Week 137 Update

I have reached the final weekly update for 2003. It was an interesting year in many ways. I went through some difficulties, as well as some great times. On the downside, I had to deal with some medical issues with my back. On the upside, our son is out of the Navy and back close to home, Dotti has remained smoke free for over one and a half years, and she is on track and OP and moving her weight back down to goal. (Way to go Dotti!!!) We have had some great times with family and friends, and as the old Frank Sinatra Song says, "It was a very good year."

After two years of working my maintenance program I have managed to hold to my original goal of not having any weigh-ins above 190 pounds on any morning weigh-in. I have held all my weekly weigh-ins to being at or below 187.0 for my entire maintenance journey so far. It seems to be working right now, so I am not planning on changing it.

This week was a little different than most, because I had only 3 days at work, and then came Christmas! I got in a day at the gym early in the week, and I earned aerobic points almost every day. Even after a great Christmas Dinner, and still taking some pain medication, my weight came down to my target weight. I feel like things are finally settling back down to "normal" again.

In a few days we will be starting 2004 and I am looking forward to another interesting year. To all who read this I wish you a

A bit of trivia…I started a new pen yesterday. I keep a dedicated ballpoint pen with my journal. I like this particular style of pen because it fits nicely in the binding, is easy on the fingers, writes smoothly and consistently. With a dedicated ballpoint pen always attached, I don't have to go looking for something to write with for the journal. (I found out the hard way years ago on another book I was keeping info in that if you try and use gel pens for something permanent, and you accidentally spill anything liquid across the writing, the gel will smear completely, leaving you with nothing intelligible on your page. So my entire journal has been done in ball point pen.) I am on my 6th journal, and I just started my third pen, after using two others up completely. Perhaps a silly landmark, but I couldn't help but note it. I had been writing with that same pen for quite some time. Fortunately, I had another just like it, so it will be a while before I have to find another replacement.

Eating and Weight – Last Saturday I weighed 185.5. Dotti and I went to the gym and we got in a good workout. This week we watched a number of Christmas movies, and we started out on Saturday with White Christmas. With the movie and other snacking I ended up eating 43.5 points. Sunday I weighed 185.5. We watched a couple of movies including The Bishop's Wife and I had 40.0 points. Monday I woke up weighing 187.0 pounds. Maybe the popcorn hit me with some sodium. The gain certainly wasn't from overeating. I ate 43.0 points, and on Tuesday I was up to 187.5. I then ate 48.5 points and on Wednesday, my last workday this week, I weighed 186.5. I felt fairly confident with how I had been eating so I enjoyed myself and had 54.0 points. I woke up on Christmas morning with my weight down another half-pound at 186.0 (Merry Christmas!), and with a fun day scheduled. After my morning walk, Dotti and I went over to LeRoy's apartment and we spent the day with him. The fire was cheery in the fireplace, and we watched three Christmas movies. Even with the wonderful steak dinner that Dotti cooked for us, and the movie snacking, I only ate 43.5 points for the day. On Friday my weight fell back down to 185.0. After Dotti and I took a walk (to, through, and back from a Target store), we went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. At day's end yesterday, I had eaten 38.0 points. And that brought me to 185.0 this morning.

Exercise – I started early this week, by getting to the gym on Saturday! Dotti had scheduled a workout with her trainer that morning, so it was a great opportunity for me to make it to the gym too. (I got to meet Dotti's trainer, and she seems like a very nice lady!) While Dotti did her half hour or so of cardio, and then did her workout, I walked on the treadmill the entire time.

I started off knowing that I was going to have a long walk in front of me. So, I didn't push too hard at first. I figured it would be at least 5 miles long, and maybe more. I hoped for 6 miles if I had the time. It really depended on how long Dotti was going to be exercising on her cardio workout, and then with her trainer. My first mile took 13:01 (4.6 mph). After I got up to speed, I cycled between 4.3 and 5.0 mph. I would move the speed up, and then back down, searching for my comfort zone. My second mile I spent more time up around 5.0 mph than I had during mile one. It took me 12:25 (4.8 mph) to complete that mile. Mile 3 I started to tire a bit, and although I made it up to 5.0 and even 5.2 mph, I had to pull back to 4.6 for a time. It took me 12:54 (4.6 mph) to complete that mile.

As I crossed the 3.1 mile point (the equivalent of a 5K walk), I noted that the time was 39:32. For the 5K, that gave me an average time of 12:45 per mile, and an average speed of 4.7 mph.

On mile 4 I was going along very well. I completed it in 12:15 (4.9 mph). Mile 4 was my best mile, and it was unfortunate that the treadmill has a built in timer to quit somewhere around the 1 hour point. I completed mile four in 50:35. At that point I stopped the machine, reset it, and then got it back up to speed as quickly as I could. I did this, even though I had been cruising at 5.0 mph, to avoid getting caught with the machine shutting down on me unexpectedly. Unfortunately, my body didn't care for the abrupt change in speed and my back complained. I never did quite get my stride back after that to where it was when I ended mile 4.

