I had a dream last night. It is interesting for two reasons. First of all, I remembered it when I woke up. That doesn’t happen all that often. Second of all it was sort of like a “smoking dream” only about eating, a first for me. In the dream, I was going to work in the morning, but instead of going to a customer’s site as usual, I headed into our office. Of course in a dream nothing seems to be quite right. The office was some small one-roomed shack, and the feel of everything was more like a shop in the Navy, than my office today is. Hardly anyone was there at first when I pulled up, but after I went inside guys started pouring in. We were eating these chocolate candies or cookies with a fruit filling. I must have eaten about 10 or 15 of them before it hit me that I would be going over my points. I laid the one down that I was eating and started looking for the bag they came in, in order to get the nutritional info. Some other guy had grabbed the rest of the candies and was downing them. He was welcome to them at that time. I was digging in trash cans around the room and found bags from other candies but not the one I was looking for. About then I woke up. It took a moment to realize that I had really only been dreaming, and that I had not gone over my points really. And just like after a smoking dream, I was so relieved that I had not blown it. One other thing that added even more to my good feelings was, that when I stepped up on Mr. Scale, he said, “201.5 pounds.”

Yesterday was a computer day for most of it. (Dotti and Joan went shopping and then visited in the living room all evening. I was sound asleep when they went to the airport at 2:00 AM, so Joan could head back home.) I went to CompUSA and bought SuSE Linux for my second computer (the one I had for years, and finally set aside, when I upgraded my main computer a couple of months ago), and I loaded it in. I was playing with the different Xwindow formats they provide, and got my printer installed and StarOffice running. When things settled down, I grabbed a zipped tar file off an old Linux distribution disk I had laying around, and got Dungeon running.

Dungeon is a game that is totally text based. I first discovered this game back in 1981 when I went to school in Cleveland, Ohio. (Actually Solon, outside of Cleveland, but we stayed in a hotel in Cleveland at the time.) Dungeon was originally designed at MIT for a DEC computer, and a DEC PDP-11/34 just happened to be what the CAT scan was using that I was going to school on. I came in for extra hours in the evenings during the 3 month school, mostly to learn about the equipment, but several of those evening found me rummaging around in the Underground Empire of Zork buried in the Dungeon game. I did not have time to scratch the surface of the game back then, and I did not have a chance to play it later. However, a few years later, Infocom bought the rights to the game and created a series of text games based on it called Zork I, Zork II and Zork III. (Of course now they have gone on with several other Zork offering with graphics but that is another story.) There are some differences in their version of the games (I of course purchased them all), but beside that, in order to make the game size more manageable, Infocom shortened each of their games down to about a third of the size of the Dungeon game. Anyway, last evening I spent several happy hours treading the old ground above the dungeon, and then some of it in the dungeon. It will be many a day before I get through the whole game, but it is really great to have it available again. With the Linux computer I hope to set up a server for our home network, and also to have a good place to practice my UNIX commands that I sometimes need to use at work.

Walking around CompUSA and Barnes and Noble for a few minutes really was about it for my exercise yesterday. I did a lot of sitting. Hopefully today I will be able to do something more energetic.

For eating yesterday I ran it right up to the limit on points, with only a half point to spare. (Maybe that is why I had my dream. :) ). I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.) and for lunch Dotti fixed me two turkey sandwiches (3 pt.). For dinner I had a 6 inch Subway turkey sandwich (6 pt. - I definitely got my turkey quota in!) and 5 meringues (2 pt.) That brought my meal points up to 16 points. For snacks, I had a cup of cocoa (1 pt.), three peaches (3 pt.) 7 cough drops (2 pt.), two Mr. Cookie Faces (6 pt.), and finally I split a Kashi bar with Dotti (2.5 pt.). That all added up to 14.5 snack points. When you add in the meals, my total points for the day was 30.5.

For water yesterday I had 12 cups, or 96 ounces. I wasn’t terribly aggressive about it. I just seemed be drinking water naturally all day. I remember when I started the journey I was pouring the water down with enthusiasm, filling up my stomach whenever I was even a little bit hungry. Most days now, I have to remember to keep my glass by me, filled with water - for the water’s sake, not out of hunger. As long as the glass is there I will I drink it as the day goes on, and at the end of the day, I have consumed more than 8 cups usually without even thinking about it.

