Week 148 Update

I was feeling pretty tired at 04:50 when I dragged myself out of bed. It was 42º outside when I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "183.0 pounds!" It was a good thing that I hadn't slept in another hour or two, or I might have dropped right out of my target range.

Week's Highlights:

With spring only a week away, we have enjoyed having an early start this year, with lots of sunshine and warm temperatures this week. It has made my walking times a real joy!

LeRoy has been studying for his quarter finals this week, and I found out that he will be having some great computer courses coming up next quarter. He is doing well in school, while holding down his fulltime job. There are days when he is really tired but he is hanging in there very well.

This week I have been sending emails back and forth with my oldest son, Glenn. He sent me a picture of himself in his new Chief Petty Officer's uniform. (The gold stripes means that he has no black marks against his record for the last 12 years. If you goof up somewhere along the way, you wear red stripes. The three "hash marks" on his arm show that he has more than 12 years and less than 16 years of service so far. He has actually just gone over 13 years in the Navy. His "crow", or rate ensignia shows that he is an ET Chief or an "E7".) He also sent me a picture of our grandson, whom I have never met in person. Glenn and his family live in Japan, and I have not seen them since little Kai was born. He is nearly 6, and is wearing his school uniform in the picture. He speaks both English and Japanese. I also included a picture of our daughter-in-law Rie, taken with me, when they last came to visit us a few years ago. My hope is that it will not be too much longer before we actually get to see Kai and put some real spoiling on him.

I had a fairly quiet week at work. On one day, they had a particle problem that came up late in the day, so I had to work a little late, but it wasn't too bad. Friday morning Dotti and I went down to the post office to get the paperwork for our passports submitted. (My job has suddenly required me to have one, so Dotti applied for one too. That way if I should have to go to some cool exotic place, she can come along with me. ).

My eating has been very much in line with where it should be. I did have a 51.5-point day last Saturday, but I had a 39.5-day on Thursday. All the rest of the days were in the 40s. My daily weigh-ins crept up on a couple of the day, but overall I averaged 185.57, just a bit over half of a pound over my target weight.

For exercise this week I did the best that I have so far, I believe, for any week where I didn't get in one of our trail hikes. I got in plenty of miles and earned plenty of aerobic points.

Eating and Weight –I started off the week on Saturday at 184.5 pounds. We had a busy day, and when all the eating was done, I had put away 51.5 points. On Sunday my weight didn't move at all. I ended up eating 45.0 points. However, I did get in a fair amount of sodium. I had fries at lunch, when Dotti and I split a burger meal at Sharis. In the evening I had a "weighty" meal with chili and potatoes, that relies on fiber to pull the point count down. That of course takes some time to pass on through, so I wasn't terribly surprised to see the scale jump up on Monday to 186.5. I ate 45.0 points again that day, with another meal that sticks to your ribs for dinner, and my weight only dropped to 186.0 on Tuesday. Tuesday evening we went to Sweet Tomatoes and by meal's end I had eaten 18 points, and for the day I consumed 48.0 points. Wednesday the scale was back up to 186.5. I held my points down to 43.0 and Thursday I was rewarded by having the scale stay exactly the same. Oh well. I held my points down to 39.5 and on Friday I had dropped to 186.0. Friday I ate lunch at Sweet Tomatoes, but I only snacked in the evening including 4.0 points of Crown Royal. I ended the day with 41.5 points. Just before going to bed last night, I stepped on the Tanita scale and it said 185.0 pounds. I knew that I was going to be light this morning. Fortunately, it wasn't too light.

Exercise –I had a pretty good week last week with my aerobic points and miles walked, but I really blew past those numbers this week. I earned 51.38 aerobic points this week, compared with last week's 42.78, and I walked 23.06 miles (about 3 miles short of a marathon), which is quite a bit farther than last week's 16.40 miles. I had no problem reaching my goals of 35 aerobic points, and 15 miles. I also got in some exercise every single day this week, which I was happy with.

On Saturday we took a leisurely 1.92 mile walk, that took 41:34, and earned 2.40 aerobic points. Sunday morning I took a walk around a loop of roads near our house that added up to 3.2 miles. It took me 46:40 to complete, averaging 4.14 mph, and earning 9.11 aerobic points. I had only worn my light coat, but it was too much in the sunshine, and I was overly warm for the walk, which slowed me down. In the afternoon we took another walk, this time we went 1.85 miles in 43:00. It earned 1.92 aerobic points. That brought my totals for the weekend up to 13.43 aerobic points, and 6.99 miles. All I had to do to reach my weekly goals was to do my lunchtime walk each day. I liked being in that position!

On Monday, I did a 2.33 mile walk with my walking partner at lunch. We completed the loop in 42:43. It was 3.27 mph, and earned 4.29 aerobic points.

Tuesday, I got in early to work. I set off on my walk with just under a half hour available to complete it. I figured that I would tackle the big loop and just hurry. I held a very good walking pace all the way, and I jogged on a few of the short downhill stretches. I completed the 2.37 miles in 28:58, averaging 4.91 mph (12:13 per mile) for the entire trip. That all helped me to earn 8.26 aerobic points for that walk. At lunch I did another 2.33-mile walk with my walking partner. It took us 42:25 (3.30 mph) and earned 4.34 aerobic points. (This demonstrates the difference between slow speeds and fast speeds for the aerobic points. The two distances were very similar but my morning pace was faster and that walk earned nearly twice as many aerobic points.) By the end of Tuesday, I was up to 30.32 aerobic points, and 14.02 miles for the week. My goals were nearly reached already!

Wednesday, I arrived early enough to get in a 1.31-mile walk, in 18:48. That gave me 3.16 aerobic points, and pushed me past my goal for miles for the week. At lunch, my walking partner was tied up and so I did a 2.4-mile walk alone. It took me 33:29, which averaged 13:57 per mile (4.30 mph) and earned 6.92 aerobic points. That put me at 40.40 aerobic points and 17.73 miles for the week, and my goals were both reached, leaving the rest of the week to add gravy on top.

Thursday, I only had time for a 1-mile walk before work. I completed it in 14:08 (4.24 mph) and earned 2.24 aerobic points. At lunch I did a 2.33-mile walk with my walking partner, and a third guy who joined us for the first time on one of our walks. We all made the loop in 39:54, averaging 17:07 per mile (3.50 mph). It was good for 4.83 aerobic points, bringing my total for the week to 47.47, and pushing my miles for the week up to 21.57.

Friday, I had the morning tied up with getting a passport, and I just took the afternoon off on vacation time. Dotti and I took a 2-mile walk in the morning, and it took 34:41, averaging 17:20 per mile (3.46 mph). It earned 3.91 aerobic points. That brought my final total for the week to 51.38. It also moved me up to 23.06 miles for the week. That set a new high water mark for me to shoot for during upcoming weeks.

Water – I was fairly happy with my water consumption for the week. The only day I was unhappy with was yesterday, when I only got in 4 cups. The rest of the week I got in plenty of water, and my average for the week was 58.29 ounces (7.3 cups) per day, well within my 6-8 cups per day minimum goal.

Week's Evaluation – I am very happy with how this week went on my journey. My weekly weigh-in was low, but it was in my target range. I remained within my target range on all my daily weigh-ins and my average weight was just slightly less than last week, and within 0.6 pound of my target weight. I met (and exceeded quite substantially) my exercise goals for both distance (15 miles) and intensity (35 aerobic points). For water I drank on the high side of my goal range.

2 years, 306 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/183.0/180±2/BMI:22.87/WK-148
GRAPHS: Weight Loss/Year 1 Maint./Year 2 Maint./Year 3 Maint.
                Success Story