Week 259 Update

The thermometer outside our dining room window read just over 40° at 06:05 when I stepped on Mr. Scale and he replied, "185.0 pounds!" This is my first weekly weigh-in on my target weight since October 8, 2005, and I am happy to finally see it.

For five straight weeks I have hit my target range (187 to 183) in my weekly weigh-in, and for the second straight week I had all of my daily weigh-ins fall into that target range as well. (April 12th was my last daily weigh-in outside of my range.) J Since it nearly took 6 months to get the last two weeks like that, it is really nice to see consecutive weeks this time.

It was a bit of a challenge this week, because we were eating outside of our normal routine, and we hit restaurants a lot more than usual. My weight did start to creep up for a few days, along with my points, but I regained control and pulled everything back by the end of the week.

Dotti faced even tougher challenges as she was on the go with her WOW friends: Vikki, Melissa, and Tracy—getting pedicures, shopping, and other fun things, and eating additional meals in restaurants.

Dotti handled all of the different challenges like a trooper, and she came out okay on the scale, with a maintain, at the end. J She managed to hold to her goal of remaining OP each day, and thereby striving to show either a loss or at least a maintain for each week along the way. This is her 33rd week in a row of doing just that!

So far, Dotti has dropped 32 pounds, and is right on program still: moving along, a day at a time, on program, and not struggling. Like me, her toughest task is getting in her exercise. We will both be working on that during the upcoming weeks.

As always, you can follow Dotti's consistent progress at her Dotti's Return to Goal page.

Here is how this week went:

Saturday - After my weigh-in (186.0 pounds) on Saturday, I spent the morning doing my write-up for the week, while Dotti, Vikki, Melissa, and Tracy were out having fun shopping and getting a pedicure. In the evening I joined them for dinner, and LeRoy drove down from Olympia to do the same. Here is a shot of the ladies at the Newport Bay restaurant in Vancouver, Washington. (In the picture it is Melissa, Tracy, Dotti, and Vikki from left to right: if you click on the small picture you will see a larger image.)

By the end of the day I had consumed 46.5 points. The last few weeks I have been attempting to hold my points down to 40 or less, so this a little high. What put me over was the fact that our restaurant meal wasn't until 7 PM, and I just don't like to eat that late in the day. Along about 5 PM my stomach gets to rumbling, and so I had 7 points worth of cottage cheese, some fruit, a Slim Fast, and 3 espresso beans.

Then, when I went to the restaurant, I had a small piece of bread and margarine (2.0 pt), and ordered a garden burger. When it arrived, I cut the patty in half, which had a layer of cheese on it, and I ate that for 3.0 points. I didn't touch the bread and trimmings. I then ate the small helping of fries for another 4.0 points. Lastly, I shared a one-third helping of a brownie sundae with Dotti and Vikki. My portion came to 6.0 points and it was very good. When it was all added up, my first and second dinners came to a total of 22.0 points. This pushed me over my 40-point limit, and even over my old maintenance level of 46.0 points. However, it was not a free-for-all excursion out of bounds, and I had 6 more days to work my average points down below 40.

Sunday - I weighed 185.0.

I ended up only eating 2 meals for the day they totaled 26.0 points, which is fairly close to normal for my daily meals.

Breakfast is where I gathered in most of those points, because once again, my eating schedule didn't match the group eating schedule. I got up just before 7 AM, and naturally I was hungry. The group wasn't scheduled to have breakfast at Sharis until 10 AM. I didn't wait around for 10:00; I had my normal 7.0-point breakfast, which includes coffee, and Weight Watchers cereal with skim milk.

Then when we finally got to Sharis, I ordered some oatmeal (4.0 pts), 8 oz of orange juice (1.5 pts), an English muffin (2.5 pts), and 2 French cappuccinos. (4.0 pts) When all the damages were collected in, I had eaten 19.0 points for breakfast. That could have been the start of a very bad day, but it wasn't.

After breakfast we piled into two cars and headed out for the coast.