It is interesting how your body changes, and its needs alter, based upon what you choose to do with it. If you train your body, it is quite flexible in what it can grow accustomed to. It can adjust to being thin or being overweight. It can adjust to eating a lot, or eating a little. It can get used to drinking a lot of water, or only a small, life sustaining amount. It can be trained to withstand a great deal of physical exertion, or very little.

Of course it does not deal equally well with all of the possibilities. Being overweight and sedentary, will sooner or later overload the system. Even eating too little will deprive the body of needed vitamins and nutrients that sustain health, and will ultimately create great harm. There is a normal range for each body, where it is receiving the right amount of food, water and exercise for optimum health. Each body can be trained to exist in that optimum zone of health, and once it is there, it can grow quite used to being there.

I am taken with the thought that giving this knowledge to our children, and developing the correct habits in their little lives right from the start, would add years to the average child’s life span, and create an aura of wellbeing that would increase the happiness of each day of their lives. With all of the of nonsense that is pumped into children’s heads today, it would be nice, as an alternative, if more parents would take the time to instill this one life enhancing thing into their offspring. It would be a great gift - especially in this day when the number of overweight children is skyrocketing. It is yet one more area of life as a parent, that I wish I could do over again myself. (That list is an ever growing one. :) )

127 days (over a third of a year!) OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/202.5/200/BMI:25.35/WK-18/Weight Loss Graph

At 5:45 AM Mr. Scale said, “202.0 pounds.”

Yesterday, Dotti and I went to the mall to get an All American Ice Cream. On the way we stopped at Subway for lunch, and when we got our cones we didn’t even sit down to eat them, but set out walking instead. We walked around the mall for a while getting some exercise and then headed back home. I worked on some graphics for the message board and then we watched an old 1945 movie called “Captain Kidd.” As is usual with a movie “based on a true story,” it had no real connection with historical fact, but it was entertaining.

For eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.). At lunch I had a six-inch sub at Subway (6.0 pt.) and for Dinner, I had 3 egg sandwiches (3.0 pt.). That brought me to 14.0 points for meals. For snacks, I had a fresh peach (1.0 pt.) a cup of decaf (1.0 pt.), 5 meringues (2.0 pt.), pita bread and Laughing Cow cheese spread (3.5 pt.), 7 cough drops (2.0 pt.) and a bag of popcorn while watching the movie (2.0 pt.). That totaled 15.5 points for snacks and brought my total points for the day to 29.5.

For water, yesterday I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

Well I am off to “enjoy” another Monday. The cost of living is a paycheck, and the cost of a paycheck is all to apparent about this time each week. :(

128 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/202.5/200/BMI:25.35/WK-18/Weight Loss Graph

After being awakened at midnight by a customer who was too rude to wait by the phone he had paged me to, it took me a while to get back to sleep. So, this morning I woke up at 6:15 when the alarm went off. It has been a long time since I have slept until the alarm woke me. When I stepped up on Mr. Scale, he was in a better mode than I, because he said, “201.0 pounds.” That is only one pound over my goal weight. That is mighty close. Dare I hope for goal this Saturday on my official weigh-in? I will try not to be greedy!

Yesterday at lunch I noticed something that I had not seen in the sky for a while: a vapor trail. I looked up and I saw coming from the north (from Seattle?), a vapor trail heading due south towards California. The trail ended right over my head and I looked closely and there it was, the bright silver streak of a commercial jet liner, back in the sky and moving America again. It added to the feelings I had driving into work where coming over the Sylvan Hill, a fire engine was going down the freeway with its caution lights flashing and a huge flag flying from its top, and then only a couple of miles further on Route 26 was an overpass with a huge flag hanging down its side. There were flags on car antennas and printed on signs in windows. There were flags everywhere. I haven’t seen this kind of patriot outpouring since before the Vietnam war was used to nearly destroy it. When I was growing up, in my school, there was a flag in every class room, and we all stood and pledged allegiance to it every day. There was an enthusiasm for America that I have not seen for many a year, but yesterday I could see that it was back for many. I hope this is not a mere flash in the pan, and then back to the same old thoughtless acceptance of the freedoms our ancestors died for and we were given as a gift.

After I had eaten some of my lunch, I looked back up at the vapor trail, and it had been enlarged by the upper level winds spreading it out, and it was bracketed in by two more trails of planes that had passed by while I was not looking. It looked as if a giant had reached up his hand with three huge fingers and scratched a mark all along the dome of the sky.

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.), and my Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). For dinner Dot and I had steak dinner! The steak was 4.0 points (A-1 sauce, mushrooms and onions were free.) We also had corn(1.0 pt.) and potatoes(3.0 pt.), which totaled 8.0 points. So, for meals for the day, I ate 20.0 points. For snacks yesterday I had 12 cough drops (3.5 pt.), half a Kashi Bar (2.5 pt.) and half a Mr. Cookie Face (1.5 pt.). ( I think splitting things in half and sharing them with Dotti makes them taste even better. :) ) So, I had 27.5 for my total points for the day.

For water, I drank 4 cups at work and at least one in my car. I had 5 more in the evening, for a total of 10 cups, or 80 ounces.

129 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/202.5/200/BMI:25.35/WK-18/Weight Loss Graph

I stepped up on Mr. Scale at 6:00 AM and he said, “200.5 pounds.” I said, “Wow! That is close!” Maybe this Saturday will be the day. That would be very nice!

At lunch I took a walk through the park next to my customer’s site, and it was a great day for it. The sky was gray, and the air was cool. A wind whisked happily through the leaves of the trees that I was surrounded by. It felt like it could rain at any moment, but it didn’t. I had my coat zipped all the way up for the whole walk, which totaled about 23 minutes. The ducks on the several ponds that I passed seemed to be enjoying themselves, but other than a lady in a long dress, who had apparently come out for her lunch, and who sat on a bench near one of the ponds, and a jogger who passed me on his way to wherever joggers go, I had the park pretty much to myself.

I just love this kind of weather. It makes my jacket feel like a close friend, and the trees waving their branches in the wind, and having their leaves shuffled like many decks of cards all at once, makes me feel glad to be alive. Some, small select number of the leaves in the park had already begun to change color, and a beautiful red and yellow leaf blew off a tree and landed at my feet. The vast majority of the leaves are still as green as the needles on the pines that are mingled in amongst the other trees.

The water looked cold in the stream flowing under a footbridge, which was itself covered by a canopy of green laden branches. That spot is so tranquil, and for years I have loved to stop there and just absorb the peaceful surroundings. I did not stop on this particular walk, but I still took in the view with enjoyment.

At the end of the walk, I had to pass through a tunnel that runs underneath a divided roadway, that has two lanes in each direction. So, the tunnel, forming a closed-in underpass to the road, is fairly long. The wind was moving briskly through the tunnel, and it was rather dark, since the clouds were hiding the sun. I felt like I had passed over from summer into fall this day, and as I stepped out of the tunnel I was feeling very happy. My favorite time of year was finally here.

For eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.), and my Standard Lunch (6.0 pt. – no fruit yesterday). For dinner I had some more cereal – 1.5 cups of Life (4.0 pt.) and one cup of skim milk (2.0 pt.). That totaled 17 points for meals. For snacks I had 16 cough drops while driving (5.0 pt.), a Mr. Cookie Face (3.0 pt.), a bag of popcorn (2.0 pt.) and half of a Mr. Cookie Face that I split with Dotti (1.5 pt.). That was 11.5 points for snacks and brought my total points for the day to 28.5 points.

For water yesterday I drank 4 cups at work, very little in the car, and 6 cups when I got home, for a total of 10 cups, or 80 ounces.

For exercise yesterday, I took a walk that was at least a mile long in 23 minutes. It was a little exercise at a reasonable pace, and I felt good when I was finished.

130 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/202.5/200/BMI:25.35/WK-18/Weight Loss Graph

This morning at 5:55, Mr. Scale said, “201.5 pounds.” Not as good as yesterday, but still not bad.

Yesterday, I dropped in on a grocery store at lunch, and I was looking for some low or no point snacks for when I am driving. I ended up walking out empty handed. But while I was there I went by the cough drop rack just to see what it was that had made me pass up the sugar free drops before. I looked at the bag and there is no nutritional data on the sugar free cough drops. There is some data for diabetics and sugar, but nothing on the number of calories per drop like is on the regular cough drops. There was a discussion of how the syrup in the sugar free cough drops does not cause tooth decay, but the implication that some amount of calories was present could not be ignored. That was why I had not used those drops before. I would rather eat more calories that I can count than anything that I can’t count, even if it is lower in calories. So far the points burnt on cough drops are less than I would be burning by eating candy or some other snack in the car (other than zero point food, which I eat quite a bit of each day while driving). I have not found a suitable replacement for rhubarb yet, but I am still looking.

Also, I took another walk at lunch yesterday, but it was not as nice as the day before. The sun was out, so there were more people in the park. But the real nuisance was the maintenance men. They had several power mowers going, cutting the grass, and air blowers blowing the leaves around on the grass. The noise really spoiled the effect of being in a park. It seems that every single sunny day they are out, as if it were a full time job that they get one-fifth of done each day and come back for more as long as the weather holds up. I walked just a bit farther yesterday than I did on Tuesday, and at just a bit faster pace. The walk took 24 minutes, and I felt pretty good afterwards. It will be nice to be doing this on a regular and long term basis. Exercise is very important, and I have not been getting enough of it for a long time. Since I am finally getting close to goal, it is time to get going on my next area of improvement.

Speaking of getting close to goal, yesterday morning, Mr. Scale dangled the bait in front of me, when he said that I was 200.5, only 0.5 pounds from goal, and I took that bait, hook, line, and sinker: Last night I spent some time creating my maintenance graph for when I reach goal. I probably jinxed myself for making goal this week because I set the graph up to begin with this Saturday’s weigh-in. If I don’t make goal this week the graph can be easily changed to begin on another week, but I won’t be happy about it!

Anticipation, that sweet longing for that which you know is coming soon. It is finally beginning to sink in that I am almost there. I can feel that old sensation creeping into my stomach that smacks of Christmas morning when I was just old enough to understand about presents to be opened – but only when Mom and Dad woke up – and me lying in my bed, the room dark, and wondering if it was late enough yet to knock on their door. I so enjoyed seeing that same anticipation in my own children’s faces, but it is not all that often these days that I feel it myself.

For eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.), and my Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). For dinner I had 3 ounces of French fries (2.5 pt.), 2 fat free hot dogs (2.0 pt.), sauerkraut (0.0 pt.), and a cup of green beans (0.5 pt.). That made 17.0 meal points for the day. For snacks I had 16 cough drops (5.0 pt.) and a Mr. Cookie Face (3.0 pt.). So, I had 8.0 snack points, which gave me 25.0 total points for the day.

For water, I drank 9 cups or 72 ounces.

For exercise I walked over a mile, in 24 minutes. (I will one day have to measure the distances in that park so I will know for sure how far I am walking.)

131 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/202.5/200/BMI:25.35/WK-18/Weight Loss Graph

Mr. Scale said, “202.0 pounds,” this morning at 5:15. Apparently he does not understand that we are on a joint venture to lose weight, as opposed to gaining a pound, or half a pound each day. Actually I am still half a pound down for the week, and in the past when I have been jumping around like this, it is just a question of getting my digestive track to regulate itself. My hands are a bit puffy this morning, and that may be it. I am OP and I am close. It is just a matter of time. Some things you just can’t rush. Kindly, and dependable Mr. Scale is just teaching me patience. (@#$% !)

At lunch yesterday I took a walk again. This time I was feeling pretty good. I got passed the power mowers early on and the only noises for the rest of the walk were natural ones: geese honking, water flowing and children laughing. A couple of mothers had brought their children to the park. They each had a stroller with a young one, and somewhat older one, helmeted, and riding a small bike with training wheels. The young boys on bikes, would ride passed me and then slow down waiting for their mothers, and I would pass them again. Finally I distanced myself from them and the path was clear all the way to the trees, which is where I was walking to before I fell ill last week. Even though the sun was out, and the temperature was a bit warmer, and I had to take my coat off, I felt good enough for the longer walk. I went to the trees, and back to the parking lot, which I estimate to be about 1.3 miles, and 24 minutes later when I got back to the car, I was still feeling good.

I have two things driving me on to walk. The first is what is closest to me right now: I would like to make goal. I have found in the past that I usually have a pretty good loss (2 pounds) on the weeks that I walk 3 or more times. This week that would bring me very close to goal! The second is that I can tell that I have allowed myself to grow weaker by not exercising. When doing my walking this week, my legs were very tired and sore the first day, even though it was only a very short walk. I am sure some of that is because I am coming off of an illness, but still it is not good. The next day my legs still felt weak and tired, and a bit sore in the upper thigh area. Yesterday I felt good. I could tell that I walked but I did not feel weak and sore. It is important that I continue this, even after I reach goal. My health will be better, and my energy will be much greater.

