Week 118 Update

It was the day that, at noon, would mark the midpoint of the month of August, dark but not terribly cold (64°) at 03:55 when I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "184.0 pounds!"

My weight fluctuated around from 184.0 to 186.0 during the week, back and forth across my target weight, at maximum only one pound above or below. At work I had a busy week, and a couple of days included removing and installing large electric motors that weigh somewhere between 80 and 100 pounds. Fortunately, that did not make my back any worse than it was.

Eating and Weight – On Saturday I weighed in at 184.0, which I was happy with, and it gave me some room to work with. I ate 51.5 points. On Sunday the scale held solid at 184.0. I ate out that night and after all the dust had settled, I ate 60.5 points for the day. On Monday morning I weighed in up a pound at 185.0. So, I held my points to 47.0 for the day. Tuesday morning I was down a half pound at 184.5. I ate 64.5 points, and my weight moved back up to 185.0 on Wednesday. I held my points down to 46.5 but on Thursday morning I woke up weighing 186.0 pounds. My fingers were swollen some and I felt tired. I only ate 43.0 points, and on Friday morning I was back down to 184.5. I ate 40.0 points, holding lower than planned, because we spent our evening out of the house, and by the time we got back it was nearly bedtime. Not much chance to eat.

My average weight came out at 184.71, which is only 0.29 pounds from being right at my target weight. That is less than 2 tenths of a percent off. I certainly can't complain about that. My points per day moved up slightly from 49.64 to 50.43, which means that the total number of points that I ate for the entire week went up from 347.5 to 353. That is only a difference of 5.5 points for the week. It is looking more and more like 50 points is my current maintenance level for 185 pounds.

Physical Therapy – On Monday I had my second Physical Therapy session, but it was the first one where we actually did some exercises. After doing some warm up on a machine that was like a bicycle for your arms (I worked up a pretty good sweat in just 5 minutes), and some stretching on what could have been a torture machine if properly applied, and 3 weight machine exercises for the back area, he put me on a table with an ice pack on my back, over the top of some electrodes. When the electrodes were fired up, my back suddenly felt like something was crawling around inside my skin. I told the physical therapist that I knew what the people must have felt like in the sci-fi movies when they had some creature inside that was trying to get out. It felt weird. He ran it for a few minutes, and when my muscles slowed down a bit, he cranked up the juice. At that point my muscles on the right side felt like they might go into a cramp, but fortunately they didn't. That treatment lasted about 15 minutes I believe.

On Tuesday morning I was in pain as a result. I felt like I had when I had first injured myself. I would have enjoyed having a day off and resting my back, but I made it in to work and the day passed. On Wednesday, my back actually felt better than it had a in a while.

Wednesday I had another session. I did more exercises on the machines, and had another 15-minute session with the electrical muscle stimulator. This time I got to see the readout and he started me out at 13 mA going to 4 electrodes, with the frequency varying by about a hundred hertz. After a few minutes he upped it to 17 mA to keep the muscles jumping.

Thursday morning I woke up with my back feeling pretty good. I ended up having to do some work with some motors that were pretty heavy. I lifted a bit more than I should have, but not a great deal. Fortunately I was able to get some assistance with most of the lifting and my back was happy for that.

On Friday my upper back felt very good when I woke up, but was aching a bit. I felt like my back was showing definite improvement. At least the pain has decreased enough to where it is tolerable, if it doesn't go away completely.

Walking/Exercise – On Saturday, my back was not feeling the best, and we decided not to take a big hike, however I thought I would try to do a couple of miles on the treadmill at the gym. Walking in my sweatpants and tee shirt I found I got fairly tired in the heat, but I stayed with it. On my first mile I used the incline for part of the time, and varied my speeds from 4.0 up to 4.7 to catch my breath and then push it a bit. On the second mile, I was breathing pretty hard from the incline and the heat, so did most of that one around 4.3 mph, with no incline. I walked 2.07 miles in exactly 30 minutes. It came down to 14:29.6 per mile, or 4.14 mph (5.50 aerobic points). Considering how warm it was, and the incline (which at one point I had up to 15) I was quite happy with that.

On Monday, it felt a little cool when I set out on my walk at 07:25. The temperature was around 60°, and it was comfortable. I completed my 2 miles in 27:19. That comes out to 13:39.5 per mile, or 4.39 mph (5.78 aerobic points).

On Tuesday morning, the temperature was down in the 50s and in the shadowed areas it felt cold. It felt nice to warm up a bit whenever I broke out into the sunshine. On the way back I was breathing hard and noticed that I could just see my breath. (August has so far been significantly cooler than July was, which is great with me.) My time on Tuesday was 26:29. That is 13:14.5 per mile, or 4.53 mph. (6.06 aerobic points).

Wednesday morning it was a little warmer, but still cool. I couldn't see my breath, but it was pleasant walking. I did my 2 miles in 26:15, which comes out to 13:07.5 per mile, or 4.57 mph. (6.14 aerobic points.) My first mile took 13:02. So, I was a bit slower on the return trip, but both miles took almost the same amount of time.

Thursday I got a late start for work and I had to stop and get gas on the way in, so I didn't get a walk in during the morning, and the rest of the day was busy. So, I didn't walk at all.

That left me with 23.48 aerobic points at the start of Friday. If I was going to reach 30.0, I had to earn at least 6.52 aerobic points. My best 2-mile walk for the week so far had only earned 6.14 aerobic points, which would leave me a little short. I left a little extra early for work, and walked 3 miles in 41 minutes and 10 seconds. Giving me 9.11 aerobic points for the day, and 32.59 for the week. Mile one I completed in 13:45 (4.36 mph). At the start, the 64° temperature had me feeling a bit warmer than on the other mornings that I walked. A rainstorm had just passed through before I started and the humidity was up as well. I also was planning on doing 3 miles, so I didn't want to push it too hard on the first mile, to save some energy for the extra mile at the end. Mile two I completed at 27:19, or 13:34 (4.42 mph), which was a bit faster. Mile three I did in 13:51 (4.33 mph), for an overall time of 41:10 (average was 13:43 per mile, or 4.37 mph). By the end I was feeling pretty sweaty because of the humidity. Since the temperature was below 70°, it wasn't unbearable, but it wasn't pleasant.

I was happy with the way the walking went for the week. I walked 5 days, and a total of 11 miles and earned 32.59 aerobic points, meeting my goal. We didn't get a major hike in this week, but the week still turned out to be a success in the exercise department.

Water - I didn't do too badly with water this week. For some reason I only got 3 cups in on Saturday, but the rest of the week I got in at least 6 cups per day, and I averaged 59.43 ounces (8.5 cups) per day. That meets my goal of 6 to 8 cups per day.

I was happy with the way this week went, and hope that I can do as well next week.

2 years, 96 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/184.0/180±2/BMI:23.00/WK-118
Weight Loss Graph/Year 1 Maint. Graph/Year 2 Maint. Graph/Success Story