Mile 5 took me 13:08 to complete, for a speed of 4.5 mph. I spent some time at 4.3 and then slowly worked it back up. Mile six took 12:46 (4.7 mph), so I had gotten some of my speed back. The entire 6-mile walk took me 1:16:29. I averaged 12:44 / mile (4.71 mph). I earned 21.24 aerobic points for that effort, which left me only 8.76 more to get. To get to 10 miles for the week, of course I only had to do 4 more miles.

If I had been thinking about it, I would have gone the other 0.2 mile at the end and completed a 10K walk. If I had of, it would have taken me 1:19:09 to complete at the speed I averaged for the rest of the walk. Oh well, next time I'll remember, but after walking 6 miles in 1 hour 16 minutes and 29 seconds I was tired!

Monday I got to work early enough for a walk. It was a bit of an adventure because the ground was damp, and there were even some puddles here and there on the path. That, and the fact that the temperature was just below freezing, is what created the adventure. I crossed a wooden bridge that was covered with a thin layer of ice, and it made it a bit tricky getting across it. On the way out, the sun was not giving much light, having not completely risen yet. There was just a predawn glow to light the ground. On the way back it was brighter and much easier to spot the potentially frozen areas. Even though I slowed my pace a bit because of the "road conditions" I still completed each mile in less than 14 minutes. Mile 1 was 13:44 (4.36 mph) and mile 2 was 13:47 (4.35 mph). I completed 2 miles in 27:31 for 5.71 aerobic points, bringing my week's total to 26.95, just about 3 points from my goal for the week. At lunch I read my book and didn't get in a walk.

Tuesday the temperature was probably not quite as low, but the wind was stronger, and I had to pull my hood up over my knit cap to stay warm on the first mile. The ground was dry, and so I did not have to worry about slipping. Even so my time on the first mile was slower than the time I had on the day before. I made up for it on the second mile, and my overall time was faster than on Monday. Mile one: 13:50 (4.33 mph). Mile two: 13:40 (4.39 mph). Overall: 27:30 (average: 13:45 min/mile or 4.36 mph). The walk was good for 5.72 aerobic points, which brought my weekly total up to 32.67, exceeding my goal for the week.

Wednesday I didn't get a walk in, but on Christmas Day, I took a 2-mile walk from home. Dotti was still sleeping and I decided to walk the mile to Target and then back again. It was around 07:30, the rain was lightly falling, and I didn't see many people on my walk. There was a man and his dog walking just around the corner from our house, but other than that, I didn't see any other pedestrians. There were not very many cars on the road either. I completed the first mile in 13:48 (4.34 mph). The parking lot, for the entire strip mall where Target is located, was empty. I turned around, and on the way back the town almost looked like it was a ghost town. There were signs lighted, and some were even flashing, but no one was in most of the businesses. A Union 76 station was open, and there was a lady watching the counter there. I felt sorry for her, having to work on Christmas, and I hoped that I wouldn't have to, being on call myself. I did the second mile in 13:54 (4.31 mph). My total time for the 2 miles was 27:42 and I earned 5.66 aerobic points, bringing my total for the week up to 38.33.

Friday Dotti and I took a walk to Target, but this time it was open, and we walked around, and did some shopping, when we got there. The weather was overcast but not raining, and the temperature was in the 30s. We completed the one-mile walk to the store in 17:06 (3.51 mph), earning 1.50 aerobic points. The walk back we did in 16:58 (3.53 mph), and was good for another 1.53 aerobic points. That brought my total for the day to 3.03 aerobic points, and for the week, I reached 41.36 and walked 14 miles.

Water – For water this week I drank at least 6 cups every day. I averaged 58.29 ounces (7.3 cups) per day, which is in my target goal of 6 to 8 cups per day.

Week's Evaluation – I am very happy with how this week went. My weekly weigh in was right where I wanted it to be. All but one of my daily weigh-ins were inside my target range, and the one that was out, was only out by half of a pound. My average weight for the week was 186.14 pounds, well within my target range. I exceeded my exercise goal by 11 aerobic points, and got in 14 miles of walking. I drank plenty of water. Overall, I consider this week to be a success!

Next week I hope to do as well, and maybe even better on the exercise. I don't have to be back to work until January 6, and so I will have some opportunity to get some walking in. We are visiting with my Mom for part of that time, and she has a treadmill, as well as a lot of area for hiking, so exercise should be no problem there.

2 years, 229 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/185.0/180±2/BMI:23.12/WK-137
GRAPHS: Weight Loss/Year 1 Maint./Year 2 Maint./Year 3 Maint.
                 Success Story