After eating lunch I read most of the chapter on Sparta in the History of Western Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell, which I have been going through on my lunches. (About a chapter a day.) I ran out of time before I quite reached the end but it was an interesting chapter. The day before I had read about Socrates, and that one was an exceptional chapter. I have enjoyed this book, perhaps even more that I originally thought I would. I have always enjoyed philosophy, but I find this book is also very well written, with a nice flow to it.

For eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.), and my Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). For dinner I split a Heaven’s Bistro Pizza with Dotti (4.5 pt.) and had a WW Smoothie Shake (2.0 pt.). That brought my meal points to 18.5. For snacks, I had 17 cough drops (5.0 pt.) and a Mr. Cookie Face ice cream sandwich (3.0 pt.). That totaled 8.0 points for snacks, and gave me 26.5 points total for the day.

For water, I drank 9 cups or 72 ounces.

For exercise I walked 1.3 miles in about 24 minutes.

132 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/202.5/200/BMI:25.35/WK-18/Weight Loss Graph

*** Weigh-in for WEEK 19 ***

Week Completed:	___19___
Weigh-In Weight:	200.0
Body Mass Index:	25.0
Week’s Average Points/Day:	26.9
Pounds lost this week:	2.5
Pounds lost total:	39.5
Pounds to go to 10%:	0.0*
Pounds to go to goal:	0.0**
* Made 10% at 215.5 pounds on 7/14/01 ** Made Goal at 200.0 pounds on 9/22/01

___________________________

Mr. Scale is my very best friend this morning! He said, “GOAL!!!!!” Okay, that was me. What he said, at 6:58AM was, “200.0 pounds.”

It was a long night, because I was loaded with fluids. I stepped on the scale (with my pjs on - which add about a pound), around 7:30 PM, after drinking my final glass of water, and it said 211.0. I couldn’t have gotten another drop into my system at that time. I have to say that I was not very optimistic at that point in the evening. But the rest of the evening, and all night long I spent getting rid of that water. And today, I celebrate!

So, what I ended up with was a 39.5 pound loss in 19 weeks. That is an average loss of 2.1 pounds per week. That was a bit more than I had hoped for at first. I would have settled for a pound a week, and expected 2 to be the upper limit. But I didn’t go much over that, and actually after the first week I averaged only 1.9 pounds per week, which is right in the healthy loss range.

Today I have completed my Weight Loss Graph and I am switching over to my Maintenance Graph. I am not sure if the Maintenance Graph is in its final form yet but I have something to work with anyway.

My maintenance goal right now is to slowly work my way down to the 185 to 190 range and stay there, if I am comfortable with that weight. I also plan to insert exercise beginning right now (or actually it started with the walking this last week). That might increase muscle mass, and so I do not yet have a time goal for reaching my personal goal of 190 pounds as of yet. I of course will continue to journal my food in my log every day, remaining in my point range, along with counting my water. Now, After getting down to goal by using the tools and getting them honed up, I do not plan to let them sit in the rain, and get rusty. The sharp edge on the tools will make maintenance a snap if I continue to use them every day.

At lunch yesterday, I took another walk in the park. I walked out to the stand of tall trees (~1.3 miles) in 23 minutes. I had a bit faster pace than the day before, and I still felt good at the end. I could tell I had walked but it was a “healthy” tired feeling. I think the walking is what did it for me this week. I don’t think I would have hit goal without it. Not only that, I feel better because of the walking. My legs don’t feel as tired or weak, and all around I feel a bit more energetic than before. It is nothing terribly profound, but just enough to notice.

For eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.), and my Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). For dinner I had what is becoming my standard Friday evening meal: 3 tomato sandwiches (2.0 pt.) and a WW Smoothie Shake (2.0 pt.). That brought my meal total points to 16.0. For snacks I had 18 cough drops (5.5 pt.). That brought my total points for the day to 21.0. That was low but I was very much driven to make goal this week. From here on in, I have to begin to switch gears a bit and start to zero in on a stopping point. I am looking forward to that challenge.

For water yesterday I drank 13 cups (must be my lucky number!) or 104 ounces. I also had a 40 ounce Smoothie that was mostly water, so combined I had about 9 pounds of water in my system when I stopped taking in anything by mouth. Fortunately I was able to get rid of all that by this morning. :)

134 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/200.0/200/BMI:25.0/WK-19/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph