*** Starting Weigh-in ***

Week Completed:	__0__
Weigh-In Weight:	239.5
Body Mass Index:	30.0
Pounds to go to 10%:	24
Pounds to go to goal:	39.5

___________________________

Well it's started!

239.5/239.5/200/WK-0

Note (written 7/29/01):

In my written journal, and it was pretty sketchy the first couple of days, it says that the scale said 234.5 on this morning. Since I had not seen 234 pounds on the scale for quite some time previous to this, I am a little skeptical that it dropped that much the first day. Perhaps the scale was not on a level surface or something like that. I found out later, that the scale would vary without having a solid level surface under it. It was about here that I ended up putting a board under the scale to keep its readings constant. Also my weight for the next day was back up a couple of pounds from this reading. Therefore, I tend to discount the reading for 5/13/01. But it is in the journal, so I am including it.

-Al-

239.5/239.5/200/WK-0

The scale said, 236.5 this morning.

During my second day on my journey yesteday, I had the same breakfast as I did on the first day. Breakfast=6.0 points. For lunch I had 2 turkey sandwiches for 9 points, 6 esspresso beans for 1 point, and a cup of coffee for 1 point. Lunch = 11 points. For dinner I had stir fry for 7 points, 6 more esspresso beans for 1 point, and a Jello dessert for three points. Dinner = 11 points. I did not have any additional snacks. So, I had 28.0 total points for the day. I also dran 96 ounces of water. (12 cups.)

-Al-

239.5/239.5/200/WK-0

I am now on my 4th day, with 3 days behind me on program. Yesterday was my first day back to work, since starting my journey, and at lunch I stopped by a grocery store and picked up some more free food.I love the fact that one of my favorite foods is zero points. I am going to be bumming when rhubarb goes completely out of season.

I kept my points to 25.5 yesterday, and that included a 12 inch sub at Subway, complete with Jalapeno peppers. I am eating like a king. This WW program is great! I stepped on the scale this morning (I do it every day, but I am not counting it until Saturday) and it said: 235.5. So, it appears that I am heading in the right direction for now.

Just let me know if I am overloading the forum. I know nobody wants to hear just one guy sounding off. But I figure if I start writing some stuff, maybe it will catch on.

3 Days down and a lifetime ahead of me. 200 here I come!

-Al-

239.5/239.5/200/WK-0

4 days done on OP. Yesterday was pretty much a carbon copy of Monday, except Dotti and I watched a movie last night (it was a really bad SF movie: Red Planet) and I had some popcorn while watching. My points for the day ended up being 29.

When I did my obligatory scale homage this morning it said, "234.5." I hope that it keeps heading in that direction.

On to day 5.

-Al-

239.5/239.5/200/WK-0

Yesterday was a great day! Dot and I turned the computers off and spent some time together. We had a number of things to take care of but after a bumpy start, it was a stress free day and we had a great time doing the things together.

I had a Sub sandwich again, which is Dot's and my favorite form of fast food when we eat on the run, and she cooked a slab of mushroom for me, like I have never seen before, as part of my extremely low point evening meal. It was as big as a large hamburger patty and tasted just like the tiny mushrooms my Mom used to fry up when I was a kid, and which I had loved. Only this one had no oil and no points. Dot and I even stopped and had a 3 point ice cream cone at McDonalds. When the day was done, I was at 26.5 points right at the bottom of my range. I had Dotti check for me, and not only did that total hit my current range, it is right at the top of the range I will be eating for maintenance. I am eating today, as will be eating when I am at my goal weight. And I love the way I am eating now!

When I got up this morning, and did my homage to the scale, it said, "133.0 LBS." [Yes this is a typo, it really said 233. I am leaving it in since it drew some comments below.] As I told Dot, I know most of the 6 pounds is water weight, but it is motivational. And if it later goes up a bit, I will know that it still will be water mostly. (Quick fluctuations are unimportant, only the general trend really matters.) I am not so excited with what the scale is saying, although that is cool, I am very excited that for this many days in a row, my eating has been OP and still fun. Fun is critical to staying with it. What I have seen so far is very exciting because it holds out the hope that I can do this for the rest of my life, which is all that matters on this journey. I have weighed 190 before, but that did not matter, because I went up to 240. I even drove my weight down into the 190s once in 1996 by sheer force of will and effort. But it wasn't fun, and I couldn't maintain it. This is different. I have to pay attention to what I am doing, but I don't have to suffer. I just have to make the right choices. I can at least see the path, now I just have to walk it.

So far the tool that has been the most useful for me is journaling. Having that piece of paper out there reminding me all day of what I have eaten and what I have left to go makes it all pretty easy. And with Dot right there with a quick answer to my questions, the whole thing sort of runs itself. The only question is, why didn't I start this years ago? Or as Tracy says, " A year from now, you'll wish you started today!" Well, I am glad that I have finally started!!!

-Al-

239.5/239.5/200/WK-0

Six days done OP. Mr. Scale said, "232.0" this morning. (Well Jim, after the miraculous loss of 101 pounds yesterday, it appears that 100 of it came back.)

Part of my job is working in a clean room, and one of the things that is not available inside a clean room is a rest room.Another is a water fountain. In most clean rooms you can slip into the changing room and grab some water without taking off your "bunny suit" but a trip to the rest room required "dressing down" and leaving the clean room area completely. The reason I mention this, is that during my work day, I cannot drink much water. Otherwise, staying in the clean room for any length of time would be difficult at best. On workdays, I have to take it easy during the day with the water, so I drink a lot of it in the evening on the way home (I have carried a huge cup of water in my van for years), and when I get home. That is fine until bedtime, but I find myself making some trips at night.

Yesterday, Dotti fixed me up with some fresh strawberries at dinner, and she peeled an orange for me in my lunch. I even ate some Romaine lettuce for a snack during the day, but it is not as good as rhubarb. While I was at work Dotti went shopping and brought home a bunch of rhubarb and I had bit of that last night too. (I still can't get over that being free food.)

I am looking forward to the time in the future when the shine of this journey being something new and "cool," wears off. So far it is like going on a trip to a new place.Everything is shiny and new. Each new sight is something different and I am enthralled by it. Later on, after having lived here for as long as Dotti has, all things about me will become familiar and normal. Two Point Snacks Avenue runs just one block over from 1 Point Treats Street, while Big Mac Freeway leads out of town. OP Hall is located in the city center, right next to the Program Journal building. I am going to like this place, and I think I am going to make it my hometown. The people here are absolutely the best neighbors I have ever had.

-Al-

PS

I know I have been writing like this thread is my private diary, like a kid on Christmas morning running around and telling everyone, "Look what I got for Christmas!" I am excited by the process, as well as the results so far. You can ask Dotti, but as a rule I do not run around "tooting my own horn" and that is not what I am trying to do now. I am just trying to put down what I am going through in hopes that others might find it useful. I know that I have it much easier than what many others face.

Dotti had over 100 pounds to lose when she started her journey. Many others have even more to lose. My body has always responded well to losing weight when I put in the right amount of food. I enjoy sports, so exercise can be a real joy for me. I have the world's greatest lady at my side every day, and she makes things even easier for my weight loss journey with a ton of support. My biggest hurdle was the 3 pack a day smoking habit, that is already behind me. I have all this, and I know that my situation is far less of a challenge than what many others have to face.

I am saying this in order to convey the fact that I do not mean, in any way, to be bragging or elevating my importance. Just like the kid on Christmas, I am just trying to share my joy at what is happening right now this minute in my life. It is the little kid still alive inside me somewhere, breaking out, not an egomaniac invading the thread/topic.

Maybe it was not necessary to say this, but after reading over this thread, I felt I should say it.

-Al-

239.5/239.5/200/WK-0

*** Weigh-in for WEEK 1 ***

Week Completed:	__1__
Weigh-In Weight:	232.0
Body Mass Index:	29.0
Week’s Average Points/Day:	26.4
Pounds lost this week:	7.5
Pounds lost total:	7.5
Pounds to go to 10%:	16.5
Pounds to go to goal:	32.0

___________________________

Well my first week is done and Mr. Scale says that my weight this morning is 232.0 pounds, which means that I lost 7.5 pounds my first week. I will take it!I know most of that was water, and that I have the longest, hardest part of reaching goal ahead of me, but it is really nice having a good first week.

Yesterday, Dotti packed up a lunch for me that was huge. There was a bag of raw spinach leaves, and a bag of lettuce for chewing on in traffic, and for general filler. There was a bag of rhubarb that she had cut down for me into small pieces. There was a peeled orange. There were two turkey sandwiches and a diet soda. Oh yes, and 6 Espresso beans. Well, as it turned out, I got really busy at work, and never got out to my car to have lunch. Since they don’t allow food in the clean room, I went from breakfast to the time I got done with work without eating a thing. So, I grabbed the bag of spinach (why does the tune of Popeye the Sailor Man keep going through my head.) and ate the spinach leaves during the drive home. And I called Dot up on my cell phone, and said, “Don’t make anything else for dinner!”

That left me the whole big lunch to eat for dinner. It took me hours to get through it. I had to format my C: drive and reload Windows on my computer last night (my computer was slowing down to a crawl and my network had gotten messed up and it had dumped my internet access), and while I was waiting for files to copy from the Recovery CD I was reading a book on glaciers, and nibbling on my lunch. It was pretty late in the evening when I finished eating what Dotti had packed for me, and then I topped it off with a Skinny Cow that she had just purchased earlier in the day. Thanks to my job eating my lunch hour, instead of me eating my lunch during it, I ended up below points yesterday. But not a lot (I ate 24 points). I had an extra cup of coffee with Hazelnut creamer and that helped bring the points up.

This has been a fun and educational week for me. I found that I can have a big old 12” sub instead of a teeny, tiny order at McDonalds. Micky D's has a fairly low point ice cream cone, which Dot and I both enjoy as a “treat,” but when I can have a huge ole sub, or a little bitty cheese burger and small order of fries, well as one of my students once told me years ago: “My Mamma raised ugly kids not stupid ones!” I am going for the turkey sub when we are on the road.

I also found that I can eat a great deal of food that is tasty but low in points. I have chosen to eat some lettuce and spinach, because I happen to like lettuce and spinach. I dearly love rhubarb. So, since it is in season, I ate quite a bit of that. But there were a million other good choices I could have made. The beauty of counting points is that it really doesn’t matter too much for weight loss, what you are eating, just how many points you are eating. Of course, if you make certain choices you will not be eating a very large quantity of food for the day, and you may have your stomach knocking on the door of your consciousness and saying, “Hey Buddy, things are a little slow down here. I am beginning to develop an echo, with all this empty space!” But that is okay on occasion if that is what you want. It is always about choices, and you are in control. If, on the other hand, you choose foods that are low in points, you can walk around stuffed to the gills all day and still lose weight.

Dot and I just bought a small freezer and this week we have filled it up. The refrigerator is filled up like it has not been in years. Fresh produce, and frozen vegetables, and yes, Skinny Cows are busting out, and you know what? I was thinking to myself yesterday, as I looked at the icebox, “Why didn’t I do this years ago? I am eating better than ever!” It is true. I have enjoyed eating this week better than any week I can think of for a very long time.

I do remember that when Dotti started Weight Watchers in the early 90’s we started eating much better for several months. She was coming up with all sorts of neat desserts, and main courses. But after a while that sort of went away. When she got off track for her journey back then, our eating just drifted back to where it had been before.

This time Dotti got into a lot of products that I was not all that excited about, and so for the last three years she was eating differently than I was. She lost weight, and I continued to hang around just below 240 pounds. I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about Trader Joe’s and the types of food she purchased there. (Yesterday, one opened up just around the corner from our house. Naturally, Dotti was in line waiting for it to open its doors for the first time.) It opened my eyes this week, as to how important it is to find foods that are good tasting, filling, and yet not loaded (like a gun) with fat and calories. There are so many good things to eat, that the other things can be ignored. And if you ignore them for long enough, you will find that many of them lose their appeal.

An example of that for me is milk. As a child, and well into adulthood, I drank whole milk. I had tried skim milk and powered milk and they were absolutely disgusting. There was no way that I was going to touch skim milk! And then, several years ago, I decided that I wanted to do something health for myself, and Dot agreed. So, we tried 2% milk. After a time we got used it. So, we moved all the way down to fat free, skim milk. Now, after years of drinking skim milk, when I find a glass of whole milk in front of me, I am disgusted by its under taste. I don’t like it at all. My body has been trained to like the healthier skim milk and to dislike the unhealthier whole milk; through an act of will at first, and habit later on. Now it is no longer a choice I have to make. I drink skim milk, because I like skim milk.

Well, I hope to be training my body to develop many similar healthy habits, so I do not have to give much thought to staying OP and keeping my weight where I want it. The journaling is a great tool for doing this. It is like going to school on what nutritional value things have. I see it on the paper: water is zero points, coffee with Hazelnut Creamer is two and a half points. I can have the coffee, but not a lot of it. And the funny thing is that I enjoy the coffee more, because I stop and savor the flavor instead of gulping it down and grabbing another cup. The idea of “free food” is something I just love. Eating something that you enjoy to fill up that hunger feeling, that doesn’t penalize you by adding pounds to your weigh-in, is absolutely wonderful.

Of course Dotti has been wonderful in helping me out. I have it "made in the shade," and I know it. She is a very sharp lady, and now there is yet one more thing to add to the vast array of things that I have collected over the years to love about her. What a gal!

Week one is in the box, and it is time to move on to week two. Wish me luck.

-Al-

239.5/232.0/200/WK-1