The cigarette tasted good as I puffed on my second Pall Mall, walking through the mall looking for Dotti. I had just finished a decadent pastry and it suddenly hit me that if I was going to recover from the mistakes that I just made I would have to act quickly. I grabbed the pack of smokes from my shirt pocket and crushed them together with the wrapping from the dessert, and tossed them in the trashcan. I headed back to the restaurant where I expected to find Dotti, and there was some very good music being played by a three-piece band, sort of folksy with classical overtones. There was a great bass counter strain going on a very oversized cello, that held my attention right up until… Suddenly, I woke up. My very first thought was, “It was all a dream! I didn’t have a cigarette after all, or even a high-point dessert.” It is sort of like getting away with something really bad when I discovered it was only a dream where I was bad. :)

It was 7:00 AM as I got out of bed, contemplating the dream I had just had, and I stepped up on Mr. Scale. Mr. Scale said, “Personal Goal, Personal Goal!” Well, that was what I saw. What he really said was, “190.0 pounds.” Pretty cool. I like seeing it, even if it is all going to evaporate, once this dental infection is put to bed.

I watched the swelling slowly creep down yesterday, and this morning it has gone down even more. It is still obviously swollen, but it might take someone just a moment to notice it, whereas before it would have been the first thing they saw. Hopefully today it will continue to go down in size.

I could tell that things were getting better as the day progressed. Instead of needing 2 Vicodin to take out the pain, I found that one would do the trick early in the day. And then I found I didn’t need the medication as often. Finally, in the afternoon the pain had decreased to the point where I tried 2 Advil to control it, and it worked. Last night I made it through the entire night without taking any additional pain medication. That is a very good sign. This morning it hurts a bit, especially after eating my crunchy bran cereal that I didn’t bother to soften up today, but the pain is very minor compared with what I have been going through the past two days.

Neither Dotti nor I felt up to doing the DWLZ walk yesterday. We felt bad missing it, but it was just out of the question to make it.

I will be glad to get back to the point where the highlight of my day is not a decrease in pain and swelling caused by a dental procedure; Perhaps a nice enjoyable visit to an interesting location, and even a couple of nice pictures to be taken while there. That would be a nice change of pace. :)

For breakfast yesterday Dotti started me off with a WW Smoothie Shake (3.0 pt.) to go along with my bran flakes (2.0 pt.), and skim milk (2.0 pt.) That gave me 7.0 points for breakfast. For lunch, I had two yogurts (4.0 pt.), and two Laughing Cow cheese spreads (1.5 pt.), which totaled 5.5 points. For dinner I had another yogurt (2.0 pt.), and a cup of instant potatoes (3.0 pt.), bringing my dinner points to 5.0. That gave me a total of 18.5 points for meals. For snacks, I had 2 slices of bread with my medication during the day (0.5 pt.), and a Mr. Cookie Face ice cream sandwich (3.0 pt.), for 3.5 snack points. So, for the entire day I had 22.0 points. That is finally back in my range for points!

For water yesterday I drank 12 cups, or 96 ounces.

176 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/190.5/200/BMI:23.8/WK-25/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

I stepped on Mr. Scale at 6:00 AM and he said, “193.5 pounds.” I had been waiting for that jump up.

Yesterday the swelling in my cheek dropped considerably. This morning it is just barely noticeable and still falling. I had some “real food” yesterday for the first time in a couple of days. However, I spent the entire day relaxing and recuperating from my dental ordeal.

One of the things I did during my convalescence was to put up the new graphic on the main page of DWLZ to show over 4 million served. It is just amazing that the main page of this web site has been visited 4 million times. Wow!

I also put together two pictures the same size that show me before and after from the same pose, and position, and the same percentage of my height. Dotti used Dreamweaver to create a rollover for me and she placed it on the “Al’s Corner” main page (click here to view). I like the effect of seeing the big change in my stomach every time I move my mouse over the picture and back off of it. It wasn’t until I saw those pictures that I realized just how much of a difference my weight loss has made.

I didn’t take any Vicoden yesterday at all, and I only took Advil once, just before bed because the area around my problem tooth was aching just a bit and I didn’t want it to interfere with my sleep. It didn’t. I slept in almost until it was time for the alarm to go off.

