Mr. Scale said, “214.5” again this morning. I was happy to see that he hadn’t jumped back up. I can feel 210 just a little ways off, and I am beginning to get anxious to get to it. However, it does feel good to be in the 2-teens and I am very happy to be here rather than fighting with 240 every day!

Yesterday, we needed to make another run to the Jantzen Beach shopping area, and so we thought we would give McDonalds another try. They had already given us a our big cones, this time they would get back to normal. At least that is what we thought. When the smiling girl handed us our cones, they were huge again. Not quite as bad as Friday night. These ones were only 4.5 points in size rather than 5. She had not made them quite as tall, but they were fatter, and she had only used a little less ice cream to make them than the guy had used the night before. I remember when we used to complain because we didn’t get enough ice cream in our cones. Now that we are on our journeys, we complain because they give us too much.

We also stopped at Barnes and Noble, and while there we had a Starbuck’s White Chocolate Mocha tall (6.0 points). That added up to 10.5 points just for snacks for the shopping trip.

I spent most of yesterday working on my computer and our home computer network. I wasn’t sitting all day, but I didn’t get a lot of exercise either. The evening got passed me pretty quick and before I knew it, it was time for bed, leaving my points rather low for the day.

Yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5pts), then we went shopping and had our cones (4.5pts) and mochas (6.0pts), bringing me up to 15.5 points. Dotti made up two tomato sandwiches (1.0pt) and managed to keep my points down to 16.5 after lunch. I was all set for the evening with some points to spare. For dinner she made up some hashbrown potatoes (2.0pts), an egg beater cheese omelet (2.0pts) and two pieces of toast (1.0pt). After the 5 point dinner I was sitting at 21.5 points for the day. I started drinking some water and before I knew it, it was time for bed. I ended up the day low on points at 21.5.

For water, I drank 12 cups, or 96 ounces (6 pounds) during the day.

It is 53 degrees right now (6:30 AM) and the high today is supposed to reach 70 degrees. A couple of years ago, I graphed the daily temps for this area for the year 1995, to use for an indicator of what to expect for summer temps (during this time of year, I usually put it up as the wall paper for my laptop, so I can see it everyday). Last summer it was often a better indicator of what the temp for the day was going to be than what the weather forecast projected. But this summer it has been useless in that regard. In 1995 we had already had a day over 100 degrees, and nearly every day in July reached over 80 degrees. This summer has so far been much cooler, and I like it!

Lastly, a friend of mine from high school, whom I have not see face to face in over 31 years, and whom I just recently got in contact with, sent me a link which I think is just awesome. It is a picture from space of the entire earth at night (obviously pieced together from more than one shot). It is extremely high quality, and is probably the best indicator that I have ever seen for how far developed each part of the world is. The east coast of the US and the entire nation of Japan are lit up like Christmas trees. Europe is also pretty well lighted. The detail of the picture is pretty impressive. I have not yet tired of studying that picture, and it has replaced my temp graph for my wall paper on my lap top. What can you see on earth from out in space? Quite a lot it appears.

71 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/214.5/200/BMI:26.9/WK-10/Weight Loss Graph

This morning I got up on the scale at 5:55 AM and he said, “214.5.” There must be something that he likes about that number.

Yesterday was a stay at home day, and so there was not much exercise. I was working on my computer most of the day. We took time out at dinner time to watch a very good 1-hour show on the Travel Channel on “The Fury of Mt. Saint Helens.” It had a great deal of info on the eruptions, including a lot of interviews with those who made it out alive after they were hit with some of the blast. After our trip up there a few weeks ago, it made it especially interesting to us.

As for eating yesterday, I had two cups of coffee (2pts) and a chocolate WW smoothie (3pts) that Dotti made. So, it worked out to 5.0 points for breakfast, just like usual. For lunch, I had 3 tomato sandwiches (2.0pts) and a plum (1.0pt), for a 3 point lunch. At dinner I had 2 tostados (5.5pts) and a 2 point Orange soda and ice cream shake (2pts), for a total of 7.5 dinner points. So, for meals, I had a total of 15.5 points. For snacks during the day, I attacked the standard meringues and ended up eating 10 of them (4.0pts). I had a bag of Jolly Time 98% Fat Free popcorn (2.0pts) and a Mr. Cookie Face (3pts) during the afternoon, and then I split another Mr. Cookie Face (1.5pts) with Dotti in the evening. That came to 10.5 snack points, and brought my total for the day to 26.0 points. It was not one of my better days for nutrition (no lettuce or cucumbers and a lot of sweet snacks) but it was in my points range and so I will take it and move on.

