I stepped up on Mr. Scale at 6:25 AM, and he said, “187.5 pounds.” Well, 4 days in a row at the same weight, right in the middle of my personal goal weight range is not total maintenance, but it certainly is a good start. :^)

Yesterday we had a nice relaxing day at home. It seemed like the evening came very quickly when it was time for us to go pick up our photos. We couldn’t get all of them. The best pose had some green light reflecting off of Dotti’s glasses and they were going to try and remove that (it probably would have been faster and easier to repose the picture and shoot it again on the spot, but they probably hire people for their artistic eye, not their problem solving abilities). We will not be getting that pose from them until after Christmas sometime, if at all. Since we paid for it already, we will either get the photo, get to re-shoot the photo, or get a refund to take somewhere else and shoot the photo. Anyway, here is link to one of the photos that we did get, and the one we are using in our 25th Anniversary frame: Click here for photo. Isn’t Dotti lovely? That is my “unbiased opinion” anyway.

While in the mall, waiting to get our photos, I felt like the theme song for the establishment should be, “It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Chaos.” I normally don’t go anywhere near a mall or large store the last few weeks before Christmas because they are so overcrowded. I like the decorations, but I prefer less people when I am shopping. As we were standing out of the path of the foot traffic, we noticed that there was a huge wreath hanging from the rafters in one area. It had to have a diameter of 15 or 20 feet. It was high up in the air, so it was a bit hard to judge the exact size. It was held up by two heavy metal cables strung over one of the steel support beams in the overhead.

As it turned out yesterday, we got distracted in the late morning/early afternoon (it might have been the Crown Royal.:^) ), and I missed lunch altogether. Before I realized it, it was nearing 6:00 PM and was time to go pick up our pictures. So, we swung by Subway and got our sandwiches, on the way. In the evening I got to playing a few games of Snood and I looked up to find it was 11:00 PM already. My points were low (23.5) but I didn’t want to eat so late, and my water consumption was sitting at only 3 cups so far. I immediately chugged down 6 glasses of water, and then went off to bed. I must have needed the water, because I nearly slept all the way through the night without having to get up in spite of all the last minute water I drank.

Today we head south for a Christmas visit. Mom called last night to let us know all was in readiness and in a few hours we should be pulling in at their driveway. If southern Oregon has been getting as much rain as we have been getting I would expect the river that flows right beside their house, to be running hard and deep about now. We will see later on today.

For eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.). I ended up skipping lunch. For dinner, I had a 6” sub at Subway (6.0 pt.). That gave me 11.0 meal points. For snacks, I had 2.25 ounces of Crown Royal whiskey (3.0 pt.), an All American Ice Cream cone at the mall (2.0 pt.), 4 cough drops (1.0 pt.), a yogurt (2.0 pt.), a pita pocket with Laughing Cow cheese (3.5 pt.), and a cup of cocoa (1.0 pt.). That added up to 12.5 snack points, and brought my total points for the day to 23.5.

For water I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

Just 2 days until Christmas!

225 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/187.5/200/BMI:23.4/WK-32/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

Here we are once again at Mom's house. Back in October was the last time I weighed here. I recalled that since there was no exposed floor surface upstairs that is both level and hard, I ended up weighing on top of her hope chest. Well, this morning I was once again perched atop that hope chest, and peering down at Mr. Scale. This time he said, "187.0 pounds," which is 10 pounds lighter than last time. :^)

Yesterday, after I wrote my journal entry, and we got the van all loaded up, but before we left Vancouver, Dotti and I stopped at Fred Meyers and Trader Joes to get a few items for the trip. One of the things that she picked up, was some celery for me, for the long drive.

