Week 240 Update

It was 07:33, and 28° when I stepped on Mr. Scale, and he said, "188.0 pounds!"

Clearly I have had a change in my metabolic rate for some reason of late. I only averaged 40.36 points per day this week, but my weight averaged out at 188.43 pounds. Last week my weight averaged 187.21. That is an increase of 1.22 pounds. I averaged eating 33.71 points last week. That comes out to an increase of a total of 46.6 points for the entire week; a difference that should have altered my weight by a total of 46.6 points / 70 points per pound = 0.67 pounds. So, my difference in weight was twice what it should have been from points alone.

Over the last 4.6 years my average weight for all my daily weigh-ins is 188.0 pounds. My average points-per-day over the same period of time is 42.3 points. One year ago today, my average weight for my entire journey was 188.5, and my average points-per-day over that time was 41.9. So, over the past year my average weight has only dropped half a pound and my average points-per-day has only gone up by 0.4.

After completing 1681 days of my journey, my numbers are finally beginning to settle into something close to a stable position. The numbers from my weight loss part of my journey are being absorbed by the much larger quantity of numbers in my maintenance part. However, they are not completely there. This past year my daily weigh-ins averaged 186.1 pounds, and my average points-per-day came out to 44.0. So, my average weight for this year has been a couple of pounds below my overall average, and my average points have been a couple of points-per-day higher this past year than for my overall average. But these differences are much smaller than they used be. The whole package is beginning to settle into a clearer, though not quite sharp, picture.

Comparing my numbers from last year with this year, I can see that there has been a change. Maybe it is the decrease in the amount of walking, I am not sure. Instead of 186.1 pounds and 44.0 points, in 2004 it was 185.2 pounds and 45.7 points. Not a great difference, but it is significant nonetheless.

And that brings me back to this week where my numbers were 188.0 pounds and 40.36 points-per-day. For the rest of 2005, 44.0 points-per-day gave me a weight of 186.1. This week, I ate 3.64 points-per-day less than that, and my weight climbed up out of my target range again.

Another thing that I noticed was that after averaging 41.2 points-per-day for the first three days this week, my weight jumped up from 186.5 to 190.0. Clearly that was not a jump based upon overeating. But there it was anyway. The last few weeks have been like that for me. Ever since Thanksgiving week I have endeavored to keep my points down, and have done so, at least on average. But it looks like I have still not recovered from that increase on the scale I built up in the first few weeks of November.

It is time to start a new week, and see what I it will bring. It should be interesting anyway. J

While maintenance has been keeping my tied up in knots, Dotti has continued to walk straight ahead on her weight loss journey to return to goal! She is consistently doing the right things every day, and once again this week she has lost a half pound. She is now only a half pound away from losing her first 10% of her starting weight, and coincidently, the 200 pound mark. When she drops one more pound, she will be back in “One-derland!!!” It has been some time since she was last there and it will be awesome seeing her back there!!!

Before the conference this year she had tried so very hard to get down to 200, starting at 210 or so, and making it down to about 201 before putting it all back on during the conference. After that, her weight just continued to increase no matter how hard she tried to stop it. Then in September she tried the Enjoying Weight Loss CDs and hasn’t had any trouble at all remaining on program every day, and she walks on the treadmill each day as well. She hasn’t slowed down, and continues today as she started in September. I firmly believe that she is going to walk right back down to goal, and then remain there!!!

The loss is quite visible already. LeRoy commented last night that she is “really looking good.” J After quitting smoking, you never really feel like you have finished quitting until you get your weight back to where it was before you quit. At least that is the way I always viewed it. It looks like it won’t be long before Dotti will have reached that point.

On June 13, 2003 Dotti wrote:

As you can see from my Weight Graph I am still struggling with my weight. I still have NO focus and my concentration level is ZERO! The good thing is that I have not ONCE wanted to go back to smoking even though I've had my bad days - more than I care to remember. I NEVER want to go back to smoking up to 3 packs of cigarettes a day!

I am so proud of her for never giving in to the urge to smoke, and for hanging on in spite of the fact that she was always in the spotlight of DWLZ as she struggled with her weight. Dotti is a very special lady and when she sets her mind to something, she gets it done, no matter how long it takes.

On October 27, 2002 Dotti wrote:

When I get back down to my goal I will be a healthy, at Goal, non-smoker - oh, that sounds wonderful!

Dotti has never lost sight of that goal, and now, more than 3 years after she wrote that, she is finally on the path leading directly to that aim.

As always, if you want to see how Dotti is doing, just visit her Dotti's Return to Goal Page. It is a joy to behold!!!

Here's my week in review:

Saturday - I weighed-in at 186.5 pounds. Dotti and I had a nice quiet weekend. Our biggest task was to finish up the December E-Letter. Saturday, I got my article whipped into pretty good shape, and just about ready to sent out. Then I worked on getting the general E-Letter formatting all ready for the Christmas season. J

In the evening Dotti and I relaxed. By the end of the day, I had eaten a little higher in points than I had originally planned to and I had some popcorn, which is high in sodium. My total points for Saturday came to 54.5.

Sunday - I weighed-in at 187.0 pounds. I finished the formatting of the E-Letter, and put some final touches on my article for this month. Dotti added in her parts and the E-Letter was pretty much ready to go.

Dotti and watched the Santa Claus, and I had some more popcorn during the movie. That added some sodium, but my total points for the day were fairly low at 38.0.

Monday - As if having be Monday were not bad enough, I weighed-in at 190.0 pounds. Maintenance has all at once gotten tougher for me. L However, I am taking this as a challenge! I am going to get things back under control and get my weight back in my target range where it belongs.

At least I had a change of pace on Monday, and I ended up serving on jury duty instead of going to work. (I have written up a little description of what happened that day that I will be linking to here once it is finished and up on the web page.)

For my lunch, I ended up eating at the courthouse deli where I was able to pick up a turkey sandwich and a cup of tomato soup.

After court, Dotti and I went to Red Robin and I had a salad.

For the day I ended up eating a total of 31.0 Points.

Tuesday - I weighed-in at 189.5 pounds.

I was down a half pound from Monday, but it still left me higher on the scale than I want to be.

Dotti was not feeling well on Tuesday, and I so I stayed home with her. We did a few things to cheer her up, and we had a nice day together. We had lunch at Taco Bell (15.0 points for me), and then we had light dinner at home. I ended up eating 41.0 points for the day.

Wednesday - I weighed-in at 188.0 pounds.

It was Monday on Wednesday this week, as it was my first day back to work. It was a nice quiet day, and passed by quickly.

When I got home, I transmitted the DWLZ E-Letter out to those who have subscribed, and another edition was put to bed.

I had my standard (6.5 points) lunch, and then a light dinner (5.0 points), and only ate 34.0 points. For the day.

Thursday - I weighed-in at 188.0 pounds again.

I spent the day collecting and compiling data for my customer. There were hundreds of files that he needed certain information from, and I used Unix to grab all the data and place in into a single file. Then I transferred the file over to my laptop and put it into a format that could be used by Excel. It the whole day, and I was tired of looking at the computer screen by the time I went home.

After they all were tallied, I had eaten a total of 39.0 points.

Friday - I weighed-in at 188.5 pounds. I was disappointed with what the scale said, because I didn’t really see what I was doing that caused it to be so high, and it was Friday, the day before my weekly weigh-in. In addition to that, Dotti and I were heading up to visit with LeRoy in the evening, and that meant that I would be snacking on the road, and my evening meal might be a little higher in points than I would have liked. After my standard breakfast and lunch, the dinner at Taco Bell, brought my meal points up to 28.0. After the snacking was added in, I ended up eating a total of 45.0 Points. That left me in the position where I would weigh-in today at 188.0.

How do I rate this week? Poor on the scale, but not bad on the eating. I hope that I can do better this upcoming week.

Eating – I ate an average of 40.36 points-per-day, which is a very reasonable amount, based upon my past track record. Unfortunately, the scale said I was high on what I was eating.

Weight – My weigh-in of 188.0 was out of target range, and my average weight of 188.43 was even higher over the top of my target range of 185 to 187. I have to assume that I am still sitting higher than my eating would justify, from the excursion I took on the scale during the previous weeks.

Water – I drank at least 6 cups every day except last Saturday. I averaged 49.14 ounces (6.1 cups) per day. That is in my goal range of 6 to 8 cups per day.

Exercise – I didn't get in any walking at all.

My one very positive thing about this week is that I was eating in control, and didn’t eat more points than I honestly expected would be okay. The scale reacted differently than I expected, but it wasn’t because I did outrageous amounts of eating. I will have to find a way to overcome the scale, and it will probably include eating fewer points during the upcoming week.

4 years, 220 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/188.0/180±2/BMI:23.56/WK-240

GRAPHS:

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

2004 Walking Data