I am not feeling all the way back to normal today, but I am much improved over what I was for the last few days. Hopefully I will continue to feel better as time passes by. It is Monday, and that is not my favorite day of the week, but what are you going to do? A stiff upper lip and face the music. It will pass soon enough.

For breakfast yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.). For lunch, I had a piece of pita bread (2.0 pt.), with two Laughing Cow cheese spreads (1.5 pt.), and a Jell-o dessert (1.0 pt.) which totaled 4.5 points. For dinner I had a cup of Tammy’s Stew (1.5 pt.), and a yogurt (2.0 pt.), bringing my dinner points to 3.5. That gave me a total of 13.0 points for meals. For snacks, I had a WW Smoothie Shake (3.0 pt.), a Mr. Cookie Face (3.0 pt.), a small can of V8 juice (0.5 pt.), and a Kashi bar (5.0 pt.) for a total of 11.0 snack points. So, for the entire day I had 24.5 points.

For water yesterday I drank 15 cups, or 120 ounces.

177 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/190.5/200/BMI:23.8/WK-25/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

This morning Dotti got up around 5:00 AM, and I heard her close the door to our bedroom, even though she was very quiet about doing it, as she was heading out to the living room. I was ready to wake up, and went to visit my little friend, Mr. Scale. I stepped up on him and he said, “191.0 pounds.”

That was lower than I had expected! I am left to wonder if this is where my “real” weight is at now, or if it is just another temporary fluctuation downward. As I have said many times before in my journal, no one day means very much by itself. Only as that day’s weight is taken in context with several days on either side of it does it come into focus. So, I will wait, but I liked what I saw today.

When I pulled into the parking lot at work yesterday, I was feeling bad. My stomach was woozy, and I felt weak and almost like I had a mild flu. I was debating whether to go in or just to turn around and head back home. But I took two Advil, threw my computer bag over my shoulder and headed in. I made it up the long flight of stairs okay, and dropped my computer off at my desk; so far, so good. My hope was that things were going to be really quiet and I could sit at my desk for most of the time and relax. No such luck. They wanted me to install a software upgrade on one of their machines, and it turned out to be an almost 8 hour job. Loading the tape took nearly an hour by itself, and then there were complications. I was on the phone to the factory, and they FAXed me some info for a fix to the symptoms that I was having. After I got back in the clean room with the FAX, I realized that the fix required a special cable that they had failed to mention to me over the phone.

I headed back out of the clean room, and headed to Radio Shack to pick up the cable I needed. I ate my lunch on the road.

Once I got the cable and performed the steps for the fix, things started working better, but there was another problem, another call to the factory and another fix. I was up and down, running to the back of the machine – which requires walking down the hall to a door which leads to the “chase” an area outside the main clean room area, where the back end of all the machines are located. It is still clean room but not as tightly controlled, hence the wall and the door between – and then back to the front. Anyway, in the end the new Revision of software came up and was running fine by 4:00 PM and I was finally able to relax by 4:30 just in time to get ready to head for home.

All the activity was just what I needed yesterday. It was not too physically strenuous, but it was active enough to work my muscles a bit and keep me mentally active, making the time pass by quickly. By the end of the day I felt much better than I had in the morning.

By the time I got to work yesterday the swelling in my cheek had dropped down to such a small amount that people didn’t even notice it when they looked at me. The tooth area is still a bit sore, and putting pressure directly on the tooth in question is painful. All the same I ate normally yesterday, with no serious consequences to the tooth.

I obviously had not had enough computer time at work, because when I got home I was right back on it, answering emails back and forth with a friend of mine in California. I don’t know where the time went because before I knew it, it was time to lay down and read a few minutes before heading off to sleep.

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.) and Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). For dinner I had 3 egg and turkey bacon sandwiches (6.0 pt.) – it was originally supposed to be 2 sandwiches and a yogurt, but somehow I ended up with an extra sandwich and Dot ended up with the yogurt:) . That gave me a total of 18.0 points for meals. For snacks, I had 10 cough drops (3.0 pt.) and a Mr. Cookie Face (3.0 pt.) for a total of 6.0 snack points. That brought me to 24.0 points for the day.

For water yesterday I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

178 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/190.5/200/BMI:23.8/WK-25/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

It was about 5:30 AM when I stepped up on Mr. Scale, and he said, “191.0 pounds.” There seems to be a trend developing here that I like! I have been taking a couple Advil each day still, and didn't get too much exercise for several days, and still my weight is hanging pretty close to where I weighed in on Saturday. Maybe I will be able to drop into my personal goal range in the next week or so. That would be great!

