It looks like Mr. Scale likes Sunday mornings in Eugene, because he said, "207.5 pounds," at 6:40 AM. I was happy with my weigh-in yesterday, and would have been glad just to hold on to that weight this morning, but I never expected to drop even farther. Well, I will take it for today and enjoy it.

Yesterday Dotti and I got out of the room and drove around the Eugene-Springfield area some. We finally got down to the "Farmer's Market" and it was jumping with people. It was like being sent through a time machine back into the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco during the heart of the Flower Revolution. There were guys strumming guitars and playing harmonicas, a girl with batons with streamers on them, a man in a "Mad Hatter" tall black hat, and wall-to-wall people who would have felt right at home with the sixties revolutionaries. There were booths set up with hand crafts, tee-shirts with revolutionary slogans, drug paraphernalia, incense burners run by people with eyes that said they may have taken one or more trips too many. I could go on and on about how strongly I feel about the political ramifications of the movement these people represent, and that we are now forced to live with, but I will refrain.

We did a walk through the entire Farmer's Market and found that there was a small section where farmers actually sold vegetables, flowers and so forth, but the majority of the market was taken up with the retrograde hippies, reliving the sixties. Having captured a feel for the essence of the "Farmer's Market," we next drove over to Springfield to see what it had to offer. It is a small suburb of Eugene, which is not terribly big itself. We found a Goodwill there, and I found a stack of books for cheap, and Dot found a couple of things she liked. Later we ended up in Borders Books, back in Eugene, and I picked up a song book I had been looking at the other day, and finally decided to buy. (Unfortunately I don't have my guitar with me to enjoy the music properly yet.) We stopped by the Gateway Mall for one of our All-American cones, and just wandered around the Eugene area and shared each other's company. It was a fun day!

For food, I had my standard breakfast (5.0pts) and then I had a 6 inch turkey sandwich at Subway (6pts). For dinner, I was really hungry, and Dotti made up some 2.25 point tostados. I asked for 3 of them, and she made 3 for her too. She ended up only wanting 2 of hers, and so I ate her third one, making my fourth. That made 9.0 points for tostados, even with the 0.0 point fresh jalapeno pepper that I ate with them, and when I added in the 0.0 points for my Shasta Diet Cream Soda, it brought my evening meal to 9.0 points, and my meal total for the day to 20.0 points. Moving on to snacks… While driving around town I ate 6 cough drops (2.0pts). Back in the room I had 5 Good Body Chews (1pt) and then Dot and I went for our All-American Cones (3pts). This brought my snack total to 6.0 points and my total for the day to 26.0 points.

For water I drank 12 cups, or 96 ounces (6 pounds). I was able to spread it out over the day though, which I have trouble doing during the work week. That meant that I did not have a huge load of water in my system that I had to get rid of overnight. This led to two affects that I noted: 1) I weighed only 210.0 when I went to bed and; 2) I did not have to get up and down as many times during the night. I liked both of those effects. :)

One of the things that I have in my new journal is a large number of boxes to check off (35 actually) for cups of water that I drink. My old journal only had 8, and after I filled them up, I was making "x's" in the blank area around the 8 boxes. Now I should be covered for just about any high water days I may have. I can see a couple of lines that I need to add to my journal sheets to make them appear to be better organized, and perhaps some of the lines need to be a bit wider apart, but overall I think it will work out pretty well for me.

Well thirteen weeks are behind me on my journey. That is a quarter of a year, and I am 30 pounds (32 pounds this morning :^) ) lighter now, than I was a quarter of a year ago. It was a good quarter of a year, and I have high hopes for the next 13 weeks as well. I hope to reach my official goal, (maybe even complete the 6 weeks to "lifetime") and hopefully be well on my way to my personal goal (190 pounds) during that time. I Hope to get my exercise program in place and make it part of my weekly routine. Those are my goals for the next quarter. We will see how close I come to reaching them.

