Week 127 Update

I woke up at 04:00 and stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "185.0 pounds!"

Not only did I land on my target weight for my weigh-in, but my weight for the week averaged 185.0 pounds too. However, my daily weights went from 183.0 to 186.5, which is nearly through my entire target range. For points-per-day this week, I averaged 53.86.

Over the 889 completed days of my journey, my average points per day has climbed up to 40.1. It broke over into the 40s on October 11, 2003. My average weight for my entire journey now is exactly 190.0 pounds! I rolled that average down to that point on October 10, 2003. So now, my average weight, including the weight loss phase of my journey, has come down to my personal goal of 190.0 pounds.

These numbers are important because they are showing a longer range trend, a stabilizing of my weight and my eating over time. I brought my average weight for my journey down to 200.0 on March 29, 2002. That weight was my "official goal" weight, because it was the top of the WW range for my height, and it is the dividing line between "overweight" and "normal" for me on the BMI scale. It took a year and nearly 7 months to bring that average down 10 more pounds, to reach my personal goal weight. But it finally did come down!

On Thursday I started a new Journal Book. I had filled up my Book 5 Journal on Wednesday, and so Book 6 was started the next day, which was my eight hundred and eighty-eighth day of my journey.

(click on image for larger view)

These books represent a very big change in my life, yet the change registered on each page as the days ticked off, was quite small. One day looked pretty much like the one before it. It was only the accumulation of many days of consistent living that actually made the change in my life. It wasn't quick, and it will never be over. As long as a river exists, it must continue to flow: it is never static. So it is with a weight control journey. It is impossible to freeze it permanently into a final form. It must move, and evolve. Our job is to point that motion in the right general direction, honing that process ever closer to our ideal, continually working for improvement (the possible), not perfection (the impossible).

This week was an interesting one. The WOW group planned a get together in Vancouver this past weekend, and invited Dotti and I to attend. We were on the go from Thursday night until Monday night, with less time for sleep than we normally would get. I was the earliest one to bed, but I was also the first one up, so it all balanced out in the end I think. In any case, I was plenty tired for the rest of the week trying to catch up. This morning I woke up at 04:00, which is the first day since last week that I woke up at that time. Yesterday I woke up just before 04:30, before the alarm went off. Up until yesterday, I woke up to the alarm going off each morning. So, I am finally catching up on my sleep.

Eating and Weight – I started off the week at 183.5 pounds. On Saturday, I ate 63.5 points. In the morning I had a 30.5 point breakfast at Sharis Restaurant. Actually it was 28.5 points, but I had 2 points worth of coffee before we went and I included that in my breakfast points. Then at lunch, after our hike, I had a cheeseburger, fries, and ice cream cone at McDonald's, for another 17.0 points. I had a few snacks to fill in the rest. Since the "lunch" was so late in the day, I did not have another meal. On Sunday, the scale had actually dropped a half-pound. Before the hike, I had a breakfast cookie some coffee and a Dr. Phil bar that Tom gave to me. It came to 17.5 points all told. We did the hike, and then I had a 9.0 point lunch. That evening we went to Newport Bay Restaurant, and I had a large meal, and topped it off with a large dessert. The meal came to 47.0 points and the day came to 77.5 points. The next step was to see what Mr. Scale would have to say about it. The formula was complex with all the exercise and eating jumbled up, but he worked the equation out with no problem and said, "183.5 pounds" on Monday. From past experience, I knew that a drop or maintain after a big day of eating would often be followed by an increase a day or two later on the scale. So, I held my points down to 49.0 on Monday. Tuesday the scale moved up to 185.0. I had to eat out for lunch on Tuesday (our groceries were getting a bit low after the long weekend of fun) rather than eating my normal take-along lunch. I ended up eating 66.5 on that day, and the scale moved up to 186.5 for the last entry in my Book 5 journal. I moved my points down to 45.0. On Thursday the scale moved down to 186.0. I held my points down to 37.5 and on Friday the scale held steady at 186.0. I ate 38.0 points yesterday and today the scale moved back down to my target weight of 185.0.

Exercise - Last Friday I went to the gym in the morning and then we went bowling in the afternoon. (I didn't do too badly after not bowling much for the last couple of years. I beat Dotti 2 out of 3 games, and had a game in the 220s for the last one, after she snuck by me in game 2. ) I had two (lite) beers during bowling, which I believe were the first ones I have had since I started my journey. It was a lot of fun and my weigh-in was low on the following day, which is a good thing when an unusual weekend awaited me. It allows more wiggle room.

On Saturday the group all piled into two cars and we drove down to Silver Falls. The road was curvy and the drive was not pleasant for all, due to some motion sickness for one member of the party, however after that settled down, we all headed out on the short loop for the falls, and I believe a good time was had by all! The loop included 7 of the ten falls, and we got to finally see Winter Falls, which Dotti and I missed the last time we did that hike. (Later Dotti, Tom, Rip and I stopped at a turn out and were able to view an 8th falls, the North Falls from the parking lot.) During the hike, the group tended to separate into two groups. I was with the front group and as we were approaching the end I stopped and went back to check on the second group. However, there was nothing to worry about. They were about a half-mile behind and coming along nicely. It was a fun and scenic hike at a nice comfortable pace.

On Sunday, the guys headed out on another hike, while the ladies hit the shopping mall. We did the Wahkeena Falls – Multnomah Falls loop, which has a sixteen hundred feet elevation change, and is about 5.5 miles long. Tom took the lead on the way up and kept us all moving along at a rapid pace. I was breathing hard by the time we reached the top. However, on the way down my lungs and heart caught up and I felt really good. We kept up a good pace to the bottom and completed the entire walk in two hours and forty-five minutes.

Unfortunately, for the rest of the week, all that walking for 3 days in a row made my left knee start to ache and it continued right on through the week. I didn't get in any additional walking or gym visits for the rest of the week. I did have some busy days at work, where I was on my feet all day, and on Friday I had to move a couple of those large monitors, like the one that hurt my back in May. So, I was not sedentary for the rest of the week, but my exercise was not what I have been used to the last few weeks.

Water – This week was not too bad for water consumption. My average daily water consumption for the week was 52.57 oz (6.67 cups), and that is within my goal range for water. I had one low day, which was Monday where I only got in 4 cups but the rest of the week was okay.

So, for the week, I was very happy with how my weight went. I got in some very good exercise, but I did not get in my 3 gym visits, nor my 30 aerobic points. I did hit my target for water consumption for the week. Overall, I am quite happy with the week, and I hope that I can improve in the exercise area this upcoming week.

2 years, 159 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/185.0/180±2/BMI:23.12/WK-127
Weight Loss Graph/Year 1 Maint. Graph/Year 2 Maint. Graph/Success Story