Week 105 Update

I got up on Mr. Scale at 04:45 and he said, "181.5 pounds!" The sun was not to come up for nearly an hour, and the temperature was 41°F, with rain in the forecast. All that I was thinking of was that I was happy to be below my target upper limit of 182.0 pounds.

This week was the first one where I felt like I really lost my focus for a few days. Having a high point day on Saturday last week was not out of character, but to follow it up with another was a bit risky. And then as the week progressed, I was creeping up out of my target zone, and it wasn’t until Friday before I really reined myself in. I consider myself lucky to have come in under the limit this week.

I overdid it with some lifting at work one day this week and my back was complaining the rest of the week. (It still is). So, I was taking Advil for Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday, I just bit the bullet and didn’t take any. In the evening I used a heating pad to get through the night. This morning, right after weigh-in, I took some more.

So, all-in-all, I don’t consider this a stellar week for me, but in spite of that, I do consider it a successful one. I am in my target range, and even my average weight is within my target range. I will try in my upcoming week to get my focus back and do better.

For a rundown on my eating this week, after my 181.0 weigh-in on Saturday, I splurged and ate at Red Robin, a calorie jamboree. I had a Monster Shake, along with a burger and fries. This was after having an ice cream cone at Multnomah Falls after we walked to the top. At the end of the day, I had consumed 79.0 points. Sunday morning the scale said that I was down a half pound. I don’t know if that was the Siren’s song or if I was just hungry that day, but I went out to eat again Sunday night and had another "health food" meal like the day before. I didn’t have the shake this time, but I did have some pie, and at the end of the day I had eaten 72.5 points. Monday morning the scale still said 180.5. I did hear the voice of reason over the Siren’s song, at least a bit, as I held my eating down to 48.0 points. On Tuesday the scale jumped up a pound. No doubt it was a delayed reaction from my weekend antics. I reacted correctly and dropped my points to 36.5 for the day, and the scale responded by dropping back to 181.0. However, I was bouncing around near the top of my range. It should have been a time to pull things back into the center, but instead I went out to eat again, and pushed my points up to 51.5. Between that, and the Advil, my weight jumped up to 183.0 pounds on Thursday morning. I was sitting at 36.0 points that evening, and the smart thing to do would have been to stop right there, but I had a 5.5 point snack, and ended up at 41.5 points. That wasn’t high, but it also wasn’t a number that was going to work magic on the scale either, when I was one pound over range. Friday morning arrived, and with my weekly weigh-in only a day away, the scale once again said 183.0 pounds. Finally focus set in. I determined to not take any Advil for my back, and to keep my points low for the day. I managed to do both. For my points, I held them to 33.5 points, and didn’t eat anything after dinner. I drank 24 ounces of water for the evening and that was it. This morning I was rewarded beyond what I deserved by Mr. Scale showing a weight that is back inside my target range.

I don’t know if it was post-conference letdown, or if I am facing a crossroads attitude situation. Whichever it is, I am going to try to focus better this week and avoid the last minute scale adjustments next week.

For exercise this week I didn’t do as well as I would have liked. Thanks to my back I didn’t feel like doing as much as I should have, and I didn’t. However, I did do some, which I was happy for. On Saturday, Dotti, LeRoy and I walked up to the top of Multnomah Falls for the second week in a row! On the way down, as well as most of the way up, I let Dotti lead the way because I felt it was better to let her set a pace that she was comfortable with. As it turned out, her pace on the down slope was quite rapid. In fact she was jogging most of the way down. Since she normally hates to jog, I was happily surprised. We had a nice little run. (Afterwards she said that it was because it hurt her knee less to jog than it did to walk.) I took 7.0 aerobic points for the round trip again. The ascending portion was slower than the week before, but the descending part was much faster. On Sunday I did some weight training with the dumbbell set. No aerobic points. Monday I walked a mile before work in 14:48 and earned 2.62 aerobic points. Tuesday, after walking 2 miles in 26:17 at lunch and earning 6.13 aerobic points, I was very active in the evening installing an air conditioner and building a lawn swing. I didn’t count any additional aerobic points, but I sure slept well that night. Wednesday evening I did another weight training session. Thursday I walked a mile before work again. This time it took me 14:15 and earned 2.21 aerobic points. I was planning on walking again at lunch and working my way into position to get to 30 aerobic points on Friday, but I couldn’t work up the ambition to do so when lunch finally rolled around. My back was aching, and it was raining, and I talked myself right out of it. That in turn impacted Friday. I was in no position to reach 30 anyway, and I ended up not walking at all. I did do a dumbbell workout in the evening though.

For water, I was happy with the amounts that I consumed. My worst day was Saturday, where I only drank 6 cups. I only had one other day in single digits, and that was Thursday, where I had 9. Three of the days I drank 12 cups. For the week I averaged 82.29 oz/day, or 10.29 cups a day.

This week, Tuesday May 12th, I celebrated my second anniversary of the start of my journey. It was funny because it didn’t hit me until later on Tuesday morning that it was my anniversary. I would have thought that I would have keyed in to the fact that 104 weeks, which was my weigh-in last Saturday, is very close to the 104.29 weeks that make up two standard years. But that went right by me. Tuesday morning, when I wrote the date down in my journal, I was struck with the thought that May 12 should be important for some reason, but I was too sleepy to sort out why. In any case, later that morning it came to me what was so special about May 12.

As of this morning, I weigh the same as I did on my anniversary Tuesday morning. That is 58 pounds less than I weighed on May 12, 2001. Today I am worrying about holding my weight to below 182.0, and then I was fighting to hold it below 240. Then I felt like I was fighting a losing battle just to keep my head above water, while today my struggles are minor by comparison. I may lose focus, but I know what I am doing wrong when I do. I know how to adjust my weight, and even more importantly, I know that I can adjust my weight when required. Today, I do have to work on attitude and focus but, other than for brief moments like yesterday, I seldom work on fear, like I did before I started my journey. I was afraid of going over 240 (I still don't know why that was my magic number), and that was my motivation to pull back every time I bumped up against it. It was NOT a positive thing where I was happy with 239.5, and trying to maintain that weight. It was a negative process of just holding on, like a desperate man grasping onto a rock in the middle of river, trying with all of his might not to be swept over the falls.

This is so much better! Today, I like where I am. Things are not perfect, but they are acceptable; they are good. I may be wearing size 36-inch waists on most days, but I like the way I look in them much better than I did in my 44’s. I may not always feel great when I exercise or go up stairs, but I usually do, and I always feel better than I did back then -- even on my best day. I am very happy that I started this journey.

While celebrating this important anniversary, I am at the same time celebrating what I consider my BIG health anniversary this month, as I reach the point of 5 full years since I took my last puff on a cigarette!!! YES!!!! (Over the last 12.5 years, I have now gone smoke free for 10 of them. This time, I am not going to start again after 5 years of quitting!) So, May is a happy month for me!!!

2 years, 5 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/181.5/180±2/BMI:22.69/WK-105
Weight Loss Graph/Year 1 Maint. Graph/Year 2 Maint. Graph/Success Story