We made the 4 hour drive south uneventfully, but I did go through some cough drops, both before I got into the celery, and after it was all gone. We stopped for a Subway sandwich about halfway through the trip. For part of the drive, we were playing a hangman game on Dotti's palmtop; it was a lot of fun. When we reached Canyonville, Dotti stopped at the Seven Feathers Casino and played the slots for an hour. She came out ahead by about $30. :^)

My Dad is buried in a cemetery right next to that casino, and so I took the opportunity to visit his grave for a while. It is hard to believe that in less than a month, it will have been 29 years that he has been gone. It just seems like it was only a short while ago that I was standing beside that grave, open and waiting, with his gray coffin poised over it while the graveside service was held. The rain was falling and so were my tears. There was a large tree standing near his grave, and at the time I thought it would add a touch of serenity to the location. Now the tree has been cut down, leaving nothing but a stump less than a foot high, and not far away, where once rolled vacant and vegetated land, pushed right up against the once quiet little cemetery is the parking lot of the casino.

In the evening we had a nice visit with Mom and Jim, and before we knew it the evening was over and my eyelids were drooping.

It is Christmas Eve today, and I am looking forward to it. I am looking out the window, as the sky is beginning to brighten up, and I can see that the river is up and flowing strongly, dark green in color, and looking cold. I hope the weather continues to hold up, because we had bright sunshine with blue skies almost all the way down on the drive. (Eugene for some reason, seems to be a fog magnet, because we often run into fog as we drive through that area. Yesterday, we were driving in bright sunshine, when suddenly, as we approached Eugene, we were nearly socked in with fog. Out the other side of town the fog rolled away and we were in the sunshine again.)

I can see some direct sunlight just hitting the top of the hill to the west of us and it is moving downwards coming closer every minute to shining on us as well. The stars were leaping out at me when first woke up, and they just never look like that in town. It seems like there are 10 times as many stars in the sky out here with no city lights around. It is a beautiful sight!

Well, I am off to enjoy another Christmas Eve with family and it should be a good one!

For eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.). For lunch I had a 6" sub sandwich at Subway (6.0 pt.). For dinner, I had a pita pocket with Laughing Cow cheese (3.5 pt.), instant potatoes (3.0 pt.), a green salad and steamed cabbage (0.0 pt.), for a total of 6.5 points. That gave me 17.0 meal points. For snacks, I had 27 cough drops (8.0 pt.), 5 Body Smart Chews (1.0 pt.), an apple (1.0 pt.), a jello dessert (1.0 pt.), and two bunches of celery (0.0 pt.). That added up to 11.0 snack points, and brought my total points for the day to 28.0.

For water I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

It's Christmas eve!

226 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/187.5/200/BMI:23.4/WK-32/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

At 5:55 AM I climbed up on the hope chest one more time, and Mr. Scale said, "184.5 pounds." What does he think this is, Christmas or something?

Hey, it is Christmas, and I am wishing all the Zonies a very merry one!

Fifty years ago I spent my very first Christmas with my mother, and today I am going to spend another one with her. Although I do not remember that first Christmas, I do remember some very early ones, and the eager anticipation that I had for the morning to come so I could open all of those presents. There have been very few things in my life that have brought that much excitement in looking forward to their approach. My folks required that I wait until some prearranged time (usually I think it was 6:00 AM) before I could come and wake them up. It was my first documented case of clock watching, lying in my little bed looking at the ceiling and thinking how wonderful it was all going to be when I could run into Mommy and Daddy's room and get them up for all the fun.

Then, when I had children of my own, the excitement was back, because I could see it in their little faces.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but the only sad part is that it is nearly over, and soon we will be back in the old grind, with most of a year to get through before we will be back to the Christmas holiday season. Oh well, if every day were Christmas, it would not be as special as it is.

From now on the days will be getting longer (actually the Winter Solstice was a few days ago), which is why Christmas falls when it does. It was originally the "birthday of the Sun," when it appears to grow stronger every day, until spring is brought upon the world, and then it peaks on the Summer Solstice on the longest day of the year, before it wanes once again into fall. The ancients, whom we have to thank for most of our Christmas traditions, were very tied to the astronomical movements and times. Today, modern man doesn't take as much notice of what inspired the traditions, but he has held on to many of the traditions themselves, and has a lot of fun with them.

Yesterday Dotti and I spent some time helping Mom set up some things on her computer, including her new Palm Pilot. I also installed a small filter on Mom and Jim's satellite dish. They had received the filter in the mail, with which to replace one that was suspected of being bad. As it turned out, the problem they were looking to get rid of did not go away. So, the part was not the problem. Mom was out at the 7-foot dish with me, handing me tools, and holding the bolts that I took off, and keeping me company. She is a very sweet lady!

Along about noon yesterday our time, our son LeRoy called from Japan. He has always been great at keeping in contact with Dotti and me. It was already Christmas in Japan when he called. (It was 5:00 AM his time.) He must have had a new phone card that he was using, because he ended up talking for an hour and a half or more, talking to the four us. His ship is in port, but it is gearing up for a new long term cruise in a couple of months. Fortunately for him, LeRoy will have transferred before the Kitty Hawk pulls out again. :^) He will be home before too much longer... we should be seeing him in a month or so. It was great hearing his voice!

In the evening we watched Miracle on 34th Street on AMC. (I was really disappointed to see that AMC has stooped to putting commercials in the middle of the movie now.) I don't know how many times that I have watched that movie, but I just love it every time I watch it again. After that we watched a second movie, Little Lord Fauntleroy, made in the 1930s; Mickey Rooney was just a young teenager in it. It is a heartwarming story that I have always enjoyed. I had dinner during the first movie, and a bag of popcorn during the second movie.

Dotti and I were feeling pretty tired by this time, even though it was not even 10:00 PM yet. So, we headed off to bed to get some sleep.

For eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt. - although I may have counted my coffee high, since we did not have my normal creamer and I used just a dash of skim milk instead but I am sure it was not too far off.). For lunch I had instant potatoes (3.0 pt.), 3 tomato sandwiches (1.5 pt.), and a Jell-O creamsicle dessert (1.0 pt.). That added up to 5.5 lunch points. For dinner, I had a cup of lima beans (2.0 pt.), 2 packages of instant Cream o' Wheat (4.0 pt.), and a chocolate WW Smoothie Shake (3.0 pt.), for a total of 9.0 points. That gave me 19.5 meal points. For snacks, I had a Kashi bar (5.0 pt.), 2 heads of romaine lettuce, a bag of Jolly Time Healthy Pop popcorn (2.0 pt.), and a Just 2 Points bar (2.0 pt.). That added up to 9.0 snack points, and brought my total points for the day to 28.5.

For water I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

Ho ho ho! It's Christmas!

227 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/187.5/200/BMI:23.4/WK-32/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

It was once again at 5:55 AM when I climbed up on Mr. Scale's hope chest perch, and when I stepped on him, he said, "184.5 pounds." A half pound below range again.

I decided to use half of a "banked point" yesterday. I have had several days where I ate well below my limit, and I was at a point where I had 1.5 points left and felt like having a Just 2 Point bar. Since my overall points since Saturday have been low, and I am under my goal weight range, I felt it would be okay to go over half of a point on Christmas day. So, I did. My average points per day are well below my upper limit, whether you average the last two days or the last week. That means that I am OP and I feel that I am still doing well on my journey. It just felt weird going over my upper limit on purpose.

Christmas was a fun day. We spent the day visiting, and showing Mom and Jim how to do different things on their computers. When it got dark we plugged in their outdoor Christmas lights and saw all the dancing colors jumping along their fences, their deck and the upper-floor edge of their roof.

Mom baked a turkey for the rest of us, even though she is a vegetarian, and she made up a lot of great trimmings to go with it. We had our Christmas dinner about 6:00 PM and it was delicious! I had a scale in my van for measuring out the portion sizes (I had picked it up on one of my lunch hours months ago, from a Goodwill store), and that allowed us to measure the potatoes (both sweet and regular), as well as the turkey. I was stuffed at the end of the meal, and couldn't eat another bite. In spite of that, the whole meal only came to 11.5 points -- several points less than one Big Mac all by itself.

In the evening we watched the movie Swiss Family Robinson on videotape. It was fun to watch the portrayal of the spirit of the European pioneers setting out to help colonize a new land. Even though they ended up stranded on an island, and were beset with troubles, they strove to create a pocket of civilization where they were, and on Christmas day they merrily sang, "O Christmas Tree." As the movie came to an end, near 11:00 PM, my eyes were drooping in a big way, and I was ready for bed.

The sky began to return to its normal wintertime gray for Christmas, although it didn't rain. Today, I could not see the stars when I got up, which means the clouds are still there. I am not sure what the weather will be like for our trip north today but it may be wet.

The first year of the new century is fast drawing to a close. Soon it will be 2002. I remember back in high school we used to use the phrase, "back in Oh-Two" to depict something as being "really old," because we saw1902 as being so far removed from our time. Now we are looking at a new '02 coming up, and the phrase "back in '02" will not acquire the same meaning, as how we used it, for decades. It is funny how we look at our own upcoming year as being bright and shiny new, but the year that past 100 years ago, we usually view as ancient history, even though to those who welcomed in 1902, it was as shiny and new to them as 2002 is to us. One day, the people will be looking back at 2002 as a terribly old date, and one that will convey the concept of antiquity to those discussing it.

Perhaps a more upbeat way to look at things is look at the accomplishments of the past 12 months, and to make some plans for the upcoming 12 months. One of my favorite motivational statements is, "Failure to plan, is planning to fail." With no goals in place, it is like taking a trip with no destination in mind, no method of travel chosen, and no map to identify your present position.

Moving fast is only helpful when you are moving in the right direction. Moving fast in the wrong direction is worse than standing still. But, in spite of that, there is one thing that is certain in life... you never stand completely still. Time will pass, and the present state of affairs will pass right along with it. We are left with the task of using our own intellects to direct our path down the road that comes to us, whether we wish the road to come or not. We can drive in the ditch and wander through the bumpy terrain, out of control, or we can drive on the smooth pavement. We can make things better, or let them grow worse. The only thing we cannot do is to stay exactly the same as we are.

I feel very good about the changes in my life for 2001, especially the second half of the year. The upcoming year stands as an opportunity to build upon the changes already in place, reaching to new levels of fitness, and a healthier existence. Of course if I fail to plan, or fail to follow my plans, 2002 could just as easily lead to regression, and a less healthful existence. It is very much up to me to choose which way it will go.

For eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.). For lunch I had a pita pocket with two small wedges of Laughing Cow cheese (3.5 pt.), and half of a WW Smoothie Shake that I split with Dotti (1.5 pt.). That added up to 5.0 lunch points. For Christmas dinner, I had a baked potato, with Molly McButter (1.5 pt.), 3/4 cup stuffing (2.5 pt.), 3 ounces of baked turkey (3.0 pt.), sweet potato (1.5 pt.) one half of a corn meal biscuit (2.0 pt.), a salad, with less than a teaspoonful of Brewer's Yeast sprinkled over the top (0.0 pt.), a half cup of vegetables (0.0 pt.), and for dessert some pumpkin pudding that Dotti made (1.0 pt.). That came to a total of 11.5 dinner points. Adding them up, I had 21.5 meal points yesterday. For snacks, I had 3 Just 2 Points bars during the day (6.0 pt.), a bag of Jolly Time Healthy Pop popcorn (2.0 pt.), and 10 Body Smarts chews (2.0 pt.). That added up to 10.0 snack points, and brought my total points for the day to 31.5.

For water I drank 10 cups, or 80 ounces.

Just 364 days until Christmas! :^)

227 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/187.5/200/BMI:23.4/WK-32/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

It was 36 degrees outside when I stepped up on Mr. Scale at 6:50 AM, and he said, “183.5 pounds.” I then stepped up on our new scale, which I had not used in a few days, and it said 179.5. I appear to have fallen through the floor of my goal weight range a bit and it is time to start bringing it back up.

Yesterday Dotti and I started out from Mom and Jim’s place with Vancouver, Washington as our ultimate destination, but not sure which route we were going to take. We stopped in Canyonville at the Casino, so that Dotti could give the money back that she won on the way down, plus a bit more. :^( I wandered around a used bookstore while I was waiting for her. When she was finished at the casino, we got to talking about it, and decided that we were tired and wanted to just go ahead and take the freeway back home. So, that is what we did.

We got home a bit before 5:00 PM, which allowed us to pick up our mail. We then picked up some groceries, and then headed to our apartment. I unloaded the van as Dotti unpacked the things I brought upstairs. Before long we were all settled in for the night. We then had a nice evening, celebrating the New Year early. :^) (I will be on call on New Years day, so drinking is something that I will not be doing on New Year’s Eve.) I did get distracted and forgot to check my water before going to sleep last night. I only had 6 cups yesterday.

Since my weight has been falling, I decided to bump my points up again for the day, and ran them up to 34.0. I want to keep them up over 30 for a bit and watch what happens with my weight. Since Saturday I have averaged 29.1 points per day. Judging from what the scale has been doing, that is a bit low. If I move into the 30s again, it should bring me back up to where I want to be.

For eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.). For lunch I had a 6” sub sandwich (6.0 pt.) and a McDonalds ice cream cone (3.0 pt.). That added up to 9 lunch points. With all the snacking that I did on the road, I ended up skipping dinner, in favor of having a few drinks with Dotti. For snacks, I had, 9 Crystal Light hard candies (1.0 pt.), 25 cough drops (7.5 pt.), two Just 2 Points bars (4.0 pt.), and 6 ounces of Crown Royal whiskey (8.0 pt.), mixed with diet cream soda (0.0 pt.). That added up to 20.5 snack points, and brought my total points for the day to 34.0.

For water I drank 6 cups, or 48 ounces.

229 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/187.5/200/BMI:23.4/WK-32/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

The Weatherbug said that it was 32 degrees outside at 7:15 AM, when I stepped up on Mr. Scale, and he said, “185.0 pounds.” (The new scale said 181.5 pounds.) Now I am back at the bottom of my goal weight range.

Yesterday was a nice relaxing day. Dotti went bowling in the morning, and did pretty well. (179, 179, and 168 for her scores.) She brought Subway sandwiches home for lunch.

The only time I left the house was to go shopping with Dotti. She had some things that she wanted to look for at Target, and since it is really close to a Barnes and Noble bookstore, it worked out well. She dropped me off at the bookstore, and did her shopping at Target. Unfortunately the lines were pretty long at both places and we did not find anything that was worth braving the lines for. On the way home, we stopped at Vintage Books, a fairly large used bookstore that is located next to the Weight Watchers meeting room that Dotti goes to every week. Also, this store had no lines! I picked up a couple of books there, and then we headed for home. The rest of the day was quiet.

I tried out some Peter Pan Whipped Peanut Butter yesterday, that Flo was so nice to send along, since we can’t seem find it here in the Vancouver area. (Thank you Flo!) Now I never met a peanut butter (or cashew butter, etc.) that I didn’t like. In fact, since I have started my journey, I have pretty well sworn off from peanut butter because I like it too well, and it is too high in points. This whipped peanut butter comes out to 3.5 points for 2 tablespoons. (My regular peanut butter comes to 5.0 points for the same amount.) So, the quantity of two teaspoonfuls comes out to about 1 point. I put those two teaspoonfuls onto a chocolate rice cake, which is also 1 point, creating a 2-point snack. Unfortunately, I fear the snack was made for the gods and not for mortal man. Dotti always warns about any food that when you eat it, it causes you to produces uncontrollable “yummy” sounds from out of your mouth. Well that is exactly what this did to me.

I already know that peanut butter is a danger food for me, because I have always loved it. After eating the first rice cake I was looking at the full jar of peanut butter and the remaining stack of rice cakes in a way that must have resembled how a very hungry cat looks at bird in its claws. I was figuring madly in my head how I could justify eating the whole stack of cakes. (And I thought Snood was addictive.) Finally I was able to break the spell and the peanut butter was put back on the shelf where it belongs, and the rice cakes made it safely home as well. I don’t foresee putting myself through that very often! (Of course I could be wrong. :^o )

I just put all the values for my daily weigh-ins and my daily points into a spreadsheet so I could take a longer ranged look at the relationship between points and scale weight for my metabolism. (See Al's Journey In Numbers.) I found that over the last 230 days, I have averaged 26.2 points per day. However, since November 15, I have not averaged that low per day for any 7 day period. For the last 7 days, I have averaged 29.86 points, and my weight has averaged 185.64 pounds (6.21 pounds per point). For the last 14 days, I have averaged 29.75 points and my weight has averaged 186.86 pounds (6.28 pounds per point or if you prefer, 0.159 points per pound). Extrapolating that out gives me the value of 29.5 points per day for maintaining 185 pounds, which is where I want to be. So, I think I will set that as my target for average points per week for a while, and then see what happens.

I think the spreadsheet is going to be a pretty useful tool in the future as I track my average weight against my average points over time. It should help me nail down exactly how many points I should be eating to remain where I want to be.

For eating yesterday, I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.). For lunch I had a 6” sub sandwich (6.0 pt.). For dinner I had one-half of a Heaven’s Bistro pizza (4.5 pt.). That gave me 15.5 meal points. For snacks I actually ran out of spaces in the snack column of my journal for the first time, and had to add more spaces. I had, 20 Body Smarts Chews (4.0 pt.), a bag of Jolly Time Healthy Pop popcorn (2.0 pt.), a Just 2 Points bar (2.0 pt.), a rice cake and peanut butter (2.0 pt.), 4 cough drops (1.0 pt.), 2 chocolate meringues (1.0 pt.), 2 fried egg sandwiches (1.0 pt.), and a Mister Cookie Face ice cream sandwich (3.0 pt.). That added up to 17.0 snack points, and brought my total points for the day to 32.5.

For water I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

230 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/187.5/200/BMI:23.4/WK-32/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

*** Weigh-in for WEEK 33 ***

Week Completed:	___33___
Weigh-In Weight:	185.0
Body Mass Index:	23.1
Aerobic Points for week:	0.0
Week’s Average Points/Day:	29.7
Pounds +/- for this week:	-2.5
Pounds lost total:	54.5
Pounds to go to 10%:	0.0*
Pounds to go to goal:	0.0**
Pounds to go to 20%:	0.0***
Made PERSONAL GOAL: 11/23/2001 †
* 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 † Personal Goal is 190 pounds.

___________________________

The temperature was 34º, and the time was 5:15 AM as I stepped up on Mr. Scale for my Week 33 Weigh-In. Mr. Scale, who was not put off by the early hour, said, “185.0 pounds.” (The new scale said 181.5 pounds.) Two hundred thirty-two days, and fifty-four and one half pounds ago, this is just where I wanted to be!

In looking over the chart (see [link=www.dwlz.com/Al/aljourney/Journeygraph.gif]Al's Journey In Numbers[/link]) that I created from the data that I put into the spreadsheet yesterday, I have found it to be very interesting. While my weight fell from 54.5 pounds above 185, all the way to 185 (and even a bit below for a couple of days), the graph of my points consumed hovered around 26 points per day for most of the way. From May 12 until our 25th anniversary on June 10, I was eating about 26 or 27 points. Then it fell to about 22 points per day, held there until about the July 4th holiday, where it crept up to 26 per day (which is my overall average for points per day). It held fairly constant until September first, where it began to meander upwards towards 30, and then back down to 26 points per day, about the first day of fall. In mid October there was a minor upward trend, followed by a nearly equal downward trend, ending about Thanksgiving time, when it started to climb up towards 30 where it has since remained. I was surprised to see how close to linear the line showing my loss of weight came out to be, right up to this very week. It became much more “noisy” the last two months, with a jagged appearing presentation, but if the trend were graphed through the noise, it would be nearly a straight line.

Here is what I expect for the future. I expect the weight loss line to level off to something similar to the yellow “Points - Average Per Day” line on the chart, hopefully at about 185 pounds. I expect the 3 average points lines to become one line, all running straight and riding at about 30 points. Only time will tell if my expectations will be met.

Another thing that I find interesting is the way my daily points fluctuate about the “average” lines. On any given day I might be eating 30 points or more. On any given day I might be eating 25 points or less - prior to Thanksgiving, 20 points or less. It kept my weight loss journey interesting, allowing my body to dictate, within limits, how much I was going to eat each day. If it needed more, I ate more. If it needed less, I ate less. Of course the points range limits normally kept my excursions in check, keeping me from going either too low or too high. I never ate less than 15.5 points (and on only 10 days out of 231 did I eat less than 20.0 points), or more than 34.0 points. Yet, there is a surprising variety of points from day to day all along the way. Since Thanksgiving, I have pulled the excursions in just a bit, and the daily points are landing much closer to the weekly and the bi-weekly average points lines, but still I have my variations from one day to the next.

During the next 2 or 3 weeks, I hope to be able to fine-tune my average points per day required value, by monitoring my weight versus my weekly and bi-weekly average points values. When my weight variations average out to zero, or close to it, for an extended period of time, then my "average points per day" should point to the correct value for me to eat, on average, every day.

In many areas of electronics this type of process is used. You adjust a single parameter, and monitor the results. If the results are positive, you do it again in the same direction. If they are negative, you change it the other way. As you approach your desired results, the size of your adjustments grow smaller and smaller, until you have your results contained within the equipment’s specified range. Of course, when other factors are introduced (such as exercise), the process must be repeated with the new variable taken into consideration.

Dotti and I paid a visit to CompUSA yesterday, to see what was on sale after Christmas. (Dotti always finds her way over to the palmtop area, I am not sure why. :) ) I also picked up a new mouse, for my computer in my study. The optical mouse I have been using just doesn’t give me the fine control of motion that a ball mouse does. (I think if I could find the proper surface to use it on that problem might be solved, but so far nothing I have used has given satisfactory results.) So, I am back to using a regular mouse again on that computer.

On the way over to the store, we stopped and picked up some sandwiches at Subway. Dotti always has a nice visit with the ladies behind the counter there. They know her well by now. Not only do we frequent their establishment when I am off from work, but Dotti drops by with her Weight Watchers friends after their meeting quite often. So, they all know about Weight Watches and about DWLZ.com.

In the evening I played a few games of Snood, starting with Hexagon City and going up when I cleared it a few times. I hope to get comfortable with clearing it during a regular game one of these days, and getting a really good score. :) I got over 35,000 points starting at zero on Hexagon City and felt pretty good about that. On the regular Puzzle level my lowest of the 10 high scores is 147,993, and so I have to have a fairly good game to even get on the list anymore. Hexagon City (level 23) has really been the stopper so far, holding my top score to 174,056. But I am clearing that level more regularly, when playing it right from the start, and I assume that means that I will sooner or later start clearing it during regular games.

For eating yesterday, I had my [link=www.dwlz.com/Al/Journey/standardmeals.html#break]Standard Breakfast[/link] (5.0 pt.). For lunch I had two turkey sandwiches (3.0 pt.) and some instant potatoes (3.0 pt.), giving me 6.0 lunch points. For dinner I had a 6-inch Subway sub sandwich (6.0 pt.). That gave me a total of 17.0 meal points. For snacks I had a Mister Cookie Face ice cream sandwich (3.0 pt.), 10 Body Smarts Chews (2.0 pt.), 3 cough drops (1.0 pt.), a Kashi bar (5.0 pt.), a yogurt (2.0 pt.). That added up to 13.0 snack points, and brought my total points for the day to 30.0.

For water I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

Average points per day for the last 14 days: 29.82
Average weight for the last 14 days: 186.64
Weight change during last 14 days: -3.0 pounds.

231 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/185.0/200/BMI:23.1/WK-33/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph