Week 140 Update

It was 06:30 when I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "187.0 pounds!" The scale was exactly the same this week, but at 37º outside, it was one degree warmer than last week. For our weather, we are back to our normal winter cycle, for at least a while, with temperatures being cool but above freezing; it's mild and damp.

My Mom and her husband Jim were the big story this week for Dotti and I. Jim rode up to Portland in an ambulance on Monday afternoon, and Mom drove up the following day. Jim is suffering from some complications from his diabetes, and the doctors at the hospital have been running extensive tests and seeing what they can do for him. It has made for a hectic week for Dotti and I, as she has been spending most of her day at the hospital providing moral support, and then I have been going there after work. It has made for long days and completely disrupted the normal flow of our lives. However, it has been good seeing some improvement in Jim; who couldn't move his legs a few days ago, and yesterday I saw him use those legs to help support his very heavy frame long enough to shift from a wheelchair to his bed. He has been eating a lot better at the hospital and I think that has helped his condition. Also they have been tinkering with his medications, and eliminated something that was suspect. This next week I think he will be transferred to a rehab center where he can get some physical therapy and we hope, improve even further.

For myself, it was another week of struggle to keep my weight in my target range. I lowered my points per day down to 40.86, from 43.57 last week. That moved my average weight per day down to 187.50 from 188.21. So, it did have an effect. However, my average weight is still outside my target range, which is not something that I want to see. I did finally kick in my exercise, late in the week, but I hope that I can be more consistent this upcoming week.

Today marks the end of my 140th week OP. When I completed my 140th day OP, it was approaching the end of September in 2001, and I weighed in at 197.5 – under my official goal of 200 – putting me into the "Normal" category for my weight, for the first time in many years. I have not been above 200 since that time. I lost 2.5 pounds that week, and I averaged eating 25.79 points per day, with my high day being 28.0 points and my low being 22.0 points. As a rough average, that indicated that my maintenance level for that weight should have been [ (2.5 * 70) / 7 ] + 25.79 , or 50.79 points per day.⁽¹⁾ That turned out to be pretty close for my final maintenance level before pain meds.

Now I have gone a week for each of the days that I had completed at that point, but the journey continues, and it continues to be interesting still. Today, even when I am having a tough time of it, my weight is still below my personal goal of 190, which is much better than I was doing on my best days before. The course has been set, and now it is just a question of fine-tuning to hold it steady on target. Life is never simple, but the nice thing is that this journey is doable, even when life gets complicated. Before, I was at the whim of circumstance, and the scale would take its own course. All I could do was hang on for the ride. Now I have a lot more say in what the scale is going to read, maybe not as to the exact number of pounds, but definately in the range of readings that it can produce. Even at my heaviest today, I am okay, and where I want to be. That is a good feeling.

Eating and Weight – As I said, I averaged eating 40.86 points per day this week. I certainly wasn't overeating! Still, I had a struggle on my hands in getting my weight to come back down to 187.0 by this morning. Sometimes you just have to yank it back on track by eating low.

Last Saturday I weighed 187.0 pounds. I ate 36.5 points. On Sunday my weight was up to 187.5. I ate nearly the same at 37.0 points. The scale dropped to 185.5 pounds on Monday. I responded by eating 44.0 points. It was Monday that Jim arrived and it started a chain of days where our eating was thrown out of sync. Dotti was at the hospital much of the day from then on, and I would come directly to the hospital after work. So, after visiting for a while, dinner would come late, and we did more eating at restaurants than usual. Monday we ate at a diner that we like a lot. The meal was 18.0 points, and it was later in the evening than I am used to eating. Tuesday the scale moved back up to 187.5. We ate at home that night, and for the day I ate 43.0 points. Wednesday the scale moved up again to 188.5. Not good! I still wasn't buying it that I was eating too much, and so I ate 45.0 points. That included our evening meal, which we began at 7:30 PM, and hour and a half later than normal for me. On Thursday the scale crept up to 189.0 pounds. We had another late meal, and this time it was a seafood restaurant. Since I don't eat seafood, I ended up with a burger meal. I cut the burger in half, and only ate 1/3 of the fries. At meal's end I had eaten 16.0 point, and that brought my total for the day up to 43.0. On Friday the scale dropped to 187.5. I ate low yesterday (and at home!) and only had 37.0 points for the day. Today I squeaked in under the wire at 187.0 pounds.

Exercise – The weekend was gone before I knew it, and I hadn't gotten any exercise done. Monday, I was lucky that a guy I work with was eager to take a walk, and asked me to come along. So, I got out and walked 2.5 miles in 41:00. That was good for 5.64 aerobic points, that I wouldn't have gotten if it had been left up to me alone. Just as we were walking up to the building to return to work after our walk, my phone went off, and it was my Mom with the news that Jim was going to be transferred up to a hospital in our area.

Tuesday I had to drive 100 miles south to deliver and install a part for one of our customers, and when I got back I went straight to the hospital to visit Jim, and other than walking quite a long ways inside the huge building, carrying a power supply under my arm, I didn't get any excersize done. Mom had driven north to Portland during the same time that I was driving south, and we must have passed each other on the freeway.

Wednesday I had a down machine during lunch, and I grabbed my food and went back to work, without taking time for a walk.

When I started Thursday I was sitting with 5.64 aerobic points for the week. That was quite a few points short of my normal goal of 30, and even farther from my new goal of getting 35 aerobic points per week. With only 2 days to go, I had my work cut out for me. The day was foggy, and I was thinking to myself that Edgar Allen Poe would have liked that weather. It remained foggy all day long, but it was at the worst when I arrived at work early enough to take a one-mile walk. I set out into the foggy morning at a fairly fast pace. It took me 13:34 to complete the mile (4.42 mph). It added 2.42 aerobic points for me. Not much, but every little bit helps. At lunch, the fog was still hanging over the landscape, but I had the fire burning. I wanted to earn some aerobic points and get myself into the running to reach my goal. I ended up walking 4 miles! Mile one took 13:19 (4.50 mph). Mile two took 13:04 (4.59 mph). Mile three I did in 13:40 (4.38 mph). Mile four was my slowest at 14:17 (4.2 mph). Overall, the four miles took me 54:21 to walk, which averaged 13:35 per mile (4.41 mph). That added another 12.66 aerobic points to my total. I had hardly finished the 4 mile walk, when my friend came by asking me if I wanted to take a walk. I put my coat back on and we headed out for a 2.5-mile walk. It took us 39:57 (15:58 per mile or 3.75 mph). That was good for 5.88 more aerobic points. At day's end I had earned 20.96 aerobic points! I was very happy with that.

Friday I started the day with 26.60 aerobic points. That was much better than I started out with the day before. I was only 3.4 aerobic points from my old goal of 30 points, and 8.4 points away from my current goal of 35. When I got to work I had enough time to get a one mile walk in, but I decided not to. I knew I only needed a couple of miles at lunch to get me over the 30 aerobic points threshold, and considering where I was after Wednesday, that wouldn't be too bad. At lunch, the sun was shining, which was a real change from what we have been seeing. I set off at a pretty good pace. I didn't really feel like I was pushing too hard, although I was walking what felt like a good pace. When I finished mile one the time was sitting at 13:29 which means I was walking at a 4.45 mph pace. Not bad. I turned around and headed back. When I completed my second mile I found that I had walked it in 13:31 (4.43). There was only 2 seconds different between the two miles, so I held a fairly constant pace throughout. It added 5.88 aerobic points, pushing me up to 32.48 for the week, and I would have been satisfied with that after my slow start for the week. However, once again I was invited to take a walk with my friend. We ended up walking 2.6 miles in 40:09. (15:26 per mile or 3.88 mph). It was good for another 6.50 aerobic points, and brought my total for the day to 12.38, and for the week I earned 38.98 and exceeded my new goal of 35.

The final 2 days of the week I walked 12 miles, and for the week I walked a total of 14.6 miles, coming within 0.4 miles of my goal of doing 15 miles for the week.

Water – I didn't do too badly for water this week. I did drop the ball on Tuesday, only drinking 3 cups. That was due to my trip to Eugene, and spending all that time in the car I didn't want to drink too much water. Later I didn't notice that I hadn't drunk enough until the next day. Other than that I drank at least 6 cups on all the other days, and I averaged drinking 58.29 fluid ounces (7.3 cups) per day for the week. That is well within my goal of drinking at least 6 to 8 cups per day.

Week's Evaluation – I feel that weeks like this, where I am struggling and facing challenges, I am more successful in a way, when things come out okay. I was very happy with my weekly weigh-in today, and I am happy with the way my exercise turned out, even though I had a bad start to the week. And the water turned out okay, despite Tuesday's blooper. So, I will put week 140 into the successful column and now begin week 141, where I hope to do better.

2 years, 250 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/187.0/185±2/BMI:23.37/WK-140
GRAPHS: Weight Loss/Year 1 Maint./Year 2 Maint./Year 3 Maint.
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