Yesterday, I felt much better than I had the day before. In the morning I had to stop by the office first to pick up some parts for my customer and then deliver them to his shipping and receiving department because the parts were too many and too large to lug up the stairs. Then I spent a lot of the day getting my company Intranet dial up access running on my laptop, and was finally successful towards the end of the day. Now, I have finally recovered completely from my computer upgrade from a few weeks back.

When I went out in the parking lot at lunchtime, I had no choice but to take a walk. It was absolutely too beautiful of a day not to. The sun was shining brightly and hardly even a fluffy white cloud was in the sky. The air temperature was cool, and there was no way I was passing up a walk in the park. The only thing I was unhappy about was that I did not have my camera!

I wasn’t up to a full speed pace, but I did walk a full two miles. I just took 35 minutes, and 26.77 seconds to walk it. That gave me a mere 3.77 Aerobic points, but it gave me much more than that. The park was in the glory of a deeper autumn than the last time I walked through. I saw one tree that had already lost its last leaf. I saw a few others that were getting close. Most of the trees were still well stocked but the ground underneath them was completely covered with a blanket of their mislaid leaves. My favorite bridge was layered with leaves that were long and thin, shaped like peapods, only flat as paper. They reminded me of little 2 dimensional bananas, because they were yellow. The bridge was covered with them, the ground on either side approaching the bridge was covered with them, and even the water underneath the bridge had a layer of them floating on top.

I found that at the beginning of my walk, my hands were actually growing numb with the cold, and so I put on my gloves after about a third of a mile. The shaded areas of the path felt a bit too cool and I was happy to walk out of them into the sunshine. That is just the opposite of the way I felt in summertime, when I looked forward to the shade and hated to walk out into the blazing sun. After getting past the tall stand of pines, I finally warmed up enough to where I could take the gloves back off again.

Afterwards, when I got back to my car, I felt very good, and not overworked at all. I was a little concerned before I began, since I am just getting over the dental infection. I didn’t want to overdo it. But I didn’t.

One of the nice things about cell phones is that you can take them on walks like I had yesterday. (It can be a bad thing about cell phones to, if the wrong people call. :( ) If I see something interesting I like to call Dotti and share it with her. Yesterday, I called Dot at the start of my walk, and she called me right at the end. So, I started and finished the walk talking to my best friend. The only way it could have been better would have been if Dotti were holding my hand the entire way.

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.) and Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). (The only strange thing about lunch was, after my walk, somehow I missed eating my sandwiches and ended up eating them along with my dinner in the evening. If I am not paying attention, things can get lost in that bigger cooler I am taking now.) For dinner I had a pita bread (2.0 pt.), with Laughing Cow cheese spread (1.5 pt.), and a cup of Tammy’s Stew (1.5 pt.), adding up to 5 points for dinner, and a total of 17.0 points for meals. For snacks, I had 12 cough drops (3.5 pt.), a Just 2 Points bar (2.0 pt.), and 3 Dum Dum suckers (1.0 pt.) for a total of 6.5 snack points. That brought me to 23.5 points for the day.

For water yesterday I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

For exercise yesterday I walked 2 miles in 35 minutes, 27 seconds for 3.77 Aerobic points.

179 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/190.5/200/BMI:23.8/WK-25/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

At 5:30 AM I stepped up on Mr. Scale, and he said, “191.5 pounds.” I was very happy with that.

I spent the day doing paperwork at work, catching up some on what I had gotten behind on thanks to my dialup access not working for a couple of weeks on my laptop. I was mentally tired and even a bit stressed after that, so it was a great night to head down to the gym for some racquetball, which Dotti and I did.

At lunch yesterday I wanted to take another walk. The sun was out again, and the park was calling to me, but I knew we were going to play racquetball in the evening so I didn’t go.