I lay in bed and watched the beautiful sunrise this morning. When the red left the sky, and the sun was still just down over the mountain, the blue skies and the fluffy white clouds reminded me of the Windows startup screen picture of the clouds, but these "live" clouds were a lot prettier. As the very top edge of the sun began to break over the top of the mountains, I got up for the day. I hope the rest of the day will be as nice as the sunrise was to start it off.

92 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/209.0/200/BMI:26.2/WK-13/Weight Loss Graph

Mr. Scale said 208.5 this morning when I got up at 5:20 AM.

Yesterday Dot and I went out and found another mall called the Valley River Center which turned out to be a pretty large one. It had an All-American Ice Cream stand also, and we grabbed a cone. We didn't do a lot else before heading back to the room, because it was up over 90 degrees again. We had hoped for some cooler weather, but it didn't come to pass.

Back in the room, a little after 5:00 PM, I was taking a break from working on some recipe info in answer to a question on the message board, and eating dinner, when my pager went off. I had to go into work. Unfortunately, I had not expected that, and so arranged my water drinking all wrong. I started out the day drinking no water, because we were going to be out and about, and I did not want to spend all my time looking for restrooms. When we got back to the room I started drinking water rapidly to catch up. Then I got called in, and after an hour and a half in the clean room I was serious need of getting out of there to find a rest room. Fortunately, as it was becoming unbearable, I was finishing up, and I was able to finish and make a dash, and everything turned out okay. :)

For my eating, I had my standard breakfast (5pts), and then for lunch I had 2 turkey sandwiches (3pts), and 5 regular meringues (2pts). That gave me 5 points for lunch. For dinner, I had 2 of Dotti's bacon egg and cheese "McMuffins" (4.5pts) and a cup of instant potatoes (3.0pts), adding up to 7.5 for dinner, and bringing my meal points up to 17.5. Moving to snackes, I had 3 cough drops while driving around with Dotti earlier in the day, and then 5 more when I went into work and came home (2.5 pts). I had a cup of decaf with hazelnut creamer (1.0) and of course the ice cream cone (3pts). That gave me 6.5 snack points, and brought my day's point total to 23.5.

For water, I drank 6 cups before being called into work and then 2 more when I got back to the room, for a measly total (for me) of only 8 cups, or 64 ounces.

This is our last week in Eugene, and I imagine that the work days may continue to be busy but hopefully the evening will continue to be free. (I am on call 24x7 while I am down here.)

93 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/209.0/200/BMI:26.2/WK-13/Weight Loss Graph

Tired and blurry eyed, I climbed up on Mr. Scale and he said, "208.0." I was a little surprised, because I had eaten something just before going to bed and I expected it to stay with me for my weigh-in.

Yesterday, we managed to live through another Monday the 13^th. (I will take a Friday the 13^th anytime I can get it, but Monday 13^th? -- YIPES! ) I spent the day in the clean room all day, with a break for lunch about 11:30 AM. I had a cup of drip coffee in the morning, and I think the caffeine in it was a lot more than what I usually have with my instant coffee. For whatever reason, I was wound pretty tight yesterday. I hope today will be less stressful.

Dot and I went to the Valley River Center to pick up the DWLZ.com hats we had ordered the day before. We took some pictures and put them up on the web page, and made some small ones for the Message board. We grabbed a Subway sandwich and ice cream cone (this time with a standard cone instead of the waffle cone) at All American while at the mall. The rest of the evening we spent in the room.

For eating, I had my standard breakfast (5pts) and lunch (7pts), and for dinner I had a 6" turkey sub (6pts) at Subway. That brought my meal total to 18.0 points. For snacks, I had 3 cough drops (1pt), an All American ice cream (1.5pts), a fresh peach (1pt), and since I was low on points, just before bed, I ate a pita bread and Laughing Cow cheese spread (3.5pts). That gave me 6.5 points for snacks, and brought my total points for the day to 24.5.

For water I drank 14 cups, for 112 ounces. I had not drunk a single drop of water before I got home from work, and started drinking right after we got home from the mall. I really went through some cups in a short period of time, and I was up and down all night as a result.

Well, its off to work again. Tuesday is here, and at least it is not Monday any longer. :)

94 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/209.0/200/BMI:26.2/WK-13/Weight Loss Graph

"208.0 pounds," said Mr. Scale at 6:00 AM. I am still yawning, but I can still feel a certain appreciation of the difference between 208.0 pounds and 239.5 where I started from. I am glad to be here rather than there!

Yesterday was an all around good day. Things were fairly quiet at work, and I was able to take a morning walk along Amazon Creek, which runs by my office. They have built a nice concrete path along the creek that runs for miles, and that is open "only to bicycles and peds." I headed off west at a controlled pace, and then picked up my pace after a few minutes. I made one short stop (~1.5 minutes) at a panel display they had along side of the path, which described the history of the Amazon Creek, and then I continued on my way. I was about a mile out when my pager went off and I turned around, heading back, as I used my cell phone to answer it. As it turned out, I was able to handle it over the phone. I made it back to the office after walking about 2 miles in 32 or 33 minutes ( including the stop). The walk along the creek was pleasant. I had been passed by a couple of bicyclists along the way, but other than that, I had the path to myself.

Later, when I got back to the motel room, Dot was still visiting with Diane (ShrinkingDi), a local Zonie and so I sat down and went through my new music book, singing some songs a cappella, while I was waiting. When she returned, she said she had a really good time visiting and the two of them had a good walk of about 2 miles also.

We decided to go out and play miniature golf, on a course Dot had spotted on our drive over to Springfield the other day. When we got there we found that its theme was definitely Pacific Northwest. One of the holes went right under a pretty large waterfall, and there were rocks, trees, streams and ponds all over the place. They had a couple of holes where you could hit your ball right through a log lengthwise to get a straight shot at the hole, and plenty of places to hit your ball into the water, which I took full advantage of on a couple of holes. On one of those occasions, I was quick to use my club to keep the ball from drifting out of reach into deeper water, and I noticed, as I was bending down to pick up my wet ball, that they had a netted scoop with a long handle lying on the ground, in case anyone was too slow to stop the ball from drifting too far out. The sun was out but it had not gotten too hot yet, and the whole setting was really nice.

Dotti had a really good day on the course. She had a hole in one, and a string of holes where she only used 2 strokes. Par for the course was 43 and she got 49, and this was the first time we ever played this course. I on the other hand, had my only potential hole in one, skim gently around about 30 degrees of the outside of the cup, and continue slightly passed it. My shots were okay, but not like Dot's. When I was done, I had shot a 59. A few of those strokes were from experimenting on a couple of the late holes, near the end of the game, when it was obvious I was not going to catch her score, but most of them were just poor shooting for the day. However, it was fun watching Dotti play yesterday, because everything was going in for her. The only real problems she had was on a very few holes, hitting a rock, or other protrusion into the course, on her "tee" shot. But, on a couple of holes, where her first shot bounced back at her and nearly ended up at the "tee," she put the second shot in to the cup anyway, or placed it right beside it. She was in (dare I say it?) a zone. :)

For my eating yesterday, I had my standard breakfast (5pts) and standard lunch (7pts). For dinner I ate a 6 inch sub (6pts), along with our routine Diet Pepsi (0.0), at Subway where we stopped by on the way back to the room after golf. That brought my meals to 18 points. For snacks I had 7 cough drops (2pts) during the day, a pita bread and Laughing Cow cheese snack (3.5pts), and an All American cone (1.5pts). That brought my snack points up to 7.0, and my points for the day to 25.0.

For water, I drank 2 cups at work, and then eleven cups more in the room, for a total of 13 cups, or 104 ounces. Yep, I was up and down all night again. :(

Well I have to get off to work, to face another Wednesday.

95 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/209.0/200/BMI:26.2/WK-13/Weight Loss Graph

For my 5th daily weigh in, since my weekly weigh in, Mr. Scale of course said, "208.0." There is definitely a trend emerging.

Yesterday, I took another walk of a bit more than 2 miles, along Amazon Creek. This time I headed in an easterly direction, and the scenery was different. The area was a little more built up, but even so, it was a bit greener. I was passed by several bicycle riders, some going in each direction. I also noticed, well for a lack of a better term, bums hanging out in the bushes a few yards away. They were unwashed, and just sitting there. One group of 3 was talking. Not far from that point another unkempt character, in dirty blue coveralls, came wheeling a bicycle out of the bushes where it looked like he had been sleeping, or living, and with his beard, and hair, I felt like I was looking at a transplant from the sixties. He hopped on his old bike, with a basket on the handlebars, and he rode off. The day before I had hardly seen a soul, but this was quite different.

I felt a lot like I was walking along a railroad track that runs behind buildings, and gives a completely different feel for the way things look, than the one you get by walking in front of the buildings. Once again, this time right at the end of the walk, an electronic ball and chain reached out and grabbed me. My cell phone started ringing. It turned out to be the office in Portland calling, and I made it back into the office here before I had finished talking. I was happy that I got my walk in. I really want to get that part of my life back on track. It has been a long time since I exercised as much as I should.

When I got home from work, and work was very quiet yesterday, Dotti and I went to Costco and picked up some Romaine Hearts, and fresh broccoli, for some free food to give me something to eat in the car. I have been having 2 cucumbers everyday, but they are gone before I hardly get started. The lettuce lasts longer for me. (I wish I could still eat rhubarb, but it goes after my teeth too much, and makes them hurt.)

We spent the rest of the evening in the room. It is so nice having my best friend with me here in Eugene. When I am on a trip alone, all I want to do is get back home. But when Dotti comes with me, I am in no hurry at all. Home for me is where my Dotti is.

For my eating yesterday, I had my standard breakfast (5 pt.) and standard lunch (7 pt.). For dinner I had 2 tostados (6 pt.), and a WW Smoothie Shake (3 pt.), which came to 9.0 dinner points. My meals totaled 21.0 points for the day. For snacks, I had 7 cough drops (2 pt.), 3 Tastetations (1 pt.), 5 Good Body Chews (1 pt.) and 11 ounces of V8 Juice (1 pt.). That was 5.0 points for snacks, and brought my total points for the day to 26.0.

For water I drank 11 cups, for 88 ounces.

Overall I think it was a good day yesterday. I ate within my points, drank my water and walked a couple of miles.

96 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

I was questioned as to why I sometimes eat cough drops for several days in a row. It is for my allergies. When they flair up my sinuses drain down the back of my throat and cause discomfort. I have found that cough drops bring me some relief. I am actually allergic to any of the "allergy" medications that I have tried, and end up with hives when I try and use them. Cough drops have not yet produced any side effects that I can put my finger on.

-Al-

239.5/209.0/200/BMI:26.2/WK-13/Weight Loss Graph

"Okay," I said. "Its just you and me now. Tell me what you really think!" By way of reply, Mr. Scale said, "207.5 pounds." Well, at least now we know.

At that time in the morning I find my brain has not quite engaged properly, at least until I've had my coffee. But this morning even that gave me some trouble. I put the "fixin's" in the cup and filled up the coffee pot to run through and warm up the water. I looked up and noticed that it was through already. "Wow, that was fast," I said to myself. I poured the water and found that the instant coffee and creamer did not mix up well. A white bit of creamer was floating on top, and I stuck my finger against it to draw it off the surface, and realized that the water was cold. Instead of dumping the water into the reservoir and running it through, apparently I had just put the full pot back on the burner and turned the pot on. Mornings are scary. :)

Yesterday was a very quiet day at work, and actually it was fairly quiet after work as well. Dotti and I picked up a DVD of the movie Top Gun and watched it, each of us with a bag of popcorn. It brought memories back of when I was on the carrier, USS John F. Kennedy. I remember there in the First Class Petty Officer's mess, they ran that movie a lot of times when we were underway. I didn't sit and watch it very often then, and have never watched it since, but yesterday it was more fun to watch. Our son is on a carrier, and the pain of separation that Dot and I had to go through each time I pulled out to sea, is far enough in the past, where now we can look at what a carrier does with more pride than pain.

For eating yesterday, I had my standard breakfast (5 pt.), but juggled the order for the next two meals. I took some time from my "busy" schedule to run Dotti to a WW meeting in the Oakway Center in Eugene, where she had a very good weigh-in. She had been struggling for a few weeks with remaining below her 146 upper limit, and then she weighed only 141.5 for her August weigh-in. She journaled and focused very hard, and it paid off very well! Afterwards we stopped for a 6 inch sub (6 pt.) at Subway, and a cone which I will list in my snacks. For dinner I ate my standard lunch (7.0 pt.) that I did not eat at lunch time. So, for meals, I had 18 points. For snacks, I had 2 peanut flavored WW "Just 2 Points Bars" (4.0 pt.), an All American Strawberry Shortcake cone (1.5 pt.), a bag of Jolly Time Healthy Pop popcorn (2.0 pt.), and a cup of decaf, with hazelnut creamer (1.0 pt.). That brought my snack points to 8.5, and my total points for the day to 26.5.

I took a break from walking yesterday, and just relaxed.

For water I drank 11 cups, which added up to 88 ounces.

My 14th week on program is drawing to a close. One week from today will be my 50th birthday. I obviously will not be at goal by my birthday, as I would have liked to have been, but I am getting fairly close. Just a few more pounds to go. Then begins the real job of maintaining the results of the weight loss journey. As I have mentioned before, I have had my weight down into the 190s more than once in the last 10 years, but I have never been able to keep it there for very long. It is such an inspiration seeing Dotti remain at goal after her 100 pound loss, especially after watching her put all her weight back on, fairly quickly every time she lost weight in the past. I know how big a problem weight maintenance is and it is that knowledge that makes me truly appreciate what she has accomplished right before my eyes. It is that accomplishment that makes me feel very confident that I will be able to manage my own maintenance for the first time in my life, without a constant fight against a powerful enemy who always seems to have the upper hand. This time, I have the weapons to take control and defeat that once invincible foe. Also, having someone else in the house that is on this journey makes it so much easier and fun. We are doing it together, Dot and I. We can talk about it, share it and make it an integral part of our lives.

Poor Dotti, when she did her weight loss journey, she had to do it alone. I always tried to be supportive, but it just isn't the same when only one is on the journey. In so many ways, for me it has been like walking along a dressed and trimmed, beaten path through the jungle that Dotti hacked through before me. Her knowledge of the program made it easy for me to learn it too. Her diligent efforts in locating the best snacks, and foods made it easy for me to use them too. While I am doing my own journey, she has made it very easy for me, and I greatly appreciate it! She is a jewel!!!

So, as I enter my second half century next week, I will be very close to the "Normal" range, and about to leave the "Overweight" range. I will be headed towards my ideal weight, and a lifetime of maintenance. I only wish I had started earlier in my life, but that is water over the dam. I am smoke-free, and getting set to work my exercise up to the "Good" category as well. I see many positive changes, both behind me and ahead of me, (no pun intended) and that is a great feeling.

Now on to face Friday. (I like that much better than Monday!)

97 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/209.0/200/BMI:26.2/WK-13/Weight Loss Graph

*** Weigh-in for WEEK 14 ***

Week Completed:	__14__
Weigh-In Weight:	206.5
Body Mass Index:	25.9
Week’s Average Points/Day:	25.2
Pounds lost this week:	2.5
Pounds lost total:	33.0
Pounds to go to 10%:	0.0*
Pounds to go to goal:	6.5
* Made 10% at 215.5 pounds on 7/14/01

___________________________

This was it, the last weigh-in in Eugene. It was my official weigh-in for week 14, and my very last weekly weigh-in before I reach the age of 50. Was it going to be a good one? When I stopped eating and drinking last night at 8:00 PM I weighed 210.0. That is only one pound above what I had weighed last week on my weigh-in. I was happy to see that. Usually overnight I drop several pounds. I had drank a large amount of water yesterday (see below) and after all that to be only at 210.0 at 8:00 PM was a good sign. But good signs are not enough, I had to know what the real verdict was going to be. I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "206.5 pounds." I didn't hear any brass bands breaking out in music, or cheerleaders yelling my name, but after fourteen weeks OP, I am happy to be 206.5 pounds.

I like the name "journey" for what I am doing, because it is so representative of what is going on. Each day, I move from where I was, to a new location. No day ends in exactly the same place, and I am drawing closer to where I want to be as each day passes by. As with any journey all progress is made a step at a time. It cannot be done all at once, in one big leap, but must occur over time, bit by bit. I have completed 98 days of moving towards my goal. Fourteen weeks of being OP, and I am proud of that. The rewards are easy to see, in the smaller clothes I am wearing the multiple belt notches I have been moving in, so I can hold my pants up, the thinner face, and the smaller numbers on the scale. I can stand up, and move around much easier than I could before. Yes I have a 50 year old body, but it does not feel as old as it did 14 weeks ago, and that is really great!

The only negative thing about the name "journey," is that it will never come to an end, as most journeys must. Even when Neil Armstrong went to take a walk on the moon, his journey came to an end. (And when I met him, for me it was a big deal. It was really special to see someone who had walked on another planetary object.) Our journey will not end, until we do. It is for life. But since we are always moving, it is still a journey. We can never stand still. Either we improve or we deteriorate. Life is change, and our only choice is whether that change will be positive or negative. For the last fourteen weeks, I have been proud of the choice I have made to move towards a lighter and healthier me. I am proud of where my choice has brought me to so far. It has been an interesting 98 days, and that is good too.

Yesterday, Dotti and I drove around some and ended up eating at Subway for lunch, grabbing a cone, and then going back to that miniature golf course again. I thought I would avenge myself for the thrashing she gave me before. No such luck. I did tie her score from the last time at 49 on my first game, but she shot a 48. :) and then followed it up with another one, which gave her 3 wins in a row. That is something she has never done before. Seriously, she made a lot of very good shots. I was impressed!

We stopped at a used book store, and then headed back to the room. We both got some reading in, and Dotti started packing for our trip home.

For eating yesterday, I had my breakfast standard breakfast (5 pt.). For lunch, I had a 6 inch sub (6.0 pt.) at Subway. For Dinner I had 3 tomato sandwiches (2.0 pt.) and 2 cucumbers (0.0 pt.). That brought my total for meals to 13 points. For snacks, I had 2 cough drops (0.5 pt.), 2 of the peanut butter flavored Just 2 Points bars (2.0 pt.), 5 meringues (2 pt.), 10 Good Body Chews (2 pt.) and a pita bread and Laughing Cow cheese snack (3.5 pt.). That added up to 12.0 snack points, and brought my total points for the day to 25.0.

For water I drank 20 cups of water, or 160 ounces (10 pounds!).

As for exercise, Dot and I did about half a mile of walking in the mall after we bought our ice cream cones, but even with the golf it was not a strenuous day.

Overall I was happy with the way things went yesterday, and consider it a good OP day.

98 days OP, a lifetime to follow. -Al-

239.5/206.5/200/BMI:25.9/WK-14/Weight Loss Graph