Hubby's diet

Ok, so I was the one who gained 20 kg during two pregnancies... I was the one who didn't have a single rag to wear and refused to buy any new clothes "until I've lost some weight"
I was the one who really needed a diet.
My rather slim husband, on the other hand, who could look sharp in any item of clothing, and had only a couple of kilos overweight, if any at all, suddenly felt an urge to start a new healthy life...
One is lead to believe his efforts would make it easier for me to get on with my diet but what do you think happened?

It's weird how I reacted, but seeing my well-built husband, who only has an almost invisible bump on his tummy, start to lose weight didn't encourage me to diet at all... in fact it made me rather depressed. The more he exercised - the more I ate...
Looking back, I must admit he was doing a great job and should have some credit for it. I just didn't want to hear about it at the time...
Well, this is the story:

It was about a month before christmas and we met some friends at a party. As the party developed I suddenly found almost all the men in a corner discussing something, rather loudly. My husband raised his voice and lauged as he said "Ok, let's make it a challenge then, I say we bet some money on it!"
Hmm... what was going on?
I couldn't believe my ears as I came closer...
The guys were actually discussing weight and dieting!
Considering this crowd of guys are rather... manly... I couldn't help but giggle.
I really never saw any of these guys as especially fat, my husband was indeed the slimmest one, but of course, they had all a bit of a swelling where the waist line was supposed to be.
So what was the bet then?
Well, here comes the very masculine part of this story; While women tend to want to promote themselves when succeding, the guys seemed to chose another way to reach their ideal weight. "Weight loss by Wager"
They were actually prepared to pay SEK 1000:- per kilo ($125) up to six times in six months, to a fund for a future party, if they failed to reach their monthly goal weight. And in the way only men can push each other into something, they dared each other to accept the terms!!

I shook my head and just laughed at them, such silliness!
But they had their minds made up and this was the deal:
Hubby and and his friends meet once a week to have a sauna, drink beer and talk about... whatever guys talk about when they sit naked in a hot room and drink alcoholic beverages. I Suppose it's some kind of male bonding... ;-)
They were now planning to weigh themselves every week, and they had each a goal weight they wanted to reach before the swedish Midsummer Holidays (mid june). Once a month they would make a control weighing... It turned out to be the Day of Dread for some... ;-) If they hadn't lost a total of 1 kilo per month, they would have to pay the fine of SEK 1.000:- per extra kilo. Mind you, these are no millionaires, and the thought of these fines must have been true terror!

So four guys had finally agreed to go on a diet under these circumstances. One more would accept to diet, but refused to make the bet.
And the diet started.
Initially, I must say it was really bad timing when they started the diet on december 8, 1997. Considering the amounts of food served in swedish homes during christmas, they would get a hard time from the beginning...
And christmas came and went.

A memorable moment is a party we had december 29, I had made two huge Smörgåståtas (Swedish sanwdwich tartas with creamy fillings and lots of calories), and when the party was at it's peak I realised lots of the food was untouched. As I walked around the house I saw a very strange pattern;
Women, mid 30's were enjoying huge portions of food, drinking beer and laughing loudly, as their husbands were nibbling cucumber and lettuce decorations, sipping mineral water and quietly discussing exercise and and diets!
In the kitchen I overheard two guys evilly plotting against another in order to make him fail his upcoming weighing. "But you look so thin! Come on, have another slice, it's delicious, I have already had four slices!", all as a joke of course, but I thought to myself... "Gawd! They are acting like women!"

Anyway, time went by, and I don't know what methods they used, but some claim they have been trying everything from excessive exercising to laxatives and fasting, while another got a stomach flu just after christmas to save him from paying the fine... ;-). I don't know what is worse...
But the weeks passed.
And the men gathered and weighed themselves.
And they lost weight.
...And I got more and more impressed and... depressed.
In fact, I felt like the most useless creature on earth as I realised I had gained weight all spring while the guys lost kilo after kilo...
I had absolutely no motivation and couldn't stand to hear the diet talk each week.
But then again, the whole thing had it's highlights...
>From time to time there were five or more men running naked through my home as I tried to concentrate on my... um.. computer something?
I of course didn't look, but I mean, they always had to walk through my writing den to reach the shower... It's only fair I peek a bit when they disturb my work ;-) Right?
Anyway, as the months passed, they all did rather well, and when midsummer arrived, none had payed a single dime. They had actually lost some weight. But it was close... very close for some, and we will not remind him again about how he suddenly had to leave town the night they were weighing in for the last time... What counts is that a week later he stepped on the scales... And all had reached their goal weights!

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Finally, this is how hubby managed to lose weight:
Being one of those happy creatures with a metabolism allowing almost any food consumption, hubby had previously pigged out with me weekends, large portions and fatty food had been our lifestyle for years. He could easily gobble up a whole bag of candy by himself, and for five years, fast food, pizzas, candy and potato chips had only left about 5 kg extra on his body. I'd say he wouldn't have had them either unless he had completely stopped exercising.
His diet consisted of, well plainly: To eat smaller portions, stay away from snacks and to start exercise a bit.
And he did very well, he skipped the pizza for lunch and had a small sandwich instead, he skipped the choccolate bars in the afternoon and had an apple, and he simply left half of his portion on the plate when eating. It sounds so easy, but knowing what effort it takes, I think he was remarkable. He resisted most temptations.
He also began to exercise, for starters, swimming once, sometimes twice a week. When spring arrived he took his bicycle to work, and he did garden work, walked with the kids... you name it...

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Now the guys have decided to keep losing weight, but no more betting. I think they can all testify it was a horrible way of adding pressure in a situation that already is hard to handle. I'll keep you posted on the results as soon as they have weighed in after the holidays.
These are their dieting charts:
**Friend 3 not part of the bet, maybe he should have been? ;-)

Name	December 97	January 98	February	March	April	May	June	Total loss
Hubby (182 cm)	87,6 kg	84,2 kg	82,0 kg	81,6 kg	83,0 kg	81,0 kg	80,0 kg	-7,6 kg
Friend 1 (170 cm)	76,0 kg	73,6 kg	73,2 kg	72,4 kg	70,5 kg	70,0 kg	69,2 kg	-6,8 kg
Friend 2 (180 cm)	87,0 kg	82,6 kg	82,3 kg	82,0 kg	81,6 kg	81,7 kg	80,6 kg	-6,4 kg
Friend 3 (167 cm)**	76,2 kg	76,9 kg	76,3 kg	76,6 kg	77,0 kg	77,6 kg	*wuss* ;-)	+1,4 kg

Now that you have read about my husband, why not go ahead and check out how I'm doing with my diet?