The one really unexpected thing in the eating department came up on the drive to the coast. It takes over an hour to get from Vancouver to Seaside, and there are few restroom opportunities along that road. So, as nature was calling and I spotted an eating establishment along the way, complete with restroom facilities, I pulled in. Unfortunately, the restaurant was a Dairy Queen. J

Dotti was very good and only had an orange popsicle bar (1.0 point), but the subject of a Dilly Bar came up and my mouth was set to watering over that. So, I ate the 5.0 points that a cherry one contained. (For some reason I was expecting 2.0 points, but I was wrong, and that 3 points showed up to bite me at the end of the day.)

(Here is a picture of Dotti and I at Girtles(you just have to love that nameJ), a restaurant at the coast in Seaside, Oregon. At Girtles they serve primarily seafood. I don't eat seafood. However, I do eat salads, and I noticed that they had a nice chef salad available on their menu. All I had to do was to tell them to "hold the ham" and I was soon eating a green leafy salad with cheese and turkey on top. It was very good and only 7 points. With only eating 2 meals, the 19.0 points and 7.0 points all came out just fine for my meal points.

We had fun at Seaside, and Dotti has create some photo albums for her web page that show quite a few pictures of our fun visit to Seaside, as well as other places we visited this week.

The visit had to be cut just a little bit short for our three visitors, because unfortunately Tracy got a headache and needed to leave. (It was a relatively hot and sunny day, especially for the Oregon Coast.)Dotti and I visited a few more stores and then headed back via the northern route, across the bridge at Astoria, Oregon, over to the State of Washington. We then drove the highway on our side of the Columbia River all the way back to Longview, where we picked up the freeway that took us the rest of the way home. It took longer that way, but it was a very nice drive with some great scenery.

When I totaled up my points for the day, they came to 43.0. That was two days in a row where I was over my limit. Fortunately, once again it was not by a huge amount.

Monday - I weighed 185.5 pounds. Not bad so far for the week. I ate a couple of extra points with my breakfast (it came to 9.0 points), and then concocted a piece meal lunch for myself (10.0 points), while Dotti first said goodbye to Melissa and Tracy as they were leaving town after the weekend, and then doing some shopping with Vikki, who would be spending a few days with us at our place.

In the evening the ladies surprised me with a very welcome suggestion: how about walking to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner? It had been a while since I had taken a walk, and that sounded great! We walked the short way (1.89 miles) in each direction. So, we walked 3.78 miles total in the evening. I ate a good meal, with healthy items, and then had a small ice cream sundae to finish it off. The whole thing came to 20.0 points though. I can't seem to get out of Sweet Tomatoes for less than 17 points, and often it is higher. The one compensation, when that happens, is that I feel that I had a very healthy meal, and so the points were well spent.

Sadly, I found that I had accumulated 3 days in a row that were over my limit, when I totaled up my points and they came to 49.0 for the day. I now was over by 6.5, 3, and 9 points for a total of 18.5 points high for the week.

Tuesday - I weighed 186.0 pounds.

Dotti took Vikki around Vancouver and Portland, looking at the sites, and they had lunch with Carole at Sweet Tomatoes. I ate my normal 7.0-point breakfast, and then pieced together an 11.0-point lunch. In the evening Dotti gave us some of her excellent tortellini soup, and some crackers. (6.5 points total.) I did some snacking throughout the day, and it came to a high 20.0 points. I ended up eating 46.5 total points for the day, and for the fourth day in a row I was over my limit. Now the total excess was up to 25.0 points.

Wednesday - I was up to 186.5 pounds. Here was another sign that I better get myself back on track. I ate my normal breakfast of 7.0 points. Then Vikki, Dotti, and I all headed off to Hood River, Washington to catch the Mt. Hood Railroad train. Vikki is very fond of railroads, and so we thought that this might be something that she would enjoy, and Dotti and I had been wanting to check out the train ourselves for some time.

