Week 231 Update

It was 05:30, 55°, and the rain was pouring down, when I stepped on Mr. Scale, and he said, "185.5 pounds!"

Once again the big story in our house is the way Dotti's journey is going! J

Dotti has just completed another week right on program, by dropping another 2 pounds!!! Also she has walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes each day for 10 straight days. Our treadmill had been collecting dust for months before this, and it is really cool seeing Dotti using it so regularly now!

That fits right in with the rest of what she is doing, as she eats within her points, drinks her water and makes good choices throughout the day.

She is continuing to document her journey on her Dotti's Return to Goal page. I am really excited to see her progress!

Since Dotti is doing so well remaining On Program with the Weight Watchers system, I was surprised by the fact that some have asked: Are the Enjoying Weight Loss CDs a replacement for Weight Watchers? No Way! They are just the opposite of that! Dotti has been following the Weight Watchers plan very closely thanks to the CDs. The CDs merely assist her in remaining on program with Weight Watchers, they do not replace it.

There is a mental aspect to nearly any skill that you acquire. Think of a baseball player who normally hits the ball very well. He has the basics down cold, moving his body just right to meet the ball and drive it far into the outfield. However, all at once he goes into a slump and suddenly he can't seem to get a hit at all. He may go to his trainer for a hypnosis session. Does the trainer replace the hitting basics for the ballplayer with hypnosis? Of course not! He helps the ballplayer to return to those basics utterly. Suddenly, whatever was mentally blocking him from performing those basics, like he should have been all along, is gone, and he goes back to driving the ball, as he already knew how to do. There is no change in his "hitting program," just in his mental attitude towards it!

Most people know that weight loss is completely dependant upon what is going on in your head. Your inner self will either be tripping you up with hints to submit to temptation, or it will be an ally that gives you support in your weak moments. Hypnosis talks to that inner part of you, and suggests to it that it should join the team, and help out in your weight loss program. After hypnoisis, your inner voice will be suggesting that you have a glass of water instead of a soda, or that you should get on that treadmill instead of turning on the television first. You want to be "on program," and the struggling part of it is lessened or removed. (I have heard Dotti, and several other people, say that they "can't go off program" since listening to the CDs. Their inner voice is now on their side!)

Obviously this process cannot replace Weight Watchers, nor is it in anyway contrary to the Weight Watchers' program. The suggestions on the CDs are for you to follow your program, not replace it with something else!

I can't express how much this transformation in Dotti means to me. I have watched the woman I love dearly struggle for years trying to find her path once more. I felt helpless because there was nothing that I could do to assist her beyond just being there for her, and supporting her.

Today, it is like the sunrise after a very dark night. Dotti is no longer struggling, and she is doing awesome. She is smiling a lot these days, and that lights up my life in ways I can't express. I was amazed in 1998, and I am amazed today. Dotti is a very special lady, and I am so happy for her, and her success!!! That's my girl!!!

In the meantime, my journey continues, and I have now completed 231 weeks. If each week represented a day of a year, I would have finished August 19, and would be only 4 days away from my birthday. J

I weighed in each morning inside my target range, and I am always happy when I have a week like that. My trend of eating fewer points continues, maintaining the mystery element of my journey. I never can grow too complacent about things, because they can change at any time.

Because my back has especially been a problem this week, I have not been very active. The only walking I did was on the spur of the moment on Friday when I had to go between customer sites and I had time to walk. It was one-half mile each way. I took it slowly, and still I could tell that I had not been exercising much lately.

Arthritis is no fun, and my back has reminded me of that fact repeatedly over the last couple of years. I keep working with it, and I hope that it will settle down for me someday.

The past few months have tracked over the 30th anniversary of many things that Dotti and I remember so happily. In September of 1975, Dotti and I were in Augusta, Georgia. I was there at Fort Gordon for an electronics school, and Dotti flew out of Portland airport around 7 Am, on Wednesday September 17th, and arrived at the Augusta airport just before 6:30 PM. She was such a beautiful sight walking off the plane and into the terminal. What a knockout! (There was some guy on the plane that must have felt the same way, because he was trying to pick her up during the 35 minute flight from Charlotte, North Carolina.)

During the next few weeks we had a great time, and it was there that I took her to watch Jaws in the movie theater. I can still remember her covering up her eyes when one really tense moment was going on. I told her she better watch or she would miss it. She didn't care, she wasn't looking. J

Unfortunately that time passed way too quickly and on Tuesday October 21, 1975, I had to fly away to a little island in the middle of the Indian Ocean known as Diego Garcia. The 30th anniversary of that sad day is less than a week away. The time on that island was the longest year of my life.

However, on October 15, Dotti and I were still together, making the most of what little time we had left before I had to leave. It was just over one year since we met, and we were already facing a whole year apart. (I am so glad that we have lived by the rule that for every day that we are apart from each other we will write at least one letter. It has formed quite a diary for us of the times that we have been apart.) Those 365 days of separation were looming over us as we tried our best to keep them out of our minds. But as you might suspect, the remaining days sped by like someone had hit the fast-forward button.

Of our first year together, I had been away at electronics schools for 6 months, and Dotti had only been able to come out and share one of those months with me. So, we had already been apart nearly half of the time that we had been in love. Then we were faced with being apart for a whole year after that.

On a happy note, after my year on Diego Garcia, I got orders to Midway Island, and I could take Dotti with me there!!! I was never so happy to get a set of orders in my life. It looked like we might be able to extend there and finish up the rest of my enlistment with no further separations. We were flying high when we found that out. J (Things didn't work out exactly as we had planned, but it was a lot better for Dotti and I during the rest of my first enlistment, than it had been for the first part.)

Sometimes love can be painful, but there is nothing better on this earth than being in love with your best friend, even when you have to be apart. Dotti has made my life something that I would be eager to live over again if I had the chance! Diego Garcia was a bitter pill to swallow, but we got through it, and have made up for that, and all of the other separations we have had to put up with. Being with Dotti is the very best thing that has ever happened to me, and I am one lucky guy to have had that opportunity. October, 1975 was bittersweet for us, as we enjoyed our short time together, while dreading the upcoming time apart, but even that was better than what went before in my life. When I finally stepped onto the plane, just knowing that Dotti was waiting for me when I got back, made the long year bearable, and living through the sad year-long process just made the time on the other end that much sweeter for the knowing that we were done with it, and wouldn't have to repeat it.

Jumping ahead 30 years, here's my week in review:

Saturday - I weighed in at 185.0 pounds. I don't hit the bull's-eye as often as I would like, but it is always welcome when I do.

My back was in a great deal of pain on Saturday, and so I didn't do much. I found that it hurt less standing up than sitting down, and so I was doing a lot of pacing during the day. It was one of those days when you just hope that it will be over soon.

In the evening, LeRoy came down to visit us, and since he has some time off from work (it is commonly called a "layoff" L) he has remained with us for the week. We all went over to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner, and I ate a total of 11.5 points.

I got my October E-Letter article worked up into a draft form, knowing that the deadline was coming up fast. I got some proofreading help from others, including Dotti and LeRoy. I put in some changes and then slept on it.

I ended up eating 28.5 points for the day. Often Saturday is my high-point day for the week. My back pain, and the focused work on the article did wonders at holding my appetite at bay.

Sunday - I weighed 184.5 pounds.

My back was still hurting, but it wasn't as bad as it had been on Saturday. I had two projects going: continuing to dress up my article, and continuing to record all of our VCR tapes over to DVD. Transferring all the tapes over is a pretty big project, but it is worth it.

It is such a pain trying to get through home videos on VCR tape. With the DVD you can jump around from place to place on the recording and it takes very little time. No fast forward and rewind waiting times. Also, if you freeze-frame a VCR tape, it jitters and puts lines through it. With the DVD it gives a nice clear image.

My appetite did increase a bit, but not much, as I only consumed 31.0 points for the day.

Monday - I weighed 185.0 pounds.

My back was still hurting, and I decided to stay home from work, and then go and see my doctor. In the morning, Dotti and LeRoy went off and did some errands, and I relaxed. Later in the afternoon, Dotti and I went to the doctor's office, and he checked to make sure that it was not a kidney stone, and proscribed some pain meds, and said that I shouldn't do any heavy lifting for a couple of weeks. (That changed our plans. We had a trip scheduled to Arizona at the end of this week for my job, but the work there would have required a lot of heavy lifting and so I couldn't do it.)

It was late when we finished at the Doctor's office, and so we stopped for dinner at Red Robin. I had eaten really light for a couple of days, and so I had hearty meal of 22.0 points worth of chili burger and fries. (I didn't clean my plate, or there would have been some additional points to count.)

At the end of the day, I had eaten 50.5 points.

Tuesday - I weighed 187.0 pounds. The sodium from the Red Robin meal was staying with me. I was still low for points for the week, averaging less than 37 points-per-day, and so I was not too worried about fat weight.

It was back to work on Tuesday. Dotti was really tired in the morning, and so I didn't ask her to make my lunch. Instead I went to a Burger King near the office. (My boss had sent me to the office so I could rest my back as much as possible.) I was doing well on points for the week, so I didn't mind. I ordered two cheeseburgers and a small fries. Unfortunately, this Burger King no longer offers "small fries" and they gave me medium fries instead. I have to admit they tasted great, and the meal came to 24.0 points.

I went through my article again and reworked several areas, and finally got it to where I was happy with it. Dotti was working on her stuff as well and the E-Letter was getting close to being ready to go!

I ended up eating 53.0 points for the day. That brought my average points-per-day up to just under 41. I was still okay, but I was done with the fast-food menu for the week.

Wednesday - I weighed 187.0 pounds. With high-sodium on two days in a row, it is surprising that I didn't retain even more water.

Another day at the office for me, but this time I brought my standard lunch (only 6.5 points). My back was feeling a bit better, and I continued to take it easy on it.

In the evening we put on the final touches for the E-Letter and it was all set for mailing on Friday night.

I continued the VCR-to-DVD copying. We don't watch all of them as I am copying them, but every now and then we find something that catches our eye and we watch it. Those old memories are fun to revisit. J

I ended up eating 35.0 points for the day.

Thursday - I weighed 186.0 pounds.

Another day at the office, but it was the last for this week. The days go by pretty quick either way. If I am working on equipment or working the computer, I am always busy. With a computer available, especially one hooked up to the Internet, there is always something to do.

In the evening we ended up watching LeRoy's high school graduation in 1995, as I was copying it over. It was a happy day for all of us! He has grown into a fine man, and Dotti and I are very proud of him.

Friday - I weighed 186.0 pounds once more.

Today I went to a customer's site, covering for one of my coworkers who was visiting the dentist. I was kept busy all morning, and the time just flew by. After lunch we had a quieter time in the afternoon, and I ended up taking a short walk (1-mile) to go and pick something up from another customer site. That was the only walking exercise that I got in for the week.

Soon it was time to head for home, and I was ready to start the weekend!

The October E-Letter was ready to go, and so I sent it off in the evening. I put in some of the data for my weekly update into my spreadsheet, also put some in for Dotti's spreadsheet. (I love tracking numbers. J) It is really fun putting in Dotti's numbers these days, because she is doing so well! Her points-per-day average is right in the middle of her targeted range, and that is absolutely fantastic!

I ended up eating 32.0 points for the day, and that led to my weigh-in this morning of 185.5 pounds.

How do I rate this week? I am very happy with it. I still need to get in some walking, but other than that, things went very well indeed.

Eating – I averaged 37.29 points-per-day. That makes 4 weeks in a row that my average stayed below 40 points-per-day.

Weight – My weight ranged from 184.5 up to 187.0 this week. All my daily weigh-ins were within my target range, and that is a good thing! J

For the last 4 weeks my average weigh has gone from 186.07 to 186.57 to 186.36 to 185.86. Obviously the lower points have not driven my weight down very far. I am feeling satisfied with the amount of food that I am eating, and so things are cruising along fairly smoothly on that score.

Water – I drank at least 6 cups every day. I averaged 58.29 ounces (7.3 cups) per day. That is over my goal, and more than I drank last week. It was a good week.

Exercise – Needs work. I hope that I can ease into more walking, as my back returns to normal.

I have a picture of Dotti and me that was taken in 1995 in front of my Mom's house. It shows how heavy we both were. My hope is that next year, when Dotti hits goal again, we can take a picture in that very same place that will show the big change that both of us have gone through since we first moved back to the Pacific Northwest. We have both quit smoking, and we have both lost weight since that picture was taken. And Dotti is the primary reason that all of that happened.

Dotti is such a wonderful inspiration to me, and I just love to see her thriving as she is doing now! Soon she will be a healthy, non-smoker, at goal, and I believe that she will remain that way for the rest of her life. Yes!

4 years, 157 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/185.5/180±2/BMI:23.19/WK-231

GRAPHS:

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

2004 Walking Data