Week 139 Update

It was 05:30, dark, and the temperature was 36º outside, when I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "187.0 pounds!"

What a week! During the previous week we had some snow to deal with, but it was nothing when compared with this week. (If I can say that again next week, I believe that it will only be because another ice age has started.) It once again disrupted my exercise, but not before I got in 30.67 aerobic points. My eating was up just a bit during the time I was trapped indoors, but only about 2 points per day, and it wasn't high still. However, it made my weight creep up during the week, and it took a bit of effort to get it back down for my weigh-in. Even so, it is sure a lot nicer struggling to keep my weight at 187 than it used to be to try and keep it below 240!

Eating and Weight – Overall, I averaged eating 43.57 points per day. That is well within what I would consider my normal eating range. My weigh-in weight stayed the same this week, but my average weight moved up nearly 2 pounds. Pain medications are simply great at helping my body retain water weight. It is just something that I am having to work around.

Saturday I weighed 187.0 pounds, right at the top of my target range. Dotti and I went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch and we had a great meal. In spite of that, I still held my total points for the day to 40.0. That should be a maintain or loss level for me at anytime. However, my weight jumped up to 189 on Sunday. I think there were two factors involved with that. First was the heavy exercise I did on Saturday, and then the anti-inflammatory medication I took that evening. Sunday I ate 47.5, knowing full well that the increase in weight had nothing to do with fat weight. However, on Monday I jumped up again to 189.5. I believe that is the highest that I have weighed on any day since I hit my target weight. That got my attention! I only ate 36 points on Monday, and my weight fell to 188.5 on Tuesday. With the temperature in the teens, and being trapped indoors, I ended up snacking my way up to 49.0 points that day. Still my weight dropped to 187.5 on Wednesday. Some of that water weight had fallen off. I ate 54.0 points on that housebound day. Thursday my weight popped back up to 188.5. I held my points down to 40.5, and I got outside and did a couple of hours of work on clearing the snow off our patio. The scale moved down to 187.5 on Friday morning. I ate 38.0 points yesterday, and this morning the scale dropped to 187.0.

Exercise – This week was front end loaded for exercise. Saturday Dotti and I went to the gym, and in that one visit I did more miles and earned more aerobic points than I did all of the previous week. When we first arrived at the gym, even though they have a large number of treadmills, all of them were busy. That is the first time that I have seen that. It is probably because of all the cold and snowy weather we have had. So, I checked a basketball out, and shot baskets for 25 minutes, making sure that I kept moving the whole time. I got 3.75 aerobic points for that. Then I noticed a free treadmill and finally got up on that. Unfortunately, something was amiss with the speed monitoring system, because I had the speed up to 6.2 mph, and I wasn't even straining to keep up with the speed it was going. I shut it off and found another free treadmill and hopped up on that. Better. I could tell that this one was working properly. However, to my right I noticed a guy jogging at what his machine said was 12 mph, but the belt wasn't making the normal high-speed noise that it does at fast speeds. He just didn't look like he was running anywhere near that fast. Later he slowed down to a walk, and I was taking more steps, with a stride at least as long as he was, but he was showing a speed up in the 6's while I was in the mid 4's. So, I think the wintertime overuse of the equipment is taking a toll on the treadmills. They are going to need some maintenance soon.

I walked 4 miles, starting out slowly, since it had been a few days since I had taken a good walk. I was warmed up already after the basketball however. The first mile I moved my speed up to 4.7 for a while, but I had to move it back down to 4.5 and then on down to 4.3. My time for that mile was 13:35 (4.4 mph). On the second mile I tried to hold it steady. I set my speed for 4.3 mph and held it there for the entire second mile and finished it at the 27:32 point. (13:57 for mile 2) For mile 3 I moved it up to 4.4 mph and held it there for the entire mile. I finished 3 miles in 41:06, with mile 3 taking 13:34. As I was finishing mile 3, Dotti came up and checked on my progress, so I knew I was about out of time. I told her that I wanted to do one more mile and she headed off to another machine for a few minutes. I stepped up the speed, and by the time I was at the 3.5 miles point, I was already up to 5.0 mph. I kept moving it up until I finished with the speed set for 5.4 mph. The entire 4 miles took 53:06, and the last mile took exactly 12 minutes (5.0 mph average). I slowed the machine down to 3.5 and started my cool down. The 4-mile walk was good for 13.07 aerobic points, and with the basketball, I was up to 16.82, which is nearly double what I got for the entire previous week!

On Sunday Dotti and I took a walk to Target. It is exactly one mile each way. The wind chill was around 10º and we kept moving all the way, to try and stay warm. It took us 17:24 to complete the mile to the store. Once we got there we went inside and warmed up by walking around the aisles a bit. Then we headed back home. It took us 17:47 on the return trip. That earned us 2.81 aerobic points for the day.

Monday the temperature was around 20º with a wind-chill of about 2º. Brr! The ground was still dry though, and so I was able to make the 30 mile drive to work without a problem. I even got there early enough to take a walk in the brisk morning air. I was bundled up pretty well, and I completed one mile in 14:03. That earned me 2.27 aerobic points. I was surprised on the last leg of my walk to see a man walking at a slow strolling pace, with a smile, with just a sweatshirt for protection against the cold, carrying a paper Starbucks coffee cup. The temperature and wind didn't seem to be fazing him. Perhaps he was an Eskimo?

At lunch I bundled up once more and braved the outside, which hadn't warmed up much at all. I walked 2 miles. Although there were areas of ice that I had to dodge, for the most part the path was fairly clear. Still, it took me 15:10 to complete the first mile. I picked up my pace, because I didn't want to average that slow for my walk. I completed the second mile at the 29:29 point, which means I took 14:19 for mile 2. (So, I averaged 14:44 per mile and 4.07 mph.) That walk earned 5.14 aerobic points, and brought my week's total up to 27.04.

Tuesday the weather hammer fell, and we were looking at several inches of snow when I woke up in the morning. It was a "snow day" and I stayed home from work. Since it was "only snow," I decided to take a walk in the 20º temperature. I went two miles (back and forth to Target) with the sidewalks covered in about 4" of snow.

The sidewalk runs right beside the fence on the left all the way down.
Up close, you can just see a dark streak where the curb runs.

The curbs along the road disappeared in several places completely beneath the snow. Along one stretch I have to cross the road, but I have to wait until I reach the part where the sidewalk starts on the other side. It was hard to tell for sure where that point was because of the snow. The act of walking was made far more difficult because of the snow. I felt as though I was walking along a dry sandy beach, fighting a bit in taking each step. I was getting a great workout, but my time was very slow for the first mile: 18:09. On the way out I nearly had the sidewalk to myself, when I could figure out where it was. On the way back I saw a couple of snowmobiles go by, which seemed really weird to me. As I was getting close to Target, I suddenly realized that I had lost the sidewalk, and that I was actually walking on the road edge. I was well out of traffic, what little there was of it, but I got myself back over onto the sidewalk right away.

On the way back, I tried to pick up the pace, but I felt like I was overdoing it about halfway back, and I had to slow it back down. I ended up finishing the walk in 36:12, only shaving 6 seconds off the outbound time for the return trip. By the time I had finished my walk, I felt like I had gone much farther and much faster than I actually had. Also, I was dressed more for 0º or less, rather than for 20º, because my tee shirt was soaked and I felt overheated when I was done. The walk was good for 3.63 aerobic points and brought my total for the week to 30.67.

Wednesday the ground was covered in solid ice over a half-inch thick. The rain was falling as liquid, from a warm air mass high above, and then freezing as soon as it hit the ground. I couldn't safely take a single step on that stuff, let along take a long walk.

Thursday wasn't any better on the sidewalks, even though later in the day we started to thaw. I still couldn't take a walk. However, I did get out and do some physical labor in clearing the ice from our patio. It took a couple of hours, and when I was done, I could tell that I had had a good workout. I didn't count any aerobic points for it.

Friday, I spent 4.5 hours on the road going to and from work in the lousy driving conditions. Added to that was the actual time I spent at work. That took up the bulk of my waking hours. The walking paths around where I work were still covered in snow and ice, so I couldn't use them at lunch. So, I didn't get in any exercise that day.

Water – I did better with water this week. I drank at least 6 cups every day. I averaged drinking 62.86 ounces ( 7.85 cups) per day which is at the upper end of my target of 6 to 8 cups per day.

Week's Evaluation – Another week of struggling to keep my weight in my target range, but overall I consider it a successful week. I weighed in at 187.0. I got in 30.67 aerobics points for my exercise (plus some more that I didn't count for my snow removal project), and I walked 11 miles. I drank plenty of water all week long. For next week, my goal is to get my average weight back down into my target zone, and bring my weigh-in weight down a bit next Saturday. I hope to get in more walking, and to get my aerobic points up to over 35, and my miles up to over 15. I would like to do about the same for my water consumption.

I have completed 973 days OP, which is 2 and two-thirds years. If it were not for the on-line support that I have received, I don't know how I could have stayed with it this long, and still held on to my enthusiasm for the daily tasks required. It is having the exterior reinforcement of my assessment of the journey's importance that has kept my "nose to the grindstone." On days when I think that it really doesn't matter, and that I have "done enough already" I have to face the reality that is not just myself that would be affected by such a stupid decision. That is a powerful deterrent to "stinking thinking." Thanks to all of you who have helped me!

2 years, 243 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/187.0/185±2/BMI:23.37/WK-139
GRAPHS: Weight Loss/Year 1 Maint./Year 2 Maint./Year 3 Maint.
                Success Story