Week 218 Update

It was 61° and 06:15 when I stepped on Mr. Scale and he said, "183.5 pounds!"

This week playtime was over, and it was back to work. L I ended up working an evening shift this week, and it wasn't too bad. It was great for beating the traffic every time except heading into work on Friday, when I had to fight all the drivers heading for the coast for the weekend.

My back has been hurting this week more than usual. I may have overdone it with some lifting I did last week. I am hopeful that it will get back to "normal" as time passes.

Here is how the week went...

Saturday - I got up at 06:15 and weighed in at 184.5 pounds. Tammy was out the door at 06:30 to head for her job, and I just got to wave to her before she left. Soon Jim was up, and Dotti and I got to visit with him for a little bit and then we were on the road for home.

As always, we had a great time in Spokane, and the time was far too short. Friends like Jim and Tammy are priceless! Their girls, and grandkids are like our own children to us, and we feel very lucky to be part of their lives.

One of the added joys of our visits to Spokane is the 6-hour drive each way, where I get to spend time with Dotti, where there are no distractions. It is very special time to me, and it passed by quickly.

Because we ended up getting out the door quickly after Dotti woke up, we didn't grab breakfast before leaving. So, we stopped 60 miles down the road in Ritzville at McDonalds to get a little something. I haven't had breakfast at McDonalds in a long time. The last time I think I had pancakes. This time I tried something that I had never eaten before: an Egg McMuffin (7.0 points). I also had a hash-brown potato patty (3.5 points), 10oz of orange juice (2.0 points), and two coffees (they were pretty small) with cream (2.0 points) for the road. I don't see this becoming my regular breakfast anytime soon, but it filled me up and soon we were heading south on route 395.

We stopped at the Tri-Cities area, and in Kennewick we visited Starbucks and Dairy Queen. I had the points, and so I had a banana split at DQ, and as always felt that 11.0 points is not bad for that much enjoyment. I had a frappuccino (4.5 points) which went well with the summer temperatures. When we pulled out of Kennewick, we were nearly halfway home.

Soon we had traversed the Columbia River Gorge and were driving into the Portland traffic, before cutting north across the Columbia River one more time, and arriving home in Vancouver.

Unpacking and relaxing after the trip made for a nice quiet evening, and I had something simple for dinner, but that still added up to 14.0 points. When everything was totaled up, I had consumed 56.0 points for the day. This was the last time for the entire week when I went over 46 points!

Sunday - I weighed 184.0 pounds. Sundays always seem to have clouds on the horizon. It is a day off, but the older I get, the closer Monday seems to be when I get up on Sunday.

I had my normal breakfast of 6.0 points, and set about catching up with things I needed to get done. I had a lot of computer work waiting for me, and I needed to get my study back in order; putting things away after the trip.

I had a light 7.0-point lunch, and then in the evening Dotti fixed us "breakfast for dinner" and that came to 8.0 points. My snacks for the day came to 15.0 points, and my day's total was only 36.0 points.

Monday - I weighed 186.0 pounds. I consumed a fair amount of sodium with my dinner the night before, and I am pretty sure that is what caused the bump up on the scale.

I went in to work at my normal customer site, and later on two of my coworkers showed up at the same site. There was some confusion as to what was going on, but it finally settled out that I would be spending the week at another customer site. However, we were doing something special at that site, by providing some training to their night crew. I would be working with another of our technicians on a 2PM to 10PM shift for the week. That first day, since I came in early, I only worked until our normal quitting time, overlapping with the other guy just the last 3 hours.

When I got home, Dotti had fixed a nice lasagna dish, and some artichoke hearts. The whole meal was only 5.5 points! After my snacking and meals had been totaled up, I had eaten 42.0 points for the day.

Tuesday - I slept in to 06:25, and weighed 186.0 pounds once more. I had the morning to do some writing and it was really nice! I am a morning guy, and the early hours are my best hours. I normally have to spend those hours on my job, rather than on what I would like to be doing, so this late shift worked great for me!

I had my normal 6.0-point breakfast, and then for lunch Dotti fixed me a tamale and rice lunch, with some fresh strawberries! It came to 11.5 points and was very good. It was nice having my larger meal at lunch rather than in the evening.

At work we were fairly busy all night, and the time went by quickly. I didn't get to eat until later than usual, but I hardly noticed. I had my normal turkey sandwich lunch with yogurt, V-8 juice, and an apple for 6.5 points.

Although there was still a touch of light in the sky from the late sunset, the waxing moon was bright in the sky when I came out at 10 PM to drive home. The traffic was light and I loved it! It hadn't been a day off exactly, but it almost felt like it, having the morning for myself, and not having to fight traffic commuting to and from work.

I ended up eating 38.0 points for the day.

Wednesday - I woke up at 06:55 and weighed 185.5 pounds. The day ran pretty much like Tuesday did. I had a busy morning on the computer, and had a 9.0-point lunch after my 6.0-point breakfast. In the evening I was able to eat closer to my normal time, and once again had 6.5-points.

At the end of the day, after another easy drive home, I had consumed 35.0 points.

Thursday - I woke up at 06:35 and weighed 184.5 pounds.

This morning Dotti got up soon after I did, and we headed down to her bowling alley to give them the bad news that she would no longer be bowling in the league. Her hand and her shoulder have deteriorated too much for her to be able to continue. I went with her for moral support as she broke the news to them. L

After that we did some shopping, including being at Costco when it opened its doors at 10AM, and then walking around the Vancouver Mall for a while before we had to head back so I could drive to work.

I could get spoiled working this shift! Walking around in the morning in stores is so much nicer than in the evening. Even with school being out for the summer, there were relatively small crowds everywhere we went. Very nice!

At work things were busy once more, and the time moved by quickly. We had to make a run to a store to pick up some drill bits, and then put them to use on one of our parts for the machine, but otherwise it was a lot like the other days had been.

For eating, I had my normal breakfast of 6.0 points, a light lunch of 5.0 points, and my normal work meal of 6.5 points. I did have 25.0 points worth of snacks, including a Very Berry Sundae at Costco. The total for the day was 42.5 points.

Friday - I woke up once more (happily again with no alarm!) at 06:35 and weighed 184.0 pounds.

After my 7.0-point breakfast, I worked on a couple of projects for Dotti concerning DWLZ, and then had a call from my mother, saying that she would be arriving next week for a visit. We knew she was coming but hadn't set the dates yet. It will be nice seeing her again! She will be up for the Seventh-day Adventist Oregon Conference camp meeting they hold every year up here in the Portland area.

Dotti and I went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch, and I had 17.0 points, including a nice ice cream sundae. Afterwards I set off an hour early for my job, but I ran into some serious traffic all the way in. It was actually worse than my normal morning commute, because I leave for work really early on a normal work day, and so I miss the really bad morning traffic. Driving in on Friday the freeways were jammed with people who must have been getting an early start on their weekends, and heading for the coast.

When I arrived at work, there was a down machine that we had to work on, and things kept us busy for the evening. I ate my normal 6.5-points for dinner and soon the workday was finished.

On the drive home, the moon was just visible behind clouds that were moving in. The skies have been blue and cloud-free for a while, so it was nice to see some cover heading our way. The highs had been reaching up into the 80s for several days, and I was ready for some cooler temps.

I finished up the day with 42.0 points, and that set me up for the weigh-in of 183.5 pounds this morning.

How did this week go?

For eating, I only had one high day, and all the rest were under my normal target of 46.0 points. I averaged a low 41.71 points-per-day, and I dropped a pound as a result. I wasn't really going out of my way to hold things down. It just seemed to fall out that way as the week progressed.

I had 4 days where I weighed under my target weight of 185.0 pounds, and only 3 days where I came in above. That was a nice change of pace. J Also, my average weight for the week was 184.79, only 0.21 pounds off from my target weight, and below it rather than above for a change! I am very happy with how the scale ran this week!

I am very happy with my water consumption this week! I had at least 6 cups per day and my average water per day for the week was 60.57 ounces (7.6 cups) per day. That is on the high end of my target range of between 6 to 8 cups per day.

There always seems to be one thing that is off for any given week. This week it was exercise. The warmer temperatures, and my back hurting, seemed to drain my excitement for walking completely away. I knew early on in the week that I would not be doing any walking at all. Since the temperatures have gotten up above 80°, I have already begun my yearly chant of "come on October!"

In the meantime, I will have to find some way of getting motivated to start walking again, before I get too far behind on my total miles for the year.

4 years, 66 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/183.5/180±2/BMI:22.94/WK-218

GRAPHS:

Weight Loss Maintenance Year 1 Maintenance Year 2 Maintenance Year 3 Maintenance Year 4 2005 Walking 2005 Walking Data

2004 Walking Data