Forty weeks… That’s 280 days. 120 sessions with our trainer. We’re both now down more than 50 pounds.

Something seems to be working.

What didn’t work, today, was my bribe. We’ve talked about food, baking, and general fun stuff since we started. He has mentioned a few times he really likes the lemon poppy seed pound cake from a local bakery.

For Easter, I made him a lemon poppy seed pound cake. He was really pleased – and still worked our asses off, today.

Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

makes two

Ingredients

• 2 cups (460 grams) butter, softened
• 2¾ cups (573 grams) granulated sugar
• 6 large eggs, room temperature
• 3¾ cups (525 grams) all-purpose flour
• 6 tbsp poppy seeds
• ¼ teaspoon (0.5 gram) ground nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon (0.75 gram) kosher salt
• ½ cup (123 grams) whole milk
• 2 teaspoons (10 grams) lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon (2 grams) lemon extract
• 1 teaspoon (2 grams) vanilla extract

For the Glaze:

• 1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

Let ingredients come to room temperature for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 325° F. Grease and flour 2 standard loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat butter with a mixer at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar, and beat until fluffy, about 6-8 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined after each addition.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, nutmeg, poppy seeds, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition. Stir in zest, lemon extract, and vanilla. Spoon batter into prepared pans.

Bake until a wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Spread Lemon Glaze over cake.

Of course, that’s what we’re paying him for, but still… ouch. He said he may not share it, at all. I told him to make sure his insulin shots were current.

The recipe makes two cakes. I did cut into one to make sure it was worthy to give away. It was. The rest will adorn the Easter Dessert Table.

Our dinner was pasta and sausage.

One hears about pasta being so evil. As you can tell by the blog posts from the past 40 weeks, we have not stopped eating pasta – or bread. Somehow, we’ve also managed to lose over 50 pounds, each. If you want to lose weight and you’re not, I’d stop blaming pasta and look at everything else you are – or are not – doing.

It really is a lifestyle change. There are no quick fixes. Diets do not work. Changing your eating habits, does.

So…

We have a ton of food we’re getting ready for Sunday. Most of it is reasonably healthy and the dessert table is pretty much out of control. I made a Limoncello Tiramisu, today. Once upon a time, I would have skipped dinner and dived right into it. On Sunday, I’ll have a bit.

Changing eating habits…

And on to Week Forty-One!