When I got home from work, Dotti and I got dressed right away for the gym and headed out. It was our first time for using the facility and it is so large that we were a little concerned over getting lost in trying to find the locker rooms and the courts, but it worked out well. In the racquetball court I noticed that the walls did not have a feel of wood at all, like our old gym’s courts did. There is no give at all to these walls, so running into the wall could be a very painful experience, and also the racket does not bounce off the wall in the same way as with the other surface, when you are trying to dig a ball out from the wall. Dotti ended up bouncing her racket off the wall one time and hitting her left elbow as a result. It is not like the walls at the other place were soft padded things. You still had to be careful not to run into them, and hitting the wall with your racquet was not something you wanted to do, but these walls are just a bit harder and more unresisting. The ball has just a slightly different feel to it coming off these walls, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the ball doesn’t have just a bit shorter lifespan playing off the hard surfaces.

The courts are in great shape though, and there are 9 of them. You don’t even have to reserve one, you just walk in and play. We were told that the only night where that might be a problem is Tuesday, due to racquetball leagues going on. That means we will be able to get our 3 workouts or more in every week with no trouble. Even if we should find a day where we couldn’t get a court, they have an indoor track, basketball courts and many other things available. It reminds me a lot of how it was in the Navy, where I could just run down to the gym and check out a basketball to shoot some hoops, or play racquetball, use the weights or play ping-pong. There was always something to do at the gym and this gym has the same feel to it, and I like it. Ever since I got out of the Navy I have missed having those facilities available to me.

Dotti and I played racquetball for over an hour, and Dotti was playing very well. She is getting to hard shots that she would have not even tried for a few months back. She is making some great shots and giving me a lot better workout. Her game has really improved!

Sometime during the second or third game I strained my right shoulder just a bit when hitting a ball, and so I had to back off a little to let it work itself out. (We probably played 6 or 7 games total.) After a couple of games it was feeling much better, and this morning it feels good. My elbow didn’t give me any trouble at all while we were playing, and this morning it feels good. As we approached the end of our session, I wanted to get in an hour and 10 minutes, to get at least 10 Aerobic Points. So we played one more game, even though it had been just over an hour that we had already played up to that point. During that game I turned in a funny way, and my back got a twinge in it. I was working around that twinge the whole last game, and when I went to bed last night it was hurting just a bit. This morning it is still a bit sore, but not too bad.

It is clear to me why you don’t see 50-year-old professional athletes in sports that require serious physical exertion. Things that I would not have given a second thought to 20 years ago are generating aches and pains that I would have never dreamed possible back then. But as bad as aging is, it certainly beats the alternative. And I am in better physical shape than I was a year ago. My weight is down and I am getting around better in my daily routine, as well as on the racquetball court. I think I will focus on that, rather than fretting over what 20 years has done to me. They have been a very good 20 years, and the good I experienced was worth every bit of the negative that came along with it.

Well, I have now been on my journey for 180 days. Almost six months. (Since this year is 365 days long, six months will technically happen at 182.5 days, or at noon on Saturday, November 10.) It has been half a year well spent!

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.) and Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). For dinner we stopped at Subway after going to the gym, and I had a six inch turkey breast sandwich (6.0 pt.). That gave me a total of 18.0 points for meals. For snacks, I had 12 cough drops (3.5 pt.), a cup of decaf (1.0 pt.), and a Just 2 Points bar (2.0 pt.) for a total of 6.5 snack points. That brought me to 24.5 points for the day.

For water yesterday I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

For exercise yesterday I played 1 hour and 13 minutes of racquetball, for 10.95 Aerobic points.

180 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/190.5/200/BMI:23.8/WK-25/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

Once again I stepped up on Mr. Scale at 5:30 AM, and he said, “191.5 pounds.”

Ever since my tooth problems last week forced my weight down 5 pounds in one week, I have been expecting a gain for this week’s weigh-in. I have been up only a pound or so all week long, from that low weigh-in. Who knows? Tomorrow, maybe I can stay the same rather than showing a gain. I know it’s pushing it, but if I could show just a half-pound loss, it would put me in my personal goal range which would be nice. :) However, even if I have a one-pound gain for the week, I won’t be complaining too loudly. That would make a 4 pound loss in two weeks, and when I am this close to where I plan to set up permanent residence, a 2 pound per week loss feels like speeding, and I need to watch out for the Journey Highway Patrol. Also, if I have to wait until a week from Saturday to make my personal goal, or even the week after, I will be making it in Spokane with Jim and Tammy, our closest friends, and that would be very nice too. :)

When I was driving in to work yesterday, just as I was arriving at my customer’s site, he called me up on my cell phone, to say that he needed a part from our office. So, I turned around and headed back the way I had come. At 8:00 AM the rush hour is in its ugly worst, and so I got to face it twice. Since I only carry enough free food in my cooler for my drive home, I tend to go through cough drops on the morning drive. I went through a total of 18 of them yesterday, and part of that was due the second leg of my drive in rush hour.

