Week 174 Update

After staying up a bit later than usual visiting with LeRoy, I slept in until 06:15, and when I stepped up on Mr. Scale, he said, "184.0 pounds!"

Last night we said goodbye to Becca, Alistair, and little Jonathan, after spending a wonderful day with them on Friday. It was so nice seeing the couple that we have adopted as our own, and now the miracle "grandchild" who is just perfect has added even more joy to the mix. After a day of us trying to spoil him rotten, I am sure he was ready to get a good night's sleep last night. It was sad having to finally say goodbye. They are flying home this morning.

At 64º, this morning was a bit warmer than the last couple of weeks, but it is still not bad. I have been noticing that a few trees around the site where I work are starting to show some color already in their leaves. That means that autumn cannot be far away!

My high point this week was last Saturday, when I ate 48.5 points. My second highest day was only 43.0 points, and I averaged 41.21 per day for the entire week. As a result, my average weight fell from 186.57 to 185.21, even though my weekly weigh-in was up a half pound. So, I averaged being with a quarter of a pound of my target weight for the week and that isn't too bad.

I got plenty of water in this week, drinking at least 6 cups each day, and averaging 54.86 ounces (6.9 cups) per day.

My exercise turned out to be okay by the end of the week, but it was a bit trickier than I had hoped for. I normally like to get in at least 6 miles on the weekend, and then do another 26 during the workweek. I aim for a 3.1-mile walk each evening after work and then at least 2 miles sometime during the work day.

Saturday I did well, by walking 3.1 miles in the morning, and then getting in another 3.1 miles in the evening with Dotti. (See Exercise Data for details.) I got in my minimum for the weekend on that one day. So, I didn't feel too badly when we didn't do any walking on Sunday.

Monday was a holiday, and so I didn't have to go to work, which was great! I got in 3.1 miles in the morning, and then in the evening Dotti and I did our 3.1-mile walk together. That got the "workweek" off to a good start.

Tuesday I set off to gain some ground on my goal of 1,200 miles for the year by getting to work early and walking 2.4 miles in the morning, and then doing another 2.0 miles at lunch. When I tacked on the 3.1 miles in the evening it would give me 7.5 miles for the day! However, when I got home things didn't work out, and I didn't get in that 3.1 miles, so I was left with a total of 4.4 miles on Tuesday. Okay, that wasn't too bad, but it was a bit short of what I needed.

Wednesday traffic slowed me down to where I could only get in 1.0 mile of walking before work, but I made up for it by doing 3.4 miles at lunch. Once again I had 4.4 miles in at work and was all set for a "Bloomsday total" of 7.5 miles for the day. But once again we got busy in the evening and I didn't get the walk in, so I was left with 4.4 miles for the day. To reach 1,200 miles for the year, I have to average 32 miles each week from now until the end of the year. After Wednesday's walking I was at 21.2 for the week. I needed another 10.8 miles for the last two days in order to reach my goal for the week.

Thursday I was a man on a mission. I got to work early and walked 2.4 miles before work. At lunch I walked another 2.4 miles, bringing me to 4.8 miles for the day. In the evening I walked 3.1 miles, to bring me to 7.9 miles, and to 29.1 miles for the week.

Friday, I only had to walk 3.1 miles to reach my goal. I took the day off to be with Becca, Alistair, and Jonathan, so to make sure that I reached my goal, I walked those 3.1 miles early in the morning, starting at about 05:30, bringing my total miles for the week to 32.2, and my total for the month so far to 41.5, and for the year to 695.5. (I didn't quite make 700 miles this week, but it was close.)

If you look at my Walking Graph you can see that I am starting to edge my way up towards my goal finally. I still have a long ways to go, and I have to get in 32 miles per week to get there, but at least I have a shot at it. Where possible, I am going to try and get a few extra miles in here and there, to move my graph above the 32 miles per week line, and take some of the pressure off for the future. I have been wrapping my knees for my walks at home and that has kept them from hurting too much, and my walks at work haven't been bothering my knees very much at all. The temperature has been dropping, which makes walking a lot more fun for me as well. Most of my walks have been in the mid to lower 60s, or the upper 50s. There were only 2 walks all week that were has high as the 70s, with the highest at 75º. That is a big improvement over the previous months. And it should get better from here!

This week, with 84.32 of them, I once again had plenty of aerobic points (with 30 being my minimum goal for cardio fitness). I feel that no matter how the rest of the year goes for getting to my 1,200-mile goal, this has been a successful year for exercise. I have earned 1697 aerobic points so far, which would be over 32 aerobic points per week, if you divided it by the 52 weeks that an entire year has in it. In other words, I have already hit my aerobic points goal for the entire year! Each week from now on, I will be adding to that total.

When I reach 700 miles this week, I will have walked enough miles to have walked all the way to Spokane, and back home again this year! Since that is about 12 hours of freeway driving time, it seems like quite a lot of walking. I have worn out a couple of pairs of shoes along the way, and am about ready for another pair. Surprisingly, my knees have not rebelled much at all from all the work that they have been put through.

This upcoming week will hold the day of the 30th anniversary of when Dotti and I met. Wow! How time flies when you are having fun. On September 11 in 1974, I had no idea what awaited me in less than a week. My whole world was going to change radically for the better, and as I went through my daily shipboard routine I was totally unaware of what was about to come my way. If I had known, I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night for the eager anticipation!

3 years, 123 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/184.0/180±2/BMI:23.0/WK-174
GRAPHS: Weight Loss/Year 1 Maint./Year 2 Maint./Year 3 Maint./Miles Walked
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