Last week, on Thursday, I had to do a lot of getting down on the floor and then getting back up, as I was doing some alignments on a wafer handling system on one of our machines. It showed me two things. First of all, the space I had to get down into is not very spacious, and so I really noticed that I am thinner today than I was the last time I did the same thing. I had a little more space and my stomach did not push against my legs as much, when I got jammed in, like it used to. That was the good thing. The bad thing was that I am out of shape. The getting up and down as many times as I had to during that afternoon, left my legs very sore for the next several days. I felt like I had done about 50 squats or so, after not having done any for a long time. The muscles on my upper thighs, on the front of my legs, were aching for several days, and for the first couple of days my whole body was aching. It only stands to reason that the day I decide to go out for a walk at lunch would be the day that something like that came up in the afternoon. Anyway, what it told me was that I need to start getting some exercise. Now, if I can just get myself to listen.

Well, it is the start of another work week. Sometimes I joke that a job is like a customer: The only thing worse than having one, is not having one. At least I like what I am doing (most of the time) with my job, and so that makes it much better. Also, I work with a pretty good group of guys (mostly ex-Navy like me).

72 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/214.5/200/BMI:26.9/WK-10/Weight Loss Graph

Points vs Weight Loss Graph

I am not sure what to make of this graph. My points started out a bit higher than my overall average of 25.2 points per day, and my weight loss was moving along very consistently. About the 9th of June, I started bouncing around in the points that I was eating, but my overall weight loss trend did not change too much at that point. I was at about 218 pounds then. Then about June 13 I started a period of time when I held my points below my average points for 16 days (with one exception about the 23 rd). On the 29 th that approach appeared to have had little or no effect on my overall trend. I moved my points back up a bit where I was staying above average on most days, but my weigh loss started to level off. Looking at this chart, it does not lead me to believe that eating low or high in the range has any immediate effect on my weight loss. Since I am eating pretty much in the same range that my goal weight area falls in, I expect that as I get closer to that weight, my eating will match my weight more, and therefore my loss will taper off, until I actually reach my goal, and I then will remain there.

Looking at the 5 days at the end of this graph, it definitely appears that a leveling off change has come, that was not present anywhere else on the graph. I may have reached a point where I am going to have to start exercising regularly in order to continue to lose at a pace similar to what the rest of my graph indicates. It could be that this leveling off is just what I need to get me motivated. We will see.

-Al-

239.5/214.5/200/BMI:26.9/WK-10/Weight Loss Graph

Mr. Scale said, “214.0” this morning. It was nice to see a new and lower number. I had been 214.5 for three days in a row, and then I was 215.5 four days ago, and back to 214.5 the day before that. So, for 5 days I had pretty much been locked in at 214.5. Change is not always good, but in this case, it is certainly welcome.

It is hard to believe that July is three quarters finished already. Summer is more than one-third gone, and 56% of the year 2001 is gone. Time is flying.

Yesterday I was a bit more active at work. I spent most of the day working with a machine, but it was not physically demanding work, like last Thursday was. So, I spent more time on my feet, but I didn’t strain my muscles at all. That is the problem with high-tech work, it is often sedentary. When you are dealing with software, and electronics, mostly it requires using your mind, and not so much your back, and therfore it leaves your body to vegetate during the work day.

For my eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5pts), Standard Lunch (6.0 pt. -- no fruit this time). For dinner, we had 2 tostados (5.5) and a Orange-Vanilla smoothie (2.0pts). So for my meals, I ate 18.5 points. I had one cup of coffee (1pt) at work, and when I got home I had the following snacks: 2 lemon meringues (1pt) that Dotti had picked up earlier in the day at Trader Joes (they tasted just like lemon meringue pie), another cup of coffee (1pt) and a Mr. Cookie Face (3pts). That brought my total snacks up to 6.0 points and my points for the day ended up at 24.5.

For water, I drank 4 cups in the morning before work, and then 4 cups late in the evening for a total of 8 cups, or 64 ounces. I don’t seem to get as much water down on work days.

Overall, I consider yesterday a success. I stayed within my points, and I drank my 8 cups of water. I even took my vitamins, which I have been doing fairly consistently these days.

73 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/214.5/200/BMI:26.9/WK-10/Weight Loss Graph

I got up on Mr. Scale this morning and he said, “213.0 pounds.” I said, “Yes!!!”

I was hoping for something good this morning, because when I went to bed last night, I only weighed 215.0, and usually my evening weight is 218 or 219. I would not be surprised if it jumps back up tomorrow, but I sure enjoyed seeing it today.

Yesterday I was a little more active. The site I was at has some nice long stairs and I was up and down them several times during the day, and I took a two-mile walk during the day too. There is a really nice park near this customer’s site, with miles of asphalt trails interlaced across beautiful lawns, man-made lakes, waterfalls, streams and gushing fountains. The ducks and geese were out, as well as a fairly hot sun. I was happy to find the shady parts of the path when I came to them, but I was walking fast, and didn’t get to appreciate them for long. I kept up a fast pace for 32 minutes, which I know is at least 2 miles and then slowed down into a cool-down pace to finish off the walk. Then I got to go up the stairs ( 2-stories), which I scooted up quickly. I felt pretty good afterwards, but I was half expecting to have one of my machines go down and end up crawling into the front end of it again, like I did last Thursday. Fortunately, that did not happen.

When I got home last night, Dotti had been playing a game called Snood, and she let me “try it.” The next thing I know the evening was shot and its time for bed. That game is addicting.

For eating, I was low on my points. My breakfast (5.0pts) and lunch (6pts) were Standard except for the fact that I didn’t have any fruit again for lunch. For dinner, Dotti fixed us some French toast (4.0pts) and a WW Smoothie shake (3.0pts). That brought my meal total up to 18.0 points for the day. For snacks, I had two cups of coffee (2.0pts) at work, and 2 lemon meringues (1pt) when I got home. That brought my total to 21.0 points for the day. All at once I realized that it was after 10:00 PM and I don’t like to eat that late, and so I didn’t.

For water I drank 4 cups in the morning before work, and then at work I filled up my coffee cup (which is at least 8 ounces) with water three times and drank it. So, I had drunk at least 7 cups by the time I got home. Then I didn’t drink anymore until bedtime when I realized I was sitting at 7 cups. So I drank one more cup of water to bring my total to 8 (64 ounces) for the day. I like to make sure that I get in at least 8 cups a day.

My points were a bit low yesterday, but other that that, I felt it was a pretty good day. Here it is Wednesday already, and with it comes another opportunity for success. I have already drunk 6 cups of water this morning, so I hopefully will get down a bit more water today than I did yesterday. I can feel my muscles just a bit from the walk, but I am not really sore like I was last week. I hope I can start fitting in a walk on a more or less daily basis. I really enjoy walking, and it is mostly just a matter of breaking free from whatever I am doing and just doing it.

74 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/214.5/200/BMI:26.9/WK-10/Weight Loss Graph

Mr. Scale said, “213.0 pounds.” I even caught him a bit early, at 5:20 AM, but he still wasn't in a bad mood.

I liked what the scale said yesterday morning so much that it inspired me to go out and walk another 2 miles at lunch. I kept up a pretty good pace all the way, and I was tired by the time I came up the last hill on the path into the parking lot, heading out of the park. My legs are a bit sore this morning. When I first began my walk, my legs were a little sore, but I started out a bit slower to warm them up. Then when I moved up to my walking pace they didn’t feel sore at all. I think I will be taking it a bit easier today, and let things heal up for tomorrow. If I walk today, it will probably be a slow walk. That park is beautiful and a great place to walk peacefully at a leisurely pace, or to scoot along in a hurry. There are a usually a number of joggers out when I walk there.

I was in the fab for most of the morning, and I was doing some climbing around in the machine. The inside ceiling of the machine is 9 or 10 feet high, and I had to get at some electronics that was up near the ceiling. So my tired legs were holding me perched on a metal support rail, returning an electronic chassis we had repaired to its proper place and playing around with fiber optic cables and Winchester connectors.

Time always passes very quickly once I start working on the implanter. On occasion, I have worked all night on the things, and it seems like even that time goes by quickly, even though I always feel dead in the morning when I am finished. By the afternoon, the machine was up and back in production, and things were quiet with not much to do.

The temperature has finally gotten back to normal for us for summer. We had a break for a month, with very low temperatures, but yesterday we were up in the mid 80s which is normal for us. My 24 ounce mug that I keep filled with water in my van was filled with hot water by the time I came out for lunch, and after my 2 mile walk, it was not quite what I would have liked to have. Fortunately my cooler was still fairly cool and my diet soda was nice and frosty still. MMMM, that tasted good. I took my mug inside with me, which I don’t normally do, and filled it up with nice cold water, drank it down during the afternoon and filled it back up again for my drive home.

For my water, I ended up doing much better. I drank a total of 20 cups, or 160 ounces (10 pounds). I really needed it yesterday after walking around in the hot sun. Having the cool water to drink on the way home was nice, but after being stuck in traffic for over an hour, I was ready for the rest room in a serious way by the time I got home.

For my eating, I had my Standard Breakfast (5pts), Standard Lunch (7.0pt.). (The last couple of days I have even had some rhubarb in addition to my Romaine lettuce during the drive home from work. I found some really great rhubarb at a Safeway one day at lunch and picked it up. We went through a spell where there was no good rhubarb to be had anywhere, but things are looking up!) Due to some interesting circumstances last night, I ended up eating another bowl of cereal for dinner. I had 2 cups of cereal (4pts) and one cup of skim milk (2.0pts) for a 6 point meal. So, for my meals I had a total of 18.0 points. For snacks yesterday I had 2 cups of coffee (2pts), a Mr. Cookie Face ice cream sandwich (3pts), and then, since I was low on my points the day before yesterday, I wanted to get my points up a bit for the day, so I had 5 Keedem Cookies (1pt), and a Luna Bar (3.5pts). That brought my snack total up to 9.5 points, and my daily total ended up as 27.5 points. For yesterday and today combined, I averaged 24.5 points which is not too bad.

I kept my food inside my points range. I walked a fast 2 miles, and I drank a lot of water. Yesterday was a pretty good day! Even the scale is looking pretty good.

Yesterday is passed, and now it’s time a new today. Thursday here I come.

75 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/214.5/200/BMI:26.9/WK-10/Weight Loss Graph

Mr. Scale was not speaking to me this morning. Or at least if he had any manners that is what he would have been doing. I was always taught that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. But instead of showing manners, he said, “215.5 pounds.”

Yesterday was a study in what not to do, if you expect to have a good weigh-in in the morning. After breakfast, I was on my feet nearly the whole day at work. On top of that, I had to work an extra hour last night which pushed my evening back some. Because I was so busy at work, I was not able to eat my lunch until about 2:00 PM. I also did not want to take up any extra time, and so I did not eat all of my lunch even then.

When I finally was able to get away from work, and I called Dot to let her know I was coming home, she reminded me that she had a bowling meeting at 7:00 PM, and so I was not going to see her when I first got home. She made me up some tomato sandwiches and headed off for her meeting. When I got home, I still had my espresso beans and Jell-O left from my lunch, and so I ate them along with the sandwiches, sometime after 7:00 PM. All day long I felt like I was coming down with a cold, and so I took some cough drops for my sore throat. I had some snacks and finally when Dot got home around 9:00 PM we sat down and watched an old Bonanza show that we have on DVD, eating a bag of popcorn, and drinking a smoothie shake. So, I didn’t finish eating until about 10:00 PM, I ate a fair amount of salt that was in the popcorn, and then about 11:30 PM I woke up and realized that I had only drunk 4 cups of water for the day, and so I chugged down 4 more cups right then. This morning the scale is beating me up, I feel like death warmed over because of the cold I seem to be getting, and I have at long day ahead of me to look forward to.

When I first started this journey, I could skip a lunch and not really even notice it. Yesterday, I was getting downright hungry as 12 noon, and 1 PM started rolling by. I guess I am carrying around fewer reserves these days.

OK, now for my eating rundown for yesterday. I had my Standard Breakfast (5pts), Standard Lunch (7.0pt.), even though it was spread out over 5 hours of eating time. For dinner, I had 3 tomato sandwiches (2pts), and then when Dotti got home I had a Smoothie shake (2pts). That came to a total of 16.0 meal points. For snacks, I had my “morning” cup of coffee (1pt) at work, at about 2:30 PM, and believe me, I missed it all morning long. In the evening, my late snacks included 2 lemon meringues (1pt), a Mr. Cookie Face ice cream sandwich (3 pts), 1.5 cough drops (0.5 pts - they are 15 calories each, but I spit out the second one, long before it was half gone), and a bag of Jolly Time Healty Pop popcorn (2pts). That came to a total of 7.5 snack points, and my total points for the day was 23.5 points. (Due to a miscalculation last night, I thought I was sitting at 25.0 points then. It was just this morning that I realized my error and corrected my total.)

So, I had an active day, up and around all day long, with very little sitting. I ate well below my upper limit for points, and in the end I drank a total of 8 cups of water, even though I had the last 4 cups nearly at midnight. Just looking at that, it sounds like it was a pretty good day. Looking at the scale in the morning, it was pretty bad. Fortunately, I know which is more important, and so I consider yesterday a complete success and am happy to add it to the rest of my journey. However, today is going to be a different day. I am not going to eat late, or eat salty food, and my water is all going to be consumed early. If I have another long, or perhaps even longer work day today, I will have to take some breaks along the way and get my meals and water in, that are important for me to get in. Hopefully the scale will then snap back into place tomorrow morning for my official weigh-in.

I am tired, achy and my throat is sore this morning. I hate starting out a day feeling like this, but what are you going to do? Life’s a b..., basket of variety, including the bitter and the sweet. You just can’t have one without the other.

Off to face Friday.

76 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/214.5/200/BMI:26.9/WK-10/Weight Loss Graph

*** Weigh-in for WEEK 11 ***

Week Completed:	__11__
Weigh-In Weight:	214.0
Body Mass Index:	26.8
Week’s Average Points/Day:	23.5
Pounds lost this week:	0.5
Pounds lost total:	25.5
Pounds to go to 10%:	0.0*
Pounds to go to goal:	14.0
* Made 10% at 215.5 pounds

___________________________

Mr. Scale said, “214.0 pounds” this morning at 6:30 AM. He said the same thing at 7:00 AM, and so I guess he means it.

I didn’t quite recover from the mess on Thursday, when my weight jumped up to 215.5 after being two days at 213.0. But I will settle for a half pound loss again this week, and hope that I will pick back up where I left off on Thursday morning in a couple of days. And the thing I have to keep in mind, is any week that has a lower number at the end of it than what it had at the beginning, is a week that goes in the “loss” column, and on this journey, a loss is a win!

Yesterday turned out pretty well. I was not feeling too good for most of the day, but fortunately things were quiet at work up until 4:00 PM. Then some things came up and I ended up working a little late. I still made it home, and had dinner before 7:00 PM. I finished up my snacks before 8:00 PM and I finished my water by 9:00 PM.

Besides the Hi-Energy Pak vitamins that I normally take, I also took a couple of vitamin C tables yesterday to see if would help me shake this cold. I also drank 20 cups of water. I had 6 cups before leaving for work (and I prayed that I wouldn’t get stuck in traffic. ) At work, I drank 6 more cups and then I drank the rest in the evening last night.

For my meals, I ate my Standard Breakfast (5pts), Standard Lunch (6pts - the plum in my lunch somehow got squashed and so I didn’t eat it), and when I got home I found that Dotti had made up a new recipe: a bread pizza that was very tasty, and for four slices it was only 3.5 points. So, for meals, I had a total of 14.5 points. For snacks I had a cup of coffee at work (1pt), a Mr. Cookie Face (3.0) and a fresh peach (1pt) after dinner. That made 5.0 points for snacks, and 19.5 points for the day. A bit low.

77 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

PS

Dotti and I just got back from an hour’s worth of racquetball, which we decided to do, even though both of us are a little bit under the weather.

She came out like a tigress during the first two games. The first game I just barely was able to pull out, but the second game she got to 15 first! (She starts out with a 10 point head start to make the games interesting.) I love it when she plays like that, because it is a fun challenge and gives me a great workout. After that I was good and warmed up and things settled back to normal, but by the end of the hour, we both were tired, and had a worked up a good sweat.

Well we are off to meet with the Vancouver/Portland Zonies for lunch. We are looking forward to it!

-Al-

239.5/214.0/200/BMI:26.8/WK-11/Weight Loss Graph