Even after the cough drops, last night when I was doing some singing as I was working out a couple of new songs I was typing up for my guitar song “fake” book, my voice was still a bit hoarse. I just can’t keep the sinuses from draining at least a bit.

I have found the Internet to be a tremendous resource for song lyrics and sometimes even for chords for songs. Sometimes I just find the lyrics alone and then I have to figure the chords out for myself, and other times a page will have both. Last night I found several songs that I want to add to my book. I did get two of them finished and installed (a couple of old Beach Boy Songs: Surfin’ USA and Shut Down). There are some others that I downloaded but I still have to get them whipped into shape before they can be put into the book. I really enjoy building that book up with songs that are fun to play. When we go to Spokane, that is the time I usually get the most use out of it, because Jim will break out his guitar and matching book, and we have a ball playing songs.

When I finally had the part in hand that the customer wanted and got back to his site, I was involved with helping with pulling out a resonator can. I described that process in a an earlier journal entry, but at least this time there were two of us doing it. Since my back muscles were a big sore from the racquetball game the night before, I was a bit concerned at doing the heavy lifting, but it did no harm at all and my back feels much better today. I should be all ready to go for our racquetball session tomorrow.

I am still taking my antibiotics, and will continue to do so until they are all gone. The swelling in my gums and my cheek has completely disappeared. The tooth is just slightly sensitive to pressure, and seems to be perhaps just a shade firmer than it was before. Only time will tell if all this is going to be for good or ill for me and that tooth.

In the semiconductor industry, the last upturn was the largest in history. Things were just exploding with growth. All the companies were hiring and buying lots of equipment. Now, that healthy growth has been replaced by the worse downturn in the history of the industry. Companies are failing, and the ones that are holding on, are scaling everything back. There are layoffs everywhere, and a certain percentage of the chip fabrication equipment is being put into hibernation, unused and waiting for the recovery to hopefully come soon.

This industry has always run in cycles. It is very much like the yearly cycle of seasons our planet goes through. As an upturn comes along, suddenly, just like in spring, there is wild growth initiated. Customers want new machines, and they want them yesterday. Manufacturers, who have been running on a skeletal crew, have to scramble to find employees who can assemble their products and get them shipped. Suddenly the production floor space is too small, rather than just a wasted resource that it was just a month before. Everywhere companies are screaming for employees, and there are not enough to be had. As with spring, where greenery blankets the landscape, where only brown had been visible a short time before, now parking lots are overflowing at factories where they had stood nearly empty only weeks before.

As the summer of the cycle runs, the factories are finally catching up with the demand. There is plenty of overtime for everyone who wants it, and the products are flowing smoothly out the door. All are busy and working hard at an efficient pace. Then comes the autumn, the dreaded fall. Suddenly customers are feeling a pinch somewhere. Perhaps computer sales are suddenly down, or something else shows a slight downturn. Orders are placed on hold, and pushed out to a future date. Workers are told that one shift and no overtime is all that is available “for now.” Then, just like the leaves falling from the trees, the layoffs start. Temporary employees are shown the door first, and then as the downturn progresses and orders are cancelled rather than just postponed, the full time regular work force begins to be trimmed. The company begins to shut down its lights and it pulls back in every way it can think of to save money, just like a tree pulling its sap down into its roots to protect itself from the freezing temperatures to come. And when all is cut back to empty parking lots and skeletal crews the wait begins for spring once again. That is where we are today in my industry. When will spring arrive? No one can say for sure, but we all hope that it will be soon!

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.) and Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). For dinner Dotti fixed us some tostados, and I had 3 of them (6.0 pt.), which brought my meal points to 18.0. For snacks, I had 18 cough drops (5.5 pt.), a Mr. Cookie Face ice cream sandwich (3.0 pt.), and 3 Dum Dum suckers (1.0 pt.) for a total of 9.5 snack points. That brought my total points for the day to 27.5.