The train itself, and the track that it runs on, as well as the terminus at Parkdale, are all classified as historic items, and as such are protected from being destroyed.

The train started off going backwards up the track to a switchback point. Once we cleared the switch, the train stopped and the brakeman hopped off the train and threw the switch so that the train would then take the upward section of track as it changed direction and started moving forward for the first time in our trip.

Upward we climbed, and the wind blew cold past us. Following behind the engine, now in front, was an open-air car with no seats at all. There were some poles to hold onto or lean against, to help maintain your balance as the car bounced around like a ship at sea. The engine blocked the wind some, but it also blocked the view forward.

Right behind this car there was another open-air car, but this one had seats. The three of us spent a lot of time early in the ride, watching the scenery pass by, as we bundled up as well as we could against the wind.

The Hood River train station had a sign that said its elevation was 99 feet above sea level. Sitting about 160 miles up the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean, Hood River is a nice little town tucked away in the Columbia River Gorge. Parkdale, the other end of the train line is at an elevation of 1744 feet.

While Dotti and I have hiked trails with a larger elevation increase than that, we have never tackled a trail that would take us out 24 miles and then back again as this train did. As we moved upwards along the tracks, the temperature started to drop. The ladies moved to the third car, which was fully enclosed, and heated. I put on my gloves and knit hat, and pulled my jacket hood up over my head, and settled down to watch the scenery pass by in the wind. After watching small towns, farms, and horses go by for a while, I moved back into the car with Dotti and Vikki.

When we got close to Parkdale, I went back outside and started snapping pictures again. Mount Hood was absolutely beautiful from this angle, and it was especially nice because we don't see it from the eastern side very often.

Right near the end, they stopped the train, and pulled the engine off the front. It was moved forward, past a switch, and then switched over to a parallel track. The engine was then driven right past us and back down the track we just came on. Apparently there was another switch back there, because the engine was brought up from behind and connected to the caboose, and the train was pushed the last few hundred yards from the back.

The open-air car was really great now, because the end was completely open to view, and Mount Hood was staring right at me from that side of the car. The only other person in the car besides myself was the brakeman, and he got on and off as he was needed. It was a bit weird watching the train moving forward towards the end of the track where two wooden ties where crossed and buried with their ends covering the final few inches of the rails. This was truly the end of the line.

When I headed back towards where Dotti and Vikki were, I saw that they had already departed the train, and I hurried to catch up. We were met with a beautiful little park that sported a statue of a little girl in a pioneer dress reaching up to a large plow horse. The ladies picked out a nice table under a covering structure, and we sat down to have the lunch that they had brought along.

With turkey sandwiches, an apple, and other goodies, it all came to 10.0 points. It tasted really good in the open air after that train ride.

The town of Parkdale was mostly closed on Wednesday, at least the part we could walk to in our allotted 1-hour visiting time. We did make it into a nice little museum and of course a small gift shop.

When we started back down the mountainside, I was out in the open air car right away, because I knew it would be the "best seat in the house" even though I would be standing. This time the only one there, besides myself, was the conductor who was stationed at the very rear of the train, in order to watch the gauges for the air brakes. The view was awesome, and as it turned out, the conductor had the gift of gab.

He gave me a pretty good rundown of the highpoints of his life, including being born locally but traveling extensively for a few years doing shipyard work, currently playing bass in a local band, and even oil painting, while working full time with the railroad.

It was funny at one point he said, "Excuse me," as he interrupted our conversation and he stepped over to the side of the open air car we were standing on, and waved to a blond haired guy working in his yard. "That is my drummer," the conductor said. He stopped to wave at a lot of the locals we saw standing out in their yards. He seemed to know everybody. His duties finally took him elsewhere, and I moved back to visit with the girls.

The train came to a halt unexpectedly, and we found that it was picking up some freight to move on down to Hood River. The freight consisted of 3 cars of lumber to be shipped somewhere else.

As time passed more and more people figured out that this was a pretty good place to get a good view, and it got more crowded. Dotti and Vikki came back later we took some pictures as we made our way back to Hood River.

After the train ride, we walked around the town of Hood River and the ladies did some shopping. We asked the lady who was running the last store we were at, if she knew where a Subway was at. She said that she sure did, and then gave us directions. Told Dotti that they could start walking towards Subway, and I would pick them up. I then walked quickly back down to get the car. When I got there, our van was the only vehicle left in the parking lot. I hopped in and I drove back up to the store we were last at, and Dotti was just walking out of the door. Vikki was still inside talking with the proprietor, but Dotti let her know their ride had arrived.

Just like the lady had said, we couldn't miss the Subway by just following the road out of town. When we got there I had a 6-inch sub (6.0 pts), and a bag of chips (3.0 pts.), bringing my total for meal points to 26.0.

Multnomah Falls were on the way as we headed back. (Hood River was at exit 63, and Multnomah Falls are at exit 31, just about halfway home.) We stopped there and took some pictures, and visited the gift shop. It is hard for us not to stop at this beautiful attraction when we drive by!

This was the last night for Vikki's visit and we spent it visiting. She has been a great houseguest, and it is always fun to converse with an intelligent person like Vikki. She has a wealth of knowledge, and she spells as well as Webster's. J Canadians have a well-earned reputation for being nice people, and Vikki went well beyond even that. And she speaks so well of her father (both with her words, and by her thoughtful ways) that I one day hope that Dotti and I can meet him as well.

I had 10.0 points in snacks for the day, and that brought my total up to 36.5 points. That knocked off 3.5 of those extra points I was carrying around with me, and that left me 21.5 points high for the week.

Thursday - I was up to 187.0 pounds, and I was a bit worried that the scale might bump me up out of my target zone before it started back down again.

We sadly had to say goodbye to Vikki, and Dotti dropped her off at the airport, so she could fly home to Canada. She will be missed.

I had my normal breakfast (7.0 pts), and when Dotti got back from the airport, we had some errands to run. They ran us late, and we didn't eat until about 3 PM. Taco Bell sounded really good to both of us, so we stopped by and I had my normal 2 tostadas (9.0 pts) and a bean burrito (6 pts). Because "lunch" was so late, I didn't have dinner, and once my 9.5 points of snacks were added in, I had only eaten 31.5 points. Much better. That pulled my excess-points total for the week down another 8.5 points to only 12.5.

Friday - Happily, I was back down to 186.5 pounds.

Dotti and I had a meeting to attend in the morning, and we had some other errands that ended up pushing our lunch late once more. We did stop at Costco, and we had a Very Berry Sundae (6.0 pts) and then had a light dinner (6.0 pts). My points for the day totaled 32.0, which pulled down my excess number of points by 8.0 more, leaving me only 5.0 points total (or 0.71 points-per-day) above my target of 40 points-per-day.

How do I rate this week?

All things considered, I rate this week as a success.

Eating – I spent a lot more time in restaurants than I am used to, and not only that, but I was eating on what was to me an odd schedule. That set me up to be hungry when I was not scheduled to be eating, and eating when I was not really hungry on a couple of occasions. My reaction to this was to eat a little more than I would have otherwise. Still, my average points-per-day came out at 40.71, and that is actually pretty good under the circumstances.

Weight – JI hit my target weight this morning, and that is all I can ask for, especially when all of my daily weigh-ins came in within my target zone.

My average weight went up 0.29 from 185.64 to 185.93. but it is still within a pound of my target weight, and that is quite all right with me.

Water – I could have done better this week. On Monday and Friday, I only drank 5 cups, and on Wednesday I only had 3 cups. I did drink 6 cups on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. My average water consumption per day was 42.29 ounces (5.3 cups). It is below my target, but it was within striking distance. I need to work on that for this week.

Exercise – Thanks to Dotti and Vikki I got in 3.78 miles this week. I definitely need to improve in this area!

4 years, 353 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3"/239.5/185.0/180±2/BMI:23.12/WK-259