8 days OP. This morning I got up and Mr. Scale said 232 pounds.

Yesterday, after all the fun of having a good first week weigh-in I had to return to the mundane, but very important journey through the day, remaining OP. I had my 2.5 point cup of coffee to kick things off. Looking at my food list, I ate things in a rather unusual order. Another cup of coffee (regular nondairy creamer this time for only 1 point) 6 espresso beans (1 pt) and a Skinny Cow (2 pts) and all before breakfast! I then had my cereal (4 pts) and a few hours later I had a 6 inch sub sandwich (6 pts). That got me through lunch only using 16.5 points. Anyway not to bore you, by the end of the day I was at 27 points. OP and not suffering at all.

That is the part that is so wonderful. In the past, I counted out my calories and suffered through the day and lost weight. But when I reached my goal weight, at some point later on, the suffering was more painful than being overweight had been, and I just gave up, letting my weight drift back upwards again. This time, I am not suffering at all. I am actually enjoying the eating side of my life more than I was before! It is sort of like getting a huge raise in pay for doing less work.

I do have to think about what I am doing now, and that is the only sacrifice I have had to really make. When you think about what you are doing, your choices naturally become more intelligent. If you think clearly about whether you are going to eat this or that, or whether you are going to eat it now or later, you will more often choose the one which makes your journey easier. And you don’t have to do any of those crazy things that pass for nutritional advice in the fad diets. Instead you eat normal food, intelligently. You eat plenty of food, intelligently. No hunger, no pain, no gain -- but a good loss.

Yesterday was a super day. I really appreciated reading all of the supportive comments and I can’t thank everyone enough who posted. The Zonies are a great group, and as I said before, I think you all are the best neighbors anyone could ever have.

239.5/232.0/200/WK-1

Well, got up this morning and Mr. Scale said 232.5.

Yesterday was a great day. Dotti and I went and played racquetball for an hour, and we spent the day together working on the computer.

After racquetball we stopped at Subway on the way home, and I had a 12 inch sub. I later had some rhubarb and even had some spinach. At the end of the day I had eaten a total of 29 points. One of the fun things about this counting the points as you go, is that I seem to eat a different amount each day just a bit. I never know what my total for the day will be until I go to bed. The only thing I know for sure is that I am striving to eat less than my upper limit of 31.

When I woke up, I noticed that my hands were slightly swollen, which often happens after exercising more than usual: just sort of a puffiness. I think it is water retention. Anyway, it usually is gone in a day or so. I think that might be why the scale moved up a half a pound this morning. If so, it will probably be gone tomorrow.

Other than the racquetball, I did not get a lot of exercise in this weekend, and I was sedentary. Today it is back to work and I should be on my feet more and moving around. After the loss last week, and only going up half a pound through the weekend, I feel really good heading into this week.

I thought I would include a few pictures we took at the court yesterday...

Here I am swinging the racquet

Here is Dotti looking lovely

Here is a short movie of Dotti hitting the ball

-Al-

239.5/232.0/200/WK-1

Hopped up on Mr. Scale this morning and he said, 231.0. I said, “Thank you.”

Yesterday, I was back at work again after the weekend, and what with one thing and another my lunch was postponed until driving home from work. I finished it up after I got home. After a skinny cow and a cup of French Vanilla coffee and a couple of 24 ounce cups of water (added to the one I had had in the car during the day) my total count for the day was, 72 oz. of water, and 25.0 points.

I was up and around much more yesterday than I was for most of the weekend, but I didn’t get anything that would be called exercise. That is one area that I have to start working on with more focus. With the temperature approaching 90 outside today, I may not be too anxious go out walking, at least later in the day. (I will be fondly remembering the wonderful the Massachusetts Nor’easter today. I enjoyed walking in that.Of course you nearly had to walk because you couldn’t drive in it.) I might be able to get some time this morning on morning break to take a walk, while it is still cool.

From the way I am now, you would never know that I spent 7 years of my childhood living in the Mojave Desert, because when it goes over 75 F I am uncomfortable. All summer long I am saying, “Come on October!” It wasn’t the winters that drove me out of New England, it was the hot sticky summers. Fortunately, the Pacific Northwest has nice mild summers, with very low humidity. Usually if it does get warm during the days, it still falls into the 50s at night, which makes sleeping much easier.

I am looking forward to getting into the 220s soon, and putting some more space between where I am and the 240 mark. There has always been some internal alarm at the weight of 240, that sent me into frantic activity to keep from going over it. If I stepped on the scale and it said 240, I ate low calories and exercised that day to pull it back down. It was a crisis to me. I am not sure why 240 was the point that I reacted like that, but I was unable to ignore it. The 220s used to be my normal hang out a few years ago, but I have been spending all my time in the 230s for quite some time. So, I will be passing through my old hometown of the 220s on my way to goal. Hopefully, I won’t stop for too long of a visit while passing through.

-Al-

239.5/232.0/200/WK-1

Mr. Scale said 231.0 this morning. When I went to bed last night my weight was up a bit, probably from all the water I drank in the evening. (I felt like part of a bucket brigade all night getting up to go the rest room. It is so much nicer on the weekends getting my water in, spreading it throughout the day, rather than just drinking nearly all of it in the evening. ) But this morning my weight was back down to where it was yesterday morning.

Since Friday, the scale has been reading a little more like I am used to when losing weight. To have 7.5 pounds gone in one week is a little scary. I expect to have the scale move around up and down through the week, and then on weigh-in to be down a bit, or if not, then the next week, down a bit extra to make up for it. I have graphed my weight loss on past attempts and that is what is normal for me. A pound loss is a good week, and two is excellent. I do not expect any more than that.

