not me brother. I’m not giving up carbs. I’ve been to Italy. I’ve seen smoking hot, thin Italian women and thin Italian men eating pasta and drinking wine. Then smoking. Smoking’s out for me, but just saying. Again, to be perfectly clear, I am saying “no” to no/low carbs. It’s simply not my lifestyle.

Last night it hit me. Literally and figuratively. Yeni and I left the bakery after a long day— we were starving. Long day plus not eating properly left us BEYOND hungry. A hungry Fred is a dangerous Fred. Fred must eat. When the boiler needs food, it overcompensates. We went to Las Margaritas and I gorged. Yeni did as well, but she’s so petite that her gorging is just adorable. We ate WAY too much and paid the price. After dealing the heartburn pills, the fullness, the crankiness, we woke up to the increased poundage.

It’s my fault. 100% my fault — not Las Margarita’s. Not Yeni’s. Mine. All mine. I’ve gone to Las Margaritas and not devoured food like a madman. I’ve gone before and left food on the plate. So why was last night different?

Yeni and I left the bakery after a long day— we were starving.

There you have it. The key my friends, at least my new theory… “a starving Fred makes bad choices.” My new philosophy: one bite at a time. So far I’m 10 hours into it. It’s going great. But of course, 10 hours is nothing.

This is not a diet. This is a lifestyle, and with any lifestyle, one must fully commit.

My choices last night kept me from enjoying anything post-dinner. My fullness prevented me from exercising. I didn’t sleep well. I didn’t feel well. Again, it’s my fault.

With my new “one-bite-at-a-time” attitude I will be eating all day long. When I’m hungry, I eat — immediately. But the portion is literally, a bite; a big bite, but a bite nonetheless.

With luck and perseverance, I’m confident this lifestyle change will allow me to actualize my goal of losing a tremendous amount of weight. Of course, only time and Yo Yo Ma will tell.

Footnotes

^[1] If you haven’t seen Dogma, please watch it. Great movie. Kevin Smith is simply one of the best screenwriters of our time. Anyway, Rufus (Chris Rock) plummets from the sky and starts jibber jabbering with Jay, Silent Bob, etc. when asks why having beliefs isn’t a good idea. Rufus states, “I think it’s better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier. Life should malleable and progressive; working from idea to idea permits that. Beliefs anchor you to certain points and limit growth; new ideas can’t generate. Life becomes stagnant.“

My beautiful bride

Saturday, Yeni and I will be celebrating our first wedding Anniversary. Of course, we could think of no better place to go than Disney World – after all, we go there quite a bit (Florida Annual Pass has it’s privileges). Anyway…

Yeni’s always been fascinated by these beautiful cakes that have become popular. She watches Food Network non-stop and just loves that cakes can be very custom and yet very beautiful. When we got married in May, she had made a stuffed mini-cake, as our wedding was very small and we wanted to keep costs down (plus she didn’t know I had a surprise Courtney Clark cake waiting for us ).

Luckily, around Christmas time, Yeni decided to try and make these cakes on her own. The good news? She’s amazing. I know I’m biased, but it is awesome to see her make these cakes. The bad news? The cakes don’t just look good, they taste REALLY good. And of course, this means that it’s been even harder to lose this big ol’ gut I’m carrying around. Ugh. Plus the house always smells incredible, so I’m consistently hungry… but I digress.

This year, it was my wife’s turn to surprise me. You see, I love that little cake she made for our wedding. I love it so much I thought she should actually go in business making replica wedding cakes for Brides. I mean, seriously… look at that picture… the cake is just awesome (yes, we’ve already established my bias).

So, what was my surprise?

This year, Yeni reproduced our mini-replica in real cake!

Score!

Ah, married life is good.

(If you want to see more of Yeni’s cakes, look at just a few of the ones she has made this month. Crazy)

It must be the Corn Syrup

I’ve been saying this for years… and so has many other people. Lot’s of times, friends just said it was a conspiracy theory or some BS thought… but now scientists from Princeton University have conducted research on High Fructose Corn Syrup. The results? Increased weight gain with High Fructose Corn Syrup versus Sugar. Calorie intake was the same, but High Fructose Corn Syrup caused increased weight gain.

A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain

by Hilary Parker

A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.

In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.

“Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn’t true, at least under the conditions of our tests,” said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction. “When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they’re becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don’t see this; they don’t all gain extra weight.”

In results published online March 18 by the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, the researchers from the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute reported on two experiments investigating the link between the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and obesity.

The first study showed that male rats given water sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup in addition to a standard diet of rat chow gained much more weight than male rats that received water sweetened with table sugar, or sucrose, in conjunction with the standard diet. The concentration of sugar in the sucrose solution was the same as is found in some commercial soft drinks, while the high-fructose corn syrup solution was half as concentrated as most sodas.

The second experiment — the first long-term study of the effects of high-fructose corn syrup consumption on obesity in lab animals — monitored weight gain, body fat and triglyceride levels in rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup over a period of six months. Compared to animals eating only rat chow, rats on a diet rich in high-fructose corn syrup showed characteristic signs of a dangerous condition known in humans as the metabolic syndrome, including abnormal weight gain, significant increases in circulating triglycerides and augmented fat deposition, especially visceral fat around the belly. Male rats in particular ballooned in size: Animals with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained 48 percent more weight than those eating a normal diet. In humans, this would be equivalent to a 200-pound man gaining 96 pounds.

“These rats aren’t just getting fat; they’re demonstrating characteristics of obesity, including substantial increases in abdominal fat and circulating triglycerides,” said Princeton graduate student Miriam Bocarsly. “In humans, these same characteristics are known risk factors for high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cancer and diabetes.” In addition to Hoebel and Bocarsly, the research team included Princeton undergraduate Elyse Powell and visiting research associate Nicole Avena, who was affiliated with Rockefeller University during the study and is now on the faculty at the University of Florida. The Princeton researchers note that they do not know yet why high-fructose corn syrup fed to rats in their study generated more triglycerides, and more body fat that resulted in obesity.

High-fructose corn syrup and sucrose are both compounds that contain the simple sugars fructose and glucose, but there at least two clear differences between them. First, sucrose is composed of equal amounts of the two simple sugars — it is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose — but the typical high-fructose corn syrup used in this study features a slightly imbalanced ratio, containing 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. Larger sugar molecules called higher saccharides make up the remaining 3 percent of the sweetener. Second, as a result of the manufacturing process for high-fructose corn syrup, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized.

This creates a fascinating puzzle. The rats in the Princeton study became obese by drinking high-fructose corn syrup, but not by drinking sucrose. The critical differences in appetite, metabolism and gene expression that underlie this phenomenon are yet to be discovered, but may relate to the fact that excess fructose is being metabolized to produce fat, while glucose is largely being processed for energy or stored as a carbohydrate, called glycogen, in the liver and muscles.

In the 40 years since the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup as a cost-effective sweetener in the American diet, rates of obesity in the U.S. have skyrocketed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1970, around 15 percent of the U.S. population met the definition for obesity; today, roughly one-third of the American adults are considered obese, the CDC reported. High-fructose corn syrup is found in a wide range of foods and beverages, including fruit juice, soda, cereal, bread, yogurt, ketchup and mayonnaise. On average, Americans consume 60 pounds of the sweetener per person every year.

“Our findings lend support to the theory that the excessive consumption of high-fructose corn syrup found in many beverages may be an important factor in the obesity epidemic,” Avena said.

The new research complements previous work led by Hoebel and Avena demonstrating that sucrose can be addictive, having effects on the brain similar to some drugs of abuse.

In the future, the team intends to explore how the animals respond to the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in conjunction with a high-fat diet — the equivalent of a typical fast-food meal containing a hamburger, fries and soda — and whether excessive high-fructose corn syrup consumption contributes to the diseases associated with obesity. Another step will be to study how fructose affects brain function in the control of appetite.

The research was supported by the U.S. Public Health Service.

Yeni in her studio.

Lately, thanks to our newly purchased Kitchen-Aid mixer, I have been eating well — very well. Although I guess that depends on your definition of what “eating well” means. If it means eating low calorie, very healthy meals, then no. If it means eating delicious cakes and desserts that make your mouth water, then YES — I have been eating very well.

Yeni loves those cake shows and well, I truly think she’s a natural. Not only are the cakes great looking, they also taste out of this world. Add this to the homemade cannoli and well, simply put, I’m a lucky man. Lucky man.

For more pictures of the cake (you have to see the little fondant bear), check out the album posted on my picasa account.

I miss my friend.

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends And in no random order…

qxork.com

So, you ever give out an email address and the person questions the spelling, asks you to repeat the work, or just in someway makes it a non-pleasurable experience? Of course you have… Well, after explaining that it was “m like mary” and “2 r’s in Forrest” for the last time, I decided to get a really small domain with letters that don’t sound like other letters (ie no m, n, c, d, e, t, etc.).

Since there weren’t many 3 or 4 letter domains to be found, the new domain is… q x o r k. “Hi, I’m Fred. Send it to Fred at q x o r k dot com.” Yes, it doesn’t pronounce. Yes it doesn’t mean anything… but also… Yes, it’s easy to say clearly on the first time. There’s not much to the site… think of it as a Fred Posner gateway if you will… with links to my sites and contact information. Check it out at www.qxork.com.

INS

Ah, nothing brings a sense of wonder to me than the effectiveness of our Federal Government. Yeni and I arrived at the immigration center for our Interview, and promptly made our way to the waiting room. After an hour and half wait for our “scheduled” interview (I couldn’t help think how great it won’t be if health care is run by the Feds), we were met by the officer, sworn, and interviewed.

I have to say, it started out pretty aggressively with us being question on why Yeni didn’t move to Florida (which I kind of found sexist, but anyway…) and questioning me with topics such as Yeni’s parent’s names, etc. Again, I would describe the tone as pretty aggressive. Then the questioning started centering around my business activities and I said something about the person working as a 10-99 vs a W2. The officer asked me what a 10-99 was and I kind of started to lose it. I was stating (in my Fred way) that a 10-99 was a basic tax form that anyone should now, let alone a government employee questioning me about business, when I received a “little” kick. Yes, Yeni gave me a subtle little kick and I calmed down a little.

Well, I think the fact that Yeni kicked me and I calmed down kind of proved that we were really husband and wife… or at least I have to say the interview went completely different. All the aggression was gone and long story short… everything is very good.

Cedar Point

My next tattoo

Yeni’s parents came in last Friday and on Sunday (before Labor Day), we joined a great friend from college and headed to Cedar Point. I had never been there and truly looked forward to riding some roller coasters with the wife and in-laws. The crowds were a little large (being labor day weekend and all), but the park was nice. Clearly it’s no Disney, but there’s lots of roller coasters including some very tall and very fast rides.

As we waited in line for the Millennium Force, I became excited. This roller coaster dwarfs others. Besides speeds of 93 mph, 80 degree angles, and a 310 foot climb, the coaster just simple looks amazing. An hour later, we got to the coaster, I sat down, and low and behold… not going to happen. The seat belt simply wouldn’t close. The staff came by during the check, asked me to leave, and I did the walk of shame out.

In hind sight, reading the “exceptional size” notice of Cedar Point may have made the day better. Since I’m a 42″ waist, over 225 pounds, and have a decent sized chest (> 52″), looks like I won’t be going back there for some time. The weight will come down, but not sure how to handle the chest… anyway…

Traveling Man

The Fred Posner America Gives Back Tour is coming your way… with stops in Orlando, New Jersey, Phoenix, and many areas in-between. Come one, come all… details and photos of upcoming travel to follow.

Baby Forrest and Thin Fred

Ah… getting older. I’ve noticed that as I have aged, the hair line recedes and the gut expands. Not truly the look I dreamed about as I pictured myself approaching forty, but the look I’ve achieved nonetheless. Speaking of forty…

Jimmy Buffett’s “A Pirate Looks at Forty” remains one of my all time favorite songs. I don’t know why, but for more than 20 years I just have simply loved that song. The thought of now being closer to 40 than 30 brings a different appreciation of the song… and well… just is simply an odd feeling. Anyway, as usual I digress…

So, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve well… I’ve become more rotund. I’ve posted and written about it many times. Hell, I even have a website called Fat Freddy Says. But the reality remains, that I’m bigger than I want to be and it’s not my coat that makes me look fat. The other month, Yeni and I bought a membership to the gym down the road. We had been going to the Y, but driving downtown, parking in the winter, loud kids, and crowded conditions just made us not as motivated to work out as we had hoped. So, we checked out a new gym, liked it (it was even cheaper), and joined.

To make a long story longer… I’m on the treadmill the other night and happened to pick one that faced a mirror. The whole time I’m walking I’m staring at my reflection. It could have been that I had eaten too much for dinner, or maybe it was just watching myself for 30 minutes, but right then and there I became very motivated to drop some weight.

I’d love to get back to the ol’ glory days about 2 or 3 years after high school when I was running a few miles everyday, had such low body fat that I sank, and was hitting the weights 4 times a week. But, I’m also very realistic and know that in my current state, if I push to hard, I’ll only end up hurting myself and delaying my ability to work out. Ah, the realities of getting older… So, instead… it will be slow and steady for Fat Freddy.

And in other news…

• Bought a Mac Mini (man I love that thing)
• Posted an article on VoIP Tech Chat in the style of Billy Mays
• Will be taking a road trip down to Orlando and back (3 days, 2k miles, 1 wife )
• Dusted off my old IBM laptop and brought new life into it with linux (ubuntu)

And that’s pretty much all I have to say about that.

I’m on leg one and when I landed in Charlotte, the power went out. So, after about 10 minutes all the computers came back on and 60 minutes later the air has yet to return. It’s a full flight, so I pitty the person who gets to sit next to Mr. Sweaty Fred.

I did download a movie to the iPhone so hopefully the next flight may seem a little better. Oh, the shirt? In honor of my good friend and fellow Voip Tech Chat buddy, Patrick. (By the way, new podcast was posted this week)

The 2008 Mother of May Weekend has come and gone — with only pictures and memories remaining.

I’ve posted the pictures on my picasa page, located here:

• http://picasaweb.google.com/fatfreddysays/MotherSDay2008

I think some of the photos of Grandma, Yeni, Mom, and my sister are the best. I love the one of my sister at the computer and of some of the ones of Yeni really came out nice in black and white.

Day 3 of eating “right” and I think the fiber is starting to get to me… but that’s a story for another day.

Thursday will be mom’s [censored]th birthday and I’m riding the bike down to South Florida to celebrate mom’s birthday, grandma’s birthday, and Mother’s day in what I would like to call The Mother of May Weekends.

So besides a great weekend to catch up with my mother, father, grandmother, sister, and girlfriend (she’ll be flying in to try Joe’s for the first time), I’m looking to The Mother of May Weekends as a Sayonara to fat…

Why Sayonara to fat? Well, I had been really good about dropping some of that weight I had gained but over the last 2 months managed to pack on about 10 extra pounds. So, to quote my favorite song writer… Come Monday it will be Allright… Allright for the gym that is.

Let the workouts begin.