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*** Weigh-in for WEEK 355 ***
03/01/2008
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| Week Completed: | ___355___ |
| Weigh-In Weight: | 199.5 |
| Body Mass Index: | 24.94 |
| Average Weight for week: | 200.14 |
| Miles Walked for week: | 7.4 |
| Miles Walked in 2008: | 31.71 |
| Week’s Average Points/Day: | 37.21 |
| Pounds +/- for this week: | -0.5 |
| Pounds lost total: | 40 |
| Made GOAL: 9/22/2001 † | |
* Made 10% at 215.5 pounds on 7/14/01
† Goal is 200 pounds.
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Week’s Data
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Day |
Date |
Weight |
Points |
Water |
Miles
Walked |
| Saturday |
02/22/2008
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200.0
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27.0
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6 cups (48 oz)
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0.00
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| Sunday |
02/23/2008
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200.5
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25.5
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10 cups (80 oz)
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3.10
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| Monday |
02/24/2008
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200.0
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42.0
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6 cups (48 oz)
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0.00
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| Tuesday |
02/25/2008
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198.5
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39.5
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6 cups (48 oz)
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0.00
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| Wednesday |
02/26/2008
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202.0
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30.0
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6 cups (48 oz)
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0.00
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| Thursday |
02/27/2008
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202.0
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48.5
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8 cups (64 oz)
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2.30
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| Friday |
02/28/2008
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198.5
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48.0
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8 cups (64 oz)
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2.00
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Week 355 Update
It was 6:15 AM when I stepped up on Mr. Scale, and he said, "199.5 pounds!"
While it wasn't a perfect week by a long shot, there were a number of very positive things about it to consider. For starters, I walked 7.4 miles. That is over a mile per day on average. If I had averaged one mile per day for the entire year, I would have walked 60 miles so far instead of only 34. That means this week was better than average for 2008. I need to be doing better than that, but at least it is a start.
Another positive thing is that I held my points per day average below 38. Since my upper limit is 46 points per day, I certainly did not consume too many points for the week.
Looking at the Weight Commander Graph another positive thing pops up. While the overall graph looks something like the Tetons, the solid squares are showing a consistent trend downwards for over a week.
Moving over to the Weight Commander Future Graph for today, it really looks positive compared with what it was doing the past few weeks. Last week the projection was that I would be up to 211 by May 21. Two weeks before that, the projection was for me to weigh 226 by the end of the first week in May.
This is why I so much like having the Weight Commander along even for MAINTENANCE, even though it was designed primarily for weight LOSS. The graphs give me a feel for what my current trend is, both short term (the solid squares on the main graph) and the long term (the Future Graph). If I am on the right track, I will normally be either holding steady in, or dropping down towards my target range. If I am on the wrong track, my graph will show a gain in my future.
This is like the barometer for weight loss. The weatherman uses that tool to get a feel for what the future weather will be. When the number is rising on the barometer, it means things are getting better, but when the number is falling, it indicates low pressure and probably storms are on the way.
On Weight Commander it is just the opposite (rising numbers are bad and falling are good generally) but it still helps to indicate what the future "weather" will be.
I don't expect to be 180.7 on May 29 of this year as predicted on the graph, but I do know that what have been doing the last couple of weeks would take me there if I don't change what I am doing, just as I knew that I would be up to 226 if I didn't change what I was doing a few weeks ago. Maintenance is a life of continually applying adjustments to my daily routine and the Weight Commander really makes it easier to realize when, and in which direction, to adjust.
Each day still is lived in the shadow of that dark day on July 25, 2007 when I learned the value of those enamel masticating-miracles that we take for granted. The most recent large step towards my hopeful recovery from that dreadful event has left my gums easily irritated by my dentures.