For water yesterday I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

181 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/190.5/200/BMI:23.8/WK-25/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

*** Weigh-in for WEEK 26 ***

Week Completed:	___26___
Weigh-In Weight:	191.0
Body Mass Index:	23.9
Aerobic Points for week:	19.85
Week’s Average Points/Day:	23.9
Pounds +/- for this week:	+0.5
Pounds lost total:	48.5
Pounds to go to 10%:	0.0*
Pounds to go to goal:	0.0**
Pounds to go to 20%:	0.0***
Made LIFETIME: 11/3/2001
* Made 10% at 215.5 pounds on 7/14/01 ** Made Goal at 200.0 pounds on 9/22/01 *** Made 20% at 191.5 pounds on 11/3/01

___________________________

I am sitting 1 pound above my personal goal range. Since the range is from 185 to 190, my target weight should be in the middle of that range, or 187.5, which is 3.5 pounds below where I am sitting right now. From then on, gains, losses (or neither) each week will be okay, as long as I stay in my range. If I gain one week, I will aim to lose the next, and vice versa. I will be hunting around for the exact number of points that I need to eat to hold my weight at 187.5. (It should come out to 1875 calories total, or perhaps a bit more, each day. Which will put me well into the 30s for daily points.) I have that feeling that I am finishing up a bit of old business right now, getting down to my exact weight, so that I can finally get to the real job of staying there.

Thanksgiving is coming up, just as I am catching up with my target weight, and Tammy sets a really great table for Turkey Day. I will have to plan my day well to remain OP. However, with both Dotti and Tammy being so successful in their weight loss journey, I know I will find some great things to eat, while still remaining within my points range. Those are the kind of personal challenges that are fun to take on. It keeps the journey interesting.

Today, at noon, I will have completed a full six months on my journey. I have to say that what I had hoped to accomplish at the start of my journey, during my first six months, has been realized completely. Today, I weigh less (except for this last week) than I have weighed since I got out of the Navy. In fact I think the last time I weighed less than I weigh right now was in March of 1987 when I came back from a cruise, after having spent 7 months on the Mediterranean Sea, with a lot exercise running up and down ladders, and with very poor eating. So, now I am at a nearly 15 year low in my weight. And that one time in 1987 when I weighed less, was just a blip on the scope. It came and went with the cruise. It was an aberration, because for years before that I was fighting to keep my weight down to stay within the Navy Standards.

This journey is something completely new and different. Right now I feel confident that I can remain at this weight, and even in my desired weight range, with very little difficulty. It is a feeling of control, not a tight grasping, desperate control, but a firm assuredness, like the control I feel at the wheel of a car. I don’t fret and worry about driving off the edge of the road when I take a trip. I know that I will have no trouble steering the vehicle to where it will stay in the lane. Yes, it takes effort, but it is not grievous at all. That is how I feel about my journey today. What the future will hold, no one can say, but I do feel good about it, and confident that I will not lose my grip on the wheel.

Yesterday at lunch the weather was pretty good once again, and so I decided to take a walk. The sky was the mixture of white clouds and blue that artists are so found of reproducing on canvas. It was a nearly equal mix of white and blue, with no gray to be seen anywhere. The temperature was cool, and I set a pretty good pace. At the mile turn around point I was at about 14.5 minutes. I could tell that I had not done this in a while and I had to back it off just a bit on the return trip, and I finished the 2-mile walk in 29 minutes, 30.28 seconds. I could tell that I had overdone it a bit and it took a while before I got to feeling right again, but things finally settled back down.

That was it for exercise yesterday. I got some paperwork done at work, and I had to make a run to the office to pick up a part again. This time at least, it was not during rush hour, which made it a lot nicer.

Last night I added a couple of more songs to my songbook. It is always nice to have some new material to go along with the old standbys. It does take some time to get them formatted and ready to print up for my book, and before I knew it, it was time to go to bed.

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.) and Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). For dinner I had instant potatoes (3.0 pt.), pita bread (2.0 pt.) with Laughing Cow cheese spread on it, (1.5 pt.). For meals I had a total of 18.5 points. For snacks, I had 12 cough drops (3.5 pt.). So, my total points for the day was 22.0.

For water yesterday I drank 15 cups, or 120 ounces.

For exercise yesterday I walked 2 miles in 29 minutes, 30.28 seconds for 5.13 Aerobic Points.

182 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/191.0/200/BMI:23.9/WK-26/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph