Week 157 Update

It was 06:00, and once again in Roseburg, Oregon when I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "183.5 pounds!"

Jim was in “critical condition” all week, in ICU. His condition was holding steady, neither improving nor worsening, though the doctors were all in agreement that his chances of recovery were extremely poor. Since it was apparent that he could remain in this state for quite some time, Dotti and I returned home on Sunday, so that I could return to work. I did manage to get to in a full workday on Monday.

Then on Tuesday, about lunchtime, I called down to the ICU waiting room to check how things were going. Mom said that she would really like to have us down there, and Jim’s sister said that they seemed very close to making a decision on whether or not to continue life support. I made the decision to head back down to Roseburg.

When we got down to the hospital, we found that things were not much different than when we had left on Sunday. The doctors felt that the longer he was in ICU the lower were his chances, as long as he continued to have no improvement. Today marks his 13th day, and Mom is looking very tired, having spent part of every one of those days in the waiting room, and then at Jim’s bedside when possible. She is looking very tired, and I am worried about her too, since it has only been 6 weeks since she had bypass heart surgery.

It is hard to remember a week where my weight loss journey has felt so secondary to other things as it has this week. It wasn’t until I ran my numbers through my program to prepare the table for this update that I realized that on Wednesday I had passed the 3rd anniversary of the start of my weight control journey. Today is the 1100th day of that journey, and still it continues. But I have been running on automatic this week. I have not spent very much time picking the best foods, nor worrying very much about how many points I have been eating. Fortunately, after 3 years of remaining OP, I make the right choices without much thought usually, and so, I have continued to maintain my weight in spite of the loss of concentration.

A side note: I started my 7th journal book on Thursday, the second day of my fourth year of my journey.

Eating and weight - Saturday I weighed-in at 183.0, on my road Healtometer scale. We had breakfast at the Tom Tom restaurant in Roseburg. It turned out to be a high point breakfast (29.5 points), but we ate late, so I didn’t have a lunch. In the evening, my cousin and his wife invited us over for dinner, and I had spaghetti and meatballs, and some apple pie and ice cream. Combing my meals with some snacks during the day, I was at 68.5 points by day’s end.

Sunday, after weighing-in at 185.0 pounds, we drove back home during the afternoon, and between the road snacks and another restaurant meal, I was up to 47.5 points for the day.

Monday I weighed 184.0 pounds, and after my normal breakfast and lunch, we ended up at Sweet Tomatoes. I ended the day with 51.5 points.

Tuesday the scale held stead at 184.0 pounds. We drove back to Roseburg, and I ate my normal workday lunch on the road. We ate our evening meal at Sizzlers in Roseburg, and I was up to 57.0 points by the time I went to bed.

Wednesday the scale said 187.0 pounds. I had a light breakfast in the room, and had lunch at Taco Bell, which came out to 15.5 points, less than my normal workday lunch. For dinner we once more ate at Sizzlers. I was a little less careful this time and I ran my points up to 29.0 for the meal, and to 59.5 for the day. That brought my 6th journal book to a close.

Thursday I started book 7 of my journal by weighing-in at 185.5. I had some cereal and milk for breakfast in our room, but I had two meals at restaurants during the rest of the day. Lunch was at Tom Tom (25.0 points) and dinner was at a Mexican restaurant called Los Dos Amigos (23.0 points). My total points for the day was up to 66.0 by the end of the day.

Friday I was down to 185.0 pounds. I had breakfast in the room once more, and then we went to Los Dos Amigos once more for lunch. (It is an excellent Mexican food restaurant!) Lunch came to 23.0 points, but I ate it late enough in the day where I had to skip dinner, and after a couple of snacks, my points for the day totaled 46.5, leading to my weigh-in this morning of 183.5.

Exercise - I didn’t do well at all this week on my walking. I only walked two days. On Monday, we were in Vancouver, and I did a 3 mile walk at lunch in 43:46. I averaged 14:35 per mile, and 4.11 mph for the walk and earned 8.33 aerobic points. In the evening, Dotti and I did our 3.1 mile walk. We took 53:26 to complete the walk, averaging 17:14 per mile and 3.48 mph. That was good for 6.69 aerobic points.

Wednesday Dotti and I walked in Roseburg. I took my GPS with us and we walked 3.1 miles. The route that we walked started out at 538 feet in elevation, and went up to 604 feet, back down to 542 feet, and then back up to 570 feet, before we turned around and retraced our path. So, overall there was a 66 foot change in elevation, although if all the uphills and downhills were tacked together, it would have been the same as if we had walked up and down a hill that was 156 feet tall. We saw an interesting side of Roseburg along the way, and ended up averaging 18:19 per mile and 3.28 mph for our walk. That was good for 6.25 aerobic points.

So, for the week I earned 21.27 aerobic points, and walked 9.29 miles. That was not particularly good. However, my walking program was “overcome by events,” as they said in the Navy.

Water - I did get my water in this week. I got in at least 6 cups every day except Wednesday, and I averaged 51.43 ounces (6.4 cups) each day which is within my minimum goal of 6-8 cups per day.

Week's evaluation - While I would have to say that my weight maintenance success this week was more a factor of inertia than anything else, as we have been dealing with a very unhappy situation, it seems to have kept me on track through habit. My average weight for the week was 184.86, just below my target weight. For exercise, I did abysmally. There is definite room for improvement there. If I am going to hit my monthly goal this month, I am going to have to do much better for the rest of the month. But only time will tell whether or not I will be able to do so, while dealing with what is coming. My water consumption was good this week and I hope that I can continue that into the upcoming week.

3 years, 4 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/183.5/180±2/BMI:22.94/WK-157
GRAPHS: Weight Loss/Year 1 Maint./Year 2 Maint./Year 3 Maint.
                Success Story