With the changes in weather we have been having (it was close to 90 degrees yesterday, after having weather where I needed to wear a coat just a couple of days ago), and with the allergy season upon us, a bit of water retention would not be too surprising. While I like seeing the scale either stay the same or go down, the main thing I am keeping my focus on is staying OP, which I have done now for eleven days.

I actually finished my lunch yesterday during the day, but I was full enough so that I only had a light dinner, which is well since Dotti really wasn’t up to doing much cooking last night with all that has been going on with the boards. By the time I went to bed I had eaten 26 points.

For my job I have to carry around a laptop from job site to job site. The computer bag, when fully loaded weighs 24.5 pounds. So, that gives me a little extra workout when I am walking around with it. Sometimes I end up parked way out away from the building and get quite a walk in with the computer slung over my shoulder. And some days I take it in and out of several locations. The only thing I really don’t like about bringing the computer into these chip fabrication centers is that their security measures require opening up the computer bag, pulling out the computer and having them inspect the serial number both going in and going out. But you get used to it. I remember going to a cryptographic Top Secret school when I was in the Navy. The school was actually run by the Army at Ft. Gordon, Georgia. This was back in 1975 before all the personal high tech toys were available to the general public. But the security there was unbelievable. They searched us each day, and we couldn’t even take a pencil in and out of the building. So, I guess what I putting up with today is no big deal really.

11 days down, a lifetime to go…

-Al-

239.5/232.0/200/WK-1

I am happy to say, another day (#12) completed OP. Mr. Scale said 231.5 this morning, with two days to weigh-in. That is a pound down from last weigh-in and I am feeling pretty good about it. But I am really feeling good about being OP. As I have said before, the journal keeps everything focused. That is a powerful tool.

Yesterday was about the same. I am establishing a routine, where I eat the same thing for breakfast every morning, have a cooler-full of low point food for lunch, and snacks throughout the day, and then have something light for dinner, along with a few snacks in the evening to keep me from getting hungry. I feel comfortable all day long. I don't have bursts of, "I just have to have something to eat right now" jumping out at me, because I always have something to eat, and it is always something to eat that will keep me OP.

When I am busy working in the clean room, I don't even think of food. I can often work right through lunch without any effort at all. No hunger pangs, or great desire to eat. It is the times when I am sitting around with little to do that brings out the hunger. (It's a lot like smoking used to be in that area, but with this "urge" I can actually fulfill it by eating something that is healthy and OK. There was little to do with the smoking urge but endure it, until it went away.)

Well, a new day awaits me, we will see what it brings.

-Al-

239.5/232.0/200/WK-1

When I got up Mr. Scale said 231.5.

Dotti and I played racquetball yesterday for nearly an hour and a half. By the end I felt like I had a really good work out. I can tell that I have dropped a few pounds, because it is just a bit easier to get around the court, and my pants are feeling just a bit looser.

Yesterday was my 13th day OP, and I ate 27.0 points. I love having the cooler in my car, with low or no point snacks, because I always have something to nibble on, that is within my points when I am stuck in traffic.

Tomorrow is my second weigh-in. Obviously it will not be the barn burner that last week was, but I wasn’t expecting it to be. I still haven’t kicked in my exercise program. I have to get to the gym and play racquetball at least 3 times a week to do any really good. Dotti and I changed our gym membership yesterday to allow us to have access in the evenings, in addition to days and weekends, which we already had. That way we can go over at night some of the days, and start to schedule court time at least 3 times every week. (I had deluded myself for the past several months that I would make it over at lunch hour to play a couple of times a week. It very seldom happened.) One of my goals, is to get my racquetball game back up to the level that it was before. Dropping the weight, and getting back in shape will surely help in accomplishing that.

-Al-

239.5/232.0/200/WK-1

*** Weigh-in for WEEK 2 ***

Week Completed:	__2__
Weigh-In Weight:	230.0
Body Mass Index:	28.8
Week’s Average Points/Day:	27.1
Pounds lost this week:	2.0
Pounds lost total:	9.5
Pounds to go to 10%:	14.5
Pounds to go to goal:	30.0

___________________________

Mr. Scale said 230.0 pounds this morning! That puts me down 2 pounds from last week’s weigh-in. A two pound loss is the high end of my goal for weekly weight loss. I hope to lose a pound a week, and will be very excited over a 2 pound loss, but I am not expecting any more than that.

Yesterday I ate 30 points, which is a bit higher than most of the other days last week. By focusing on making sure that I have some points to work with, so I don’t run out of points before I run out of day, I have found that I end up sometimes eating close to my limit, like yesterday, and sometimes I eat well below it. But so far I have not gone over it. 14 days OP.

I am beginning to understand all the little things that Dotti has always done on her weigh-in day. No eating or drinking before weigh-in, wearing as little extra weight as possible while weighing. (Since I am weighing at home, that is not a problem.) My weigh-in time is 6:00 am, but this morning I was ready for some coffee and some breakfast so I finally broke down and weighed at 5:30 am instead.

Dotti, sweet thing that she is, just now handed me a bowl of cereal, a cup of coffee and a 24 ounce glass of water. So, I will keep this short.

Dotti and I have some things planned for the weekend, including some racquetball, and visiting some of the local attractions on the long weekend. Lots of walking and sunshine.

Two weeks down, a lifetime to go.

-Al-

239.5/230.0/200/WK-2