Week 171 Update

With the temperature at 64º at 06:40, I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "184.0 pounds!"

This week has been very unusual. I actually went on a diet on Monday, but it was doctor prescribed. I drank 168 ounces of water on Monday, while only eating 18.0 points. Tuesday I was happy to put all that behind me in a manner of speaking.

Saturday I weighed in at 185.5 pounds. I ate light throughout the day, because I had been fighting a high bump on the scale towards the end of the previous week. I didn't want to just continue that trend where I had left off. By the end of the day I had eaten 39.5 points, which is a nice conservative number for me.

Sunday the scale reminded me why I had to keep my points low, because it jumped back up to 187.5. I ate 3 points over my normal maintenance level on Sunday when I had 48.0 points. However, I knew that the next day I was going to be eating very little of consequence and I wanted to give myself something to tide me over.

Monday the scale jumped back up to 189.0 pounds.

I have been having some pain in the lower left part of my abdomen. It has been causing me to hold off on my walking the last month or so, and thereby putting my walking goal for the year on hold. The doctor wanted to rule out cancer and so this week I went in for a cancer screening on Tuesday. So, all day Monday I was on a "Clear Liquid Diet." I could have liquids that I could "see through," Jell-O, and/or Popsicles, as long as I didn't eat any "red or purple food." What fun! And then to top it off they gave me things that would run right through me in a very expedient manner, including a one-gallon jug of "cherry flavored" (yeah right!) purge. All the doctor supplied fun stuff didn't start until noon, so I was able to drink apple juice, black coffee with some sugar (they highly recommended the sugar in order to get something into your system since this diet really depletes you), and I had some Popsicles.

The next 5 hours had me drinking 8 ounces of the "cherry flavored" doctor brew every 20 minutes. I had the timer going and I did a lot of reading in between doses. It wasn't long before the inevitable began to happen and that absorbed some portion of the interim 20 free-minute segments. When I gulped the last cup down, I was very happy indeed to be done with that stuff.

When all the coffee and tea with sugar, the Popcycles, the Apple Juice, and the Jell-O were added up, I had "eaten" 18.0 points for the day. Not a lot, but I didn't starve.

I did manage to get another 5 cups of water down during the day, on top of what the doctor provided for me. So, I did not get too dehydrated. However, I did wake up with a very dry mouth on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning I weighed 184.5, but I knew where that lost 4.5 pounds had gone from the previous morning. I rinsed my mouth out with water several times before leaving for the hospital, but I didn't swallow a drop. It helped my dry mouth quite a bit.

I clearly remember the waiting, while Dotti sat next to my hospital bed and we chatted. We had quite a while to wait, as they had us show up at 09:00 and the procedure wasn't scheduled until 11:00. Dotti has a slide show on her palm pilot and we went through that while waiting. It was fun seeing pictures of us when we were on Midway, Dotti just barely 20, and I was 25. The years passed by in digital progression and we shared some happy memories as the hospital clock slowly moved around.

I remember the IV being put in, being wheeled into the room, and waiting for 15 or 20 minutes for the doctor to show up. The nurse had said earlier that the doctor was nearly always on time or early, so naturally this time he was late. I remember seeing my heart rate on the monitor go from 60 down a couple of beats and hold steady there for a while. I remember the smell of the oxygen tube in my nose and felt the drying action going on that I have seen cause nose bleeds in chronic oxygen bottle users. But once the doctor showed up, they stuck some drugs into my IV and the rest is all a blur. I remember some pain two times pulling me out of my sleep but only briefly, and it was like heavy mental fog even then. The next thing I knew I was back in my room with Dotti, and I almost remember the doctor coming in. (He said that, although I was a anatomical challenge to the procedure, all was well, and he didn't find anything amiss. He felt confident that I should be good for at least 10 years on that score. He also said that he hoped the field will have advanced by that time to make the procedure easier by then.)

Believe it or not, an hour later we were in Red Robin Restaurant, and I was having a 34.5-point meal including a burger and shake. I was famished. (When we came into the restaurant the hostess asked how were doing and I replied, "Just dandy!" However Dotti let me know that I was a bit over exuberant in my reply, so I guess that the drugs had not yet completely left my system. I flew low under the radar for the rest of meal, not making any loud noises. )

By day's end I had eaten 52.5 points. However, my seven-day average for points-per-day was still only 38.6 even after that splurge.

Wednesday I woke up weighing 186.0 pounds. After all the topsy-turvy eating of the previous few days, I was happy with that. I held my points down to 37.0 for the day, just to try and break the cycle of the high scale reading coming and going.

It was back to work that day, and I also started walking again. My doctor had checked my abdomen before and he didn't find anything glaringly wrong. So, I decided to move on and see what would happen.

I walked 6.1 miles on Wednesday, including a nice 3.1-mile walk with my lovely Dotti in the evening.

Thursday the scale moved up to 187.0 pounds. Once again I walked 6.1 miles. I also ate 40.5 points.

Friday I weighed 185.0 pounds, and it looked like the control I was using on my eating was finally paying off, in spite of the water I was probably holding from the exercise.

I walked 6.1 miles once more, and I ended up eating 37.0 points, including a nice dinner at Sweet Tomatoes last night.

This morning I dropped to 184.0 pounds and all is well.

From the previous Friday to yesterday the scale had dropped 5 pounds! That is quite a drop during maintenance. I feel like I was drifting earlier, perhaps a bit off course. I have been more alert and careful the last few days and it has helped. I am not depriving myself of anything that I am eager to have, but I am making better choices when I am having snacks, or perhaps choosing between having a glass of water or a snack.

This week I did reach the 600 miles mark on my walking for the year. (Six hundred miles is more than the distance I would have to walk in order to reach Sacramento, California from Vancouver, Washington!) That is where I should have been at the end of June if I were going to be on track for my 1200 miles for the year goal. So, while I am very happy to finally reach 600 miles for the year, I still have my work cut out for me to reach my goal. The month of July really hurt my walking because I only got in 16.8 miles that month, instead of the minimum 100 that I wanted to see. On the upside however, we are nearly through the ugly hot days of summer, and the temperature will be dropping soon. That will make it so that I can do more miles, and Dotti and I can walk earlier in the evening when I get home from work. So, 1,200 miles is still possible, but it will take a lot of work, because I am only halfway there, with nearly two-thirds of the year gone already.

3 years, 102 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/184.0/180±2/BMI:23.00/WK-171
GRAPHS: Weight Loss/Year 1 Maint./Year 2 Maint./Year 3 Maint./Miles Walked
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