Each meal gives me pause as I think about whether it will tax my gums as I chew whatever food I am contemplating consuming. Is the food going to be hard to chew? Will it require tearing with my teeth, and how resistive will the material be to being bitten into smaller pieces and generally chewed? How painful will dinner be? It has been 7 months and I still have to worry about these things. Of course it is far more of an issue these days once more since the recent challenging day in the chair. The gums are getting better, but they still don't like the dentures.
One upside to this is that I eat less than I would have otherwise on most days. I was typing at the computer all day last Saturday, catching my journal up and working on Mastication Miracle—Or How Al Got His Teeth Back. I skipped lunch entirely and had vegetables, cottage cheese and a small can of fruit. By the end of the day I had only eaten 27.0 points. That would have fit in nicely with my weight loss phase level of points, even on the week when I first hit 200 pounds.
Sunday the work on the computer continued until Dotti's brother Rip came over for a visit around noon. Rip and I walked over to Red Robin, and on the way we took the longer 2.0-mile front end of the 3.1-mile loop Dotti and I walk sometimes. (On the way back home we completed the loop and walked another 1.1 miles from Red Robin.)
At Red Robin Dotti met us, having driven over. Her hip was acting up and she wasn't up to the walk that day. The restaurant was really busy, and although we sat in the same spot that Dotti and I usually do, we got a new waitress we had not seen before. She didn't get our order right and we ended up waiting far longer than we had ever waited before at that establishment. I had ordered some fries but they never arrived. When they finally could have been procured, I was already done with the rest of my meal and had lost my appetite for anything more. You could say that she inadvertently did me a favor by messing up my order. 
In the evening, we played a game of LIFE, spinning the wheel and moving around the board to Millionaire Acres. After we finished the board game Rip taught us how to play "Texas Hold'em Poker."
I am not a gambler usually, and so I only have a general idea about the rules of poker. Rip has been playing with a few of his coworkers quite often of late and was eager to show us how it is done. I hadn't ever seen this particular game played by anyone else except in the DVD movie Casino Royal recently. It had seemed pretty simple in the movie and it turned out in reality to be about as I had expected. Of course, any poker game is more about the people playing than the cards, so having a game that is fairly simple doesn't mean that it is boring.
The trickiest part was getting the betting straight and learning to burn a card before dealing each round. Since we were only using chips and no money, it made the whole thing fun and friendly, and a good time was had by all.
After the order goof up and the fact I only ate 2 meals again on Sunday, I only ended up eating 25.5 points for the day, along with walking 3.1 miles. So, Sunday turned out to be a good day.
Monday it was back to work and I made a lot of good progress. I took a break later in the day to run to Costco with Dotti to pick some things up we needed. We stopped and had a Very Berry Sunday and that pushed my points up into the 40s for the day but at 42 points I was still below my limit.
Tuesday I finally caught up and was able to post what I had completed. I ate light for my meals all day but I had some snacks, including Triscuit Crackers, which are high in sodium. My points were only 39.5 for the day, but the scale ran up from 198.5 to 202.0 on Wednesday morning.
I did find the higher number on the scale to be motivating towards holding my points down on Wednesday, and I only had 30.0 of them.
However, I had some sauerkraut for dinner and that is high in sodium. I nearly always see an increase on the scale the next day after eating it. I think the only reason I didn't see an increase was because I was already up because of the sodium on the day before. The sauerkraut just kept the high number in play without boosting it any.
Thursday, Dotti and I took a walk. I so like to walk with my wife. She is such good company and walking hand in hand with her is kind of what I think Heaven would be like. Whether we are deep in conversation, or simply walking side-by-side caught up in our own thoughts, there are few things in life that I enjoy more.
We walked to a diner that we have always liked, and it is just over a mile from our house. They serve some meals that are very reminiscent of the ones I used to eat as a kid. To give you an idea of what it looks on the outside, Dotti pointed out that she always thinks of the Steve McQueen movie The Blob when we go there. She even pointed it out to our waitress, who also helps manage the restaurant. We really enjoy the times we catch her there, because she is so friendly and also is interested in weight loss. Dotti and she have many conversations on Atkins and Weight Watchers. Dotti of course is always promoting Weight Watchers wherever we go, but is happy to discuss other ideas whenever they come up.
I put a big dent in a burger and had some fries. I have to admit that it was one of the best burgers I have had in a long time. We found that they had installed a jukebox control at each table along the window. The music selection was a walk right up memory lane for us. For some useless personal trivia the songs we picked:
- Shades of Gray by The Monkees
In high school I had auditioned to play for our high school talent show. Alas, I don't think the faculty committee liked the message on that song. (I had tried The House of the Rising Sun the year before and was told specifically that the message in that song had been the reason they didn't let me play it in the show. I fear that the faculty and I just didn't see eye-to-eye during those adolescent developmental years. ) In any case I had always liked the song, and I selected that one from the list on the jukebox.
- Daydream Believer by The Monkees
Since we were on their sheet in the jukebox this song jumped out at me because I still sing this one quite often.
- When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge
Dotti picked this one. We both liked it in our younger days. I remember that Bette Midler did a cover of that song during her 1979 movie The Rose, which Dotti and I went to see about a year before I finished up my first tour in the Navy and we moved up to Spokane for a bit. Also, there is a lot of truth in the lyrics.
- You Didn't Have to Be So Nice by The Lovin' Spoonful
Other than playing it from time to time myself, we didn't have a lot of memories tied to this one, but it is a nice mellow tune that Dotti picked.
- California Dreamin' by The Mamas and the Pappas
I played and sang this one a lot when Dotti and I first met, and I still do given half a chance. It is one of our favorites.
- Hey Jude by The Beatles
This is another of our mutual favorites, and another one that I had played both in high school, and when I first met Dotti. I think it is Dotti's favorite Beatles tune.
- Chattanooga Choo Choo by Glenn Miller
The final song, and it finished up about the time our meal was completed and we were ready to leave. It is one of the previous generation's hits that Dotti and I both have always liked.
After our meal we wandered over to Borders Books, which was not far off from our direct line of travel home. We had each brought a backpack with things to do when we got there. Dotti had her laptop and I had some books and note pads to work with. After a while we split a piece of carrot cake, and that made up my dinner meal for the day. I finished up with 48.5 points, and we walked 2.3 miles for the day.
Friday, after working half a day, I suggested that we might want to take advantage of the sun and visit the Oregon Zoo, before the weekend crowd overloaded the place. Dotti agree and so we were on our way. There was some rain in the forecast for later on, but we hoped to beat it and get our visit in before it came to mess things up.
We took a lot of pictures but mostly I am going to include pictures of Dotti and I, since we have usually focused on the resident animals in the past.
Here's my lovely Dotti crossing the bridge above the bear display. You can see the sun is shining, and everything is casting a dark shadow.
Moving in for a closer look! What a beautiful smile. Thank you Dotti!
Dotti got me back in this one.
Dotti zoomed right in on that cat yawning.
I zoomed in on something far more interesting. Dotti has that mischievous look in her eye.
It looks like the mouth of an ice cave that Dotti is reaching across.
It is reminiscent of one of the glacier caves we saw in
Glacier Bay in 2006, during our Alaska Cruise.
Dotti snapped this picture of this striking multicolored aquatic fowl. How many colors can you put on to one bird?
Dotti was signaling me I think.
The crowd in the background is fairly light, and in many areas of the zoo it was even lighter. Sometimes we had exhibits all to ourselves, which made it nice for taking pictures. The polar bears were out and active at their exhibit and they had the largest crowd, but that was quite different than the rest of the spots we visited.
The sun was pouring into the eagle viewing stand and shining upon the most beautiful face in the world. I was dazzled, as I always am by Dotti's smile.
We had just passed through the family farm, after coming down Cougar Canyon, paused to look over Eagle Canyon, and Black Bear Ridge, before paying a quick stop at Elk Meadow. We weren't finished yet, but we were about to go in the direction marked "Exit" on the sign. There was much more zoo to see!
What a beauty! And the closer I get the better she looks. I am so close here that I can see my own reflection in her eyes.
The sun had slipped behind a cloud for a moment, hinting at what was to come soon. The raindrops held off until just before we were heading for the exit at the end of our visit.
Since we went on our Alaska Cruise we have always especially liked this exhibit at the Oregon Zoo. Inside I spotted a really great picture that gives a great explanation of why parts of the earth are colder than others based upon their latitudes, which I will discuss in the next area. (Please only read that part if you like cool science stuff. )
An Astronomical Aside
They are using a sun "ray" that is a actually a cylinder that has a diameter of about 3.57 miles, forming a cross sectional area of 10 square miles, and that is the area of ground covered when it hits the equator, because it is pointed straight at the sun. (In other words a tangent to the earth's surface at the equator would be perpendicular to the sun's ray.) When each of the sun's rays hits the ground at the equator, it illuminates the smallest possible area, focusing all the energy into that area. This is demonstrated by the leftmost sun's ray on the diagram.
We must remember that the diameter of the sun is actually a million miles across and so we have a bundle of sunrays that are traveling parallel to each other all the way across the earth's surface. (The shame is that this same energy is being radiated into all directions of space and is nearly all lost to no good purpose. If only we could harness that energy we would be unlikely to have any energy problems for billions of years.) The stack of parallel rays runs for half a million miles from our vantage point northward above the earth, southward below the earth, and to the east and west of the earth. The little 8,000-mile diameter (50 million square miles as a disk) earth doesn't take up much room in that 800 million square mile circle of parallel rays heading straight at us. For the sake of our discussion, we can assume that all the rays are arriving at the earth, each parallel to each other, from the North Pole to the south pole as they intersect the tangent of the earth's surface at the equator. The rays are parallel to each other but the earth's surface curves away and is therefore not parallel to that tangent, and so the rays hit at different angles as you move northward or southward on our globe from the equator.
In Portland/Vancouver, we are just north of the point halfway between the equator and the North Pole. (Harder to believe is that we are just marginally north of the latitude of Montreal, Canada, only just barely south of that of Toronto.) Our latitude is about 45.5° N. (The equator is 0° and the North Pole is 90°N.) That means the sun's rays will be hitting here on average (or on the equinoxes) at an angle of 44.5 (calculated by figuring 90° - 45.5°).
On the diagram they used a point of 30°N latitude (where the sun's rays would be at an angle of 60°) for "Oregon." Actually that is south of any point in California, and would include points in Texas and Florida. Oops!
But the concept is valid nonetheless. A single 10 square mile diameter "ray" of the sun has to cover a larger area of ground in Oregon than it does at the equator. The top portion of the incoming ray in the diagram has to travel a longer distance before hitting the ground, and this spreads the heating out over a larger area. This part of the globe will be cooler than the equator, all other things being equal. (Like you are not standing in an icebox or on top of a very tall mountain at the equator.)
As you move up to 60° latitude where the Alaska Tundra is, you then have the sunrays sliding in at a very acute angle, and the amount of sunlight that was heating 10 square miles at the equator has to be shared over 22 square miles, doing a very poor job of warming things up. That is why things like permafrost, which never melts, is able to exist.
When you reach the poles, the average angle of the sun is zero degrees! Heating falls away to nearly nothing as the sun is spread out over huge chunks of land.
And that doesn't include the variation throughout the year causing the seasons. Our planet is tilted 23.5° with respect to the plane of our orbit. At the summer solstice the North Pole is leaning over 23.5° towards the sun, and at the winter solstice it leans away by that amount. The location of the Arctic Circle is set by this tilt. The sun was only 23.5° off the horizon or less north of the Arctic Circle at the equinox. Move the sun 23.5° more to the south and it disappears altogether. Get ready for the long night! At the North Pole the sun sets and comes back up 6 months later.
But it is NOT primarily the long nights that make the North Pole cold. It is the cold summers! The sun comes up over the horizon and hangs low in the sky for 6 months. It is day, but it is still cold. Even on the Summer Solstice, the point where the sun goes as far north as it ever gets, it is only 23.5° above the horizon. The 10 square miles of "sun ray" hits about 25 square miles, giving only 40% of the heat to the ground. It takes two and a half days to get the same amount of heat as you would get on one day at the equator at the equinoxes. (At the equator, even with the changes caused by the 23.5° tilt of the earth, the ground always gets at least 91.7% of the possible heat from the sun on a clear day.)
The North Pole Cam shows that that surface ice melts just a bit for a week or so at the solstice, creating a few very shallow puddles resting on the ice around the pole. That dash of liquid water freezes up solid for another year right after that. From the Spring Equinox the sun breaks over the horizon, then climbs up off the horizon slowly for 3 months, hits the peak of 23.5 degrees and then slowly makes its way back down to reach the horizon on the Autumnal Equinox to disappear entirely for the next 6 months.
Here in the Portland/Vancouver area, in the depths of winter, at the solstice, the sun only drops down to 21 or 22 degrees off the horizon at noon. That is just about the same as the highest point the sun reaches at the North Pole, ever!
In our summertime, the sun climbs all the way up near 70° off the horizon. That gives us up to 93% of the possible sunlight at the Summer Solstice versus the maximum of 40% at the pole.
The Tropic of Cancer is a circle that runs around the globe at 23.5° north of the equator, and it is the farthest point north where land or sea can receive 100% of the sun's energy at any time during the year. The only state in the Union that lies in this warm zone created by the Tropic of Cancer is Hawaii (where our son LeRoy was born in 1977), and so that is the only one of our states that can ever see the sun directly overhead at high noon. All the rest of the states will always have some shadow cast at noon by a vertical stick.
Here Dotti is intently aiming at getting her next shot.
Dotti is good at searching out fun things to do. These little swings were intriguing. With those chains tied to the ground, it would be a bit like trying to go sailing with your anchor dropped over the side; they are not going to produce squeals of glee from kids swinging high into the air, but I'll bet kids (and kids at heart  ) will find a way to have fun on them anyway!
Hey now, I am trying to eat here okay. So, stop staring, it isn't polite!
Dotti saw something fun going on off to the right and I, as is often the case, found Dotti and snapped her picture.
Beware Dottis bearing gifts.
Dotti found a candy machine and got some M&M regulars for her and some M&M Peanuts for me. Well, I'm glad that you asked; they were good!
One final look at my lovely wife before we move on. I am one lucky guy; that is all I have to say on that topic!
Dotti did a great job on getting a close up picture of this Grizzly Bear. He was really tired you could tell, and moving back and forth between solid sleep and periodic eye checks to make sure we were still watching.
Not to be outdone, I walked right up to this bear and stuck my camera right in his face. He really seemed to be glad to see me. You can tell it by the look on his face.
As we were getting situated in the car, I had opened Dotti's car door for her and then took her camera from her to put it away in the trunk, and through a freak set of circumstances the door blew closed a bit against my shoulder and twisted my back just enough to set up a minor howl from it, which still hasn't gone away unfortunately. It is somewhere between pain and discomfort where doctors like to split hairs. Nothing to be done but to bite the bullet and go on.
After years of dealing with Portland traffic on Friday nights, there was no way I was diving into that mess when we finished. However, we had planned for this, and we headed south to the Washington Square Mall, to spend a few hours and wait out the traffic by having some fun.
When dinnertime rolled around, we decided to stop at the Cheesecake Factory. We had walked past it so many times and said, "We are going to have to try that out one of these days. That day finally arrived.
Inside there was an Egyptian feel to the decor with huge rounded pillars topped by faces peering out with blue eyes and tuffs of blond hair just visible. The lamps were hanging down with cone shaped tips pointed towards the floor.
Our waitress was bubbling over with information and help, even though she was running from table to table, and obviously very busy. The key to the situation was to understand portion sizes. If you look at a map of the USA, you will note that the states east of the Mississippi River tend to be much smaller than the ones to the west of it. Well, at the Cheesecake factory, they serve Alaska sized portions.
Having been warned and realizing up front that you don't come to the Cheesecake Factory and not try a dessert, we split a burger and fries. It worked well. Between the half burger, fries and water we had just enough room left over to sample a dessert. We decided to order two of them and then sample each other's. I naturally ordered cheesecake, as anyone who knows me would expect. Dotti ordered a chocolate brownie dessert that sounded awesome. But Houston, we had a problem: we forgot about portion sizes.
My cheesecake was just a normal size, but they put two huge mounds of whipped cream over the top of it. They stood tall like Mae West, three inches off the plate. But that was nothing we couldn't deal with easily. It was Dotti's dessert that made both of our jaws hit our chests. If you are familiar with the size plates they often use in the better Mexican food restaurants, this was built on one of those huge models. The brownie looked like a ship standing several inches above the plate's surface and it was covered with ice cream, saturated in hot fudge and smothered with whipped cream. We were thinking in stereo, "You can't be serious!"
Believe it or not, we walked away with our journeys intact. I only had a couple of bites of the cheesecake, and a bit of the whip cream located there. Instead I demolished Dotti's dessert. Just kidding. I had 12.0 points of dessert total. I sampled everything and had a good portion of what I found tasted best.
We reached the danger point. We had had enough, but there was plenty more left to eat. If we just sat there and looked at it, we would have eaten that as well, even though we didn't really want it or need it. We were full and had very much enjoyed our meal. It was time to stop.
I picked up the saltshaker and waited for Dotti to be ready for the kill, and she gave the nod. Suddenly all the remaining cheesecake, whipped cream, brownie, ice cream, and fudge was doused in salt, to make it unattractive, even to us weight watchers.
Soon the waitress came by and asked if we wanted a box for the remaining dessert. We replied, "No thanks, we have destroyed it!"
We walked away full, but not out of control and at days end, I had only eaten 48.0 points, and I consider that a moral victory after a visit to the Zoo, time at the mall, and the Cheesecake Factory.
The drive home was just bumping into the tail end of rush hour. We hit Route 217 and headed south from the mall. Traffic felt pretty light, and so I doubled back on I-5 and headed up to I-84. Fortunately, we were able to cut off on I-84 heading east just as we hit the big slow down that was happening on I-5. Traffic had come to a halt ahead of us. I don't know if there was an accident or if some event was going on at the Rose Garden tying things up. For us, it didn't matter because we were moving along fairly well on I-84. Traffic was not light, but it was moving, and that is all I can ask from Friday night on Portland's freeways.
Another week has come to a close and here we are, heading into a new week, and a new month. DWLZ has had nearly 2 million visitors in the first two months of 2008, and that is amazing to me every time I think about it. Dotti has created an amazing thing, and it has grown to take over our lives, but it is such a positive thing that we cannot complain. I honestly believe that Dotti is helping a lot of people with her page and that means that we are spending our time in a very positive way. Long hours, and constant pressure to get things done don't stress you as badly when you feel it is for a good cause. I always knew that Dotti had amazing ability within her, but I had no idea how it would express itself, none at all. She is the most amazing woman I know!!!
Dotti you rock!!!!
6 years, 295 days on my journey; a lifetime to follow.
-Al-
6 '3" 239.5/199.5/197.5±2.5/BMI:24.94/WK- 355
Starting weight: 239.5
Target Weight Range: 195 lbs to 200 lbs
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