Mr. Scale said 228.0 this morning at 6:30 AM. Yesterday, we had a Subway sandwich. The guy who made it was new and he got carried away. So, even though it was a 6” turkey breast sub I counted it as 7 points, because of the amount of stuff he put on it. Later, Dot and I hit the mall and got a low fat ice cream that was only 3.0 points. Very tasty! (Dotti knows all the treats that we can eat for low points.)

I thought I was going to have a normal evening with snacks and all, but I got into editing something that I wrote, and then next thing I knew it was time for bed and I had only eaten 23.5 points. A bit low. So far, the days where I have blown it, has been on the low side rather than the high side. Not exactly what I would have expected before I started this journey. Fortunately, my average points are within my range, and so I feel pretty good about how I have been doing so far. One of the things I noticed in looking over the point range list is that when I fall below 225, my points range and Dot’s will actually over lap by a couple of points (24, and 25) at her high end and my low end. We could both eat the same points on a given day and still be OP. It just goes to show how wide a spread each of the points ranges covers.

I am really happy to see the scale showing in the 220s again. I am surprised at how good that makes me feel. I am really looking forward to seeing the 210s! I have not been there in years. There is so much to look forward to. It is like literally taking a trip and knowing at the other end is a place that is as cool as Disneyland was to me, when it was nearly brand new, and I first went there in 1958. More energy, more mobility, and better appearance, with the accompanied increased self-esteem. What have I been waiting for?

I drank water like crazy yesterday. I drank 136 oz of water. And if you include the 2 cups of coffee I drank, it is well over 9 pounds of water again.There is something that seems strange about drinking 9 pounds of water. Of course they recommend that you drink 8 glasses of water: 8 oz. each. That is 4 pounds of water! Water is good for you, has no calories, and it can even make you feel full. When I think about it, water is like a magic potion, which can work miracles for weight loss. When your stomach is gorged on water, there is no room for anything else for awhile. And later on, the water all passes through, cleaning out your system, and leaving you better off than before. For the summer time, when temperatures rise, water is even more important, because we tend to sweat out more water from our bodies as they try to keep our temperatures constant. That water needs to be replaced.

So, here’s to water the liquid we need! If you drink it your journey will speed. So turn on the faucet and take up the glass, And soon you will have a very small tummy.

Well it is off to vacation. I hope you all have a wonder two weeks OP. I will try and drop in an update of my journey as I get the chance. (I may write it and post it later if necessary, but I am going to journal each day no matter whether I get online or not.)

-Al-

239.5/227.5/200/BMI:28.5/WK-3

Woke up about 6:00 AM and got up on Mr. Scale, and he said "Why are you always stepping on me?" No, sorry, he said, "227.0 pounds."

Dotti and I then took off on a walk that was brisk, and lasted a little over an hour. We headed south on the beach for a mile and a half or so across the sand, and then we stopped long enough to take some pictures and for Dotti to find a star fish, and then we headed back. By the time we got back I was dragging. My legs did not want to climb up the sandy path to our motel, and they really did not want to go up all those steps to reach our room. I stepped on the scale just to see how much I sweated on the walk, and it said I was down another pound and a half. That was all water, and will be back as soon as I have glass or two but it looked good anyway.

Yesterday was a busy day. By the time we got everything ready, and the car loaded up, it was into the afternoon. It took a couple of hours of driving, and then we had to move all the stuff again, as we unloaded the car. We finally got settled in and unpacked by 5:00 PM.

I noticed that after loading up the car that I was feeling a little weak. I did not eat enough the day before, and while I had eaten a 3.0 point ice cream sandwich, and a light breakfast I felt very hungry. So, when we hit the road we found a Subway along the way, and I had a 12 inch turkey breast sandwich. I enjoyed every point of it to! MMMM that tasted good. With the coffee and creamer I had drank, and all that I had eaten to that point, brought me to 23.5 points for the day, by the time we reached our motel and got ready for dinner around 5:00 PM.

Well I wanted to make sure that I did not eat low two days in a row, so I had two fried egg sandwiches (only 2 points total! I still can't get over that.), a cup of instant potatoes (3 points) and a V-8 juice (5.5 fluid ounces for 0.5 points). That brought me up to 29.0 points for the day. I felt very well satisfied, and ready to face the evening with 2 more points ready to be used as required. Next thing I knew, Dotti and I had looked at some pictures we had taken, and visited a while, and it was 10:00 PM. I hadn't eaten anything else, because I didn't need anything else.

This is golden. My body has joined in the journey as a real ally. As I eat less, it wants less. On days like yesterday, I had to pay attention that I did not under eat in fact. My body is not beating me up demanding more food, or putting urges to eat all over the place. My job is made much easier thanks to the cooperation my body is giving me. Now I have to watch what I am eating, and make sure that I eat enough, as well as not too much. Consciously controlling the balance between extremes, that my body on its own tended to lean towards only one side of. It is a training process now, that one day I can hopefully do automatically like Dotti does. There is something very peaceful about knowing you have the tools in hand to do the job, and do it right.

The difference to my body, in the way it appears to respond to either randomly, unthinkingly grabbing something that tastes good when I am hungry, or what I am doing now, is not that significant. It is satisfied either way. In most cases, my body is just as happy with my drinking down a big glass (24 ounces) of water as it would be with a candy bar. That is truly amazing! The full feeling from drinking that much water is surprisingly satisfying. If I want something tasty of course, I have my trusty free food: rhubarb. If I just want something to munch on unthinkingly in traffic (a situation where I used to go through cherry cough drops like candy) I have Romaine Hearts, green, not too bland, and filling. And of course, ZERO points. For each point in my day, where my body poses a hunger question, I have an OP answer all ready.

As I go along I am learning better ways to deal with situations, and what works for me. I am not sure when or if I will reach a point where I will stop writing my points down every day. Dotti only writes hers down if she starts to drift up a bit. She then takes it all back to week one in Weight Watchers, where she writes everything down and works the program like she was a newbie. That always bring her weight back in line. I may do that someday, but then again I may not. I like to keep track of things. It goes well with my personality type. The only way I know for sure is if I can document it. In a science lab they have the attitude that if you didn’t document it, it didn't happen. Those are my kind of people.

I am looking at our beach walking shoes drying in front of the fireplace, while the flame is dancing merrily from three burning logs. The sky, which has so far been blue during the daylight hours, and clear at night to let the stars shine in their glory, shows a whole army of dark gray clouds rushing towards us from the sea. Wisps of their reconnaissance forces are already dimming the sun which is still on the rise in the east. I think we are in for an overcast day later on, but that is okay. We expected that, and were very happily surprised to see as much sunshine as we have gotten so far. The tide, which was all the way out when we took our walk is moving in fast. And we have a great day to look forward to today. Bring on the weather, I love a stormy sea!

23 days behind me on my journey, and at last, a clear hope of a lifetime of being at a healthy and normal weight. I am pretty excited by that, in case you can't tell.

-Al-

239.5/227.5/200/BMI:28.5/WK-3

Mr. Scale said, "226.5" this morning. He certainly appeared to be more alert than I was before my first cup of coffee. I slept in till 7:00 AM. It must be because I am on vacation.

For breakfast yesterday, I had my normal 6.0 points (cereal, skim milk, and a cup of coffee with no fat Hazelnut creamer). Then, since Dot and I were planning to have a steak dinner last night, and I thought it might be a bit high in points, I attempted to hold my points down. So, for lunch I cut back and only had 3.5 points. Then, as things worked out, we were busy and ended up eating at Subway (6 inch sub - 6 points) instead of having a steak in our room. That put me in the position of having eaten only 15.5 points, after having eaten all my major meals, with only the evening before me in which to eat the remainder of my points.

At one point of the evening I was looking for something to eat to bring up my points (I really wasn't hungry). Dotti saw me looking in the refrigerator, and said, "You can have some rhubarb." I turned and looked at her and said, "I can't. It doesn't have any points." We both got a laugh out of that. Instead of rhubarb, I found some 2 point yogurt and a two point bag of "cat cookies" from Trader Joe's that Dotti had packaged up just for our trip. Anyway, I ended up the day eating 28.5 points.

From our walk yesterday, Dotti and I both ended up with slightly sore muscles, and that convinced us that today we would take a break from our beach walk, since we are going to be doing some walking around today anyway. Online, I found a WW meeting for Dotti in one of the local towns not far from here, it will be in the evening, so we are going early and are going to walk around and catch a few of the "tourist things" in the town beforehand. (Dotti had a great idea that we should have our "steak dinner" for lunch today, before heading out. That way we don't need to be in our room for dinner, and we can digest the steak all afternoon and evening before going to sleep tonight. For dinner we can catch a Sub or something in town.)

Yesterday, we toured a cheese factory, and watched them slice up huge blocks of cheese, into the standard small block size you can buy in the store, and then package it in plastic, all ready for shipping. We saw the huge tanks that they cook the cheese in, that each hold 22,000 quarts of milk. (They said that 5 quarts of milk would make 1 pound of cheese.) At the end of the tour they had a cheese "gift shop" area, with all sorts of cheese products, and even a table of cheese free samples. I took Dotti by the arm, and we turned around never entering the room or even getting within 10 feet of the free samples. I have never met a cheese that I didn’t like. I used to belong to a cheese club, that sent me samples of all manner of exotic cheese each month. I liked some types more than others, but I never found one that I could not derive at least some pleasure from eating. There is no way that I was going to subject myself to all those points in that room, even visually.Even Dotti's mouth was beginning to water at the sight of the free samples. We did well by walking away.

I read the last paragraph to Dotti, and she reminded me about the ice cream. As we were walking into the factory, a guy came walking out of the front door with a huge pile of ice cream, stacked inside a waffle sugar cone. It made me want to loosen my belt just looking at that thing. Just inside the door, where we would have to pass it on the way in, and of course on the way out, was a huge ice cream counter, where they were selling their fabulous line of ice cream products. We didn't even stop to read the menu as we went by. Ice cream, in all forms, has always been one of my many weaknesses. Today, on occasion, I eat some of the great frozen yogurt products, like McDonald's "ice cream" cones, which are low fat. But even that could get out of hand for me, so I don't do it too often. However, after watching that guy eat his cone, passing up the cheese, and being "good little Weight Watchers" as Dotti put it, when we finished eating our Subway sandwiches, we stopped by the McDonald's "drive thru" and ordered up 2 of their "3 point" cones. "We're sorry," said the voice on the speaker, "we are out of ice cream today." I guess we should have figured. To derive the full benefit of being "good" and to properly appreciate the sacrifice that you have made, there must be a moment of, @#$%&!.

Actually it wasn't as bad as all that. We had a great day, and were laughing about our ice cream adventure on the drive back to our room. The rain finally started falling as we approached our motel, but with the warm fire and great company, I certainly wasn't complaining!

The sky is gray again this morning, but there doesn't seem to be much precipitation. The tide is moving in, bringing the breakers closer and closer to our door. It gobbles up the stretch of sand, as the tide moves in and then spews it back out again as it retreats. The endless cycle, of the timeless sea, goes on.

24 days OP, a lifetime to go.

-Al-

239.5/227.5/200/BMI:28.5/WK-3

Got up about 6:00 AM and Mr. Scale said 226.0.

Yesterday, I only drank 40 ounces of water. We were on the road, and walking around all afternoon, and I didn't drink as much as usual. We ate breakfast, and then later our steak "dinner" for lunch, before heading out. My point total at that time was 13.5 for the day. On the way into town we stopped at a McDonalds's and got an ice cream cone. (We still hadn't forgotten our experience from the day before.) They loaded the cone up larger than usual so we took 4 points for them instead of our usual 3. (Dotti is great at estimating the point value of things!) That brought me up to 17.5 points. We found a couple of photo prints that we liked in a small mall at the resort town, and decided to get them for our living room. One of them came in a frame already, and we had the other one framed to match. While we were waiting for the framing to be done, we went over to Subway, just around the corner, and each had a 6 inch sub. Now I was up to 23.5 points. I waited outside the church when Dotti went to her meeting, listening to an audio book tape.

During the day, and especially while waiting, I ate quite a few of these Chocolate Mints that Dotti gave me. If you eat the whole can of them (40 pieces) it is only 2 points. I went through about 30 of them, which brought my total up another 1.5 points to 25.0.

I wanted to make sure that I did not eat under my points range, so I had two Chocolate Meringues (1.0 point) and Dot fixed me a cup of decaf with no-fat hazelnut creamer (2.0 points). My final total for the day ended up being 28.0 points.

After two weeks of relaxing with Dotti, I am not going to want to go back to work. Maybe a beach bum's life ain't so bad.

25 days OP, a lifetime to go.

-Al-

239.5/227.5/200/BMI:28.5/WK-3

Mr. Scale said, "226.5" this morning when I stepped on him at 6:00 AM.

Yesterday was going to be a day in the room. We were both kind of feeling tired after the fun day we had the day before, and we expected it to be a rainy day again. But as the morning wore on, the clouds went away and the sunshine started calling to us. ( Click for photo) We finally broke down and got on our walking clothes. I put on a backpack and we headed out on a hike to town. Dotti put on her WW pedometer, and when we got back, it said that our walk was 2.25 miles total. Today we are going to check it out with the car odometer, because it felt longer than that. Especially on the way back when my backpack was filled up with books and other merchandise we bought in town.We stopped at couple of shops ( Click for photo) and visited with the shop keepers. It was a very slow day for them and so they were eager to have someone to talk to. One was very excited because she was only "15 working days" from retirement. The turnaround point was our original destination. It is a little store, called Flamingo Jim's ( Click for photo) that we stop at every time we visit this area. He has all sorts of merchandise, from shirts and coats, to toys and novelties, to art for your yard ( Click for photo).

When we got back we were pretty tired, and after our shower, we settled down for some relaxation. I noticed out the window that there were two young ladies who were actually going into the water. ( Click for photo) It was the first people we saw all day going in. (And the last!) The air temperature never made it to 70 all day, and the water temperature was about 54 degrees. In spite of that, they stayed in for a good 20 minutes or so. That was more than I expected. No, Dotti and I are not going to try and break their record.

As daylight sank into the ocean, ( Click for photo) and darkness came down on the beach, we felt so at peace with the world. The sound of the breakers washes over one, like a natural salve, healing the stressful injuries of life.

Having completed my vacation digression, I will return to eating. I had my normal breakfast of coffee and cereal, with skim milk, for a total of 6 points. Dot cooked up a nice little lunch that included fried potatoes, an egg and cheese omelet, turkey bacon, and Jello. All the fried food was done in PAM and the total points for my meal, including a cup of decaf with creamer, was 8.5 points. For dinner I had turkey hot dogs, fries, bread, V8 juice and sour kraut. I threw in a couple of chocolate meringues for desert. That all came to 7.0 points, which brought my total for the day to, 21.5. During the evening I snacked on some cat cookies, yogurt and other low point goodies, for an additional 5.5 points. I ended the day having consumed 27.0 points.

So, staying within my points, having the good healthy walk with Dotti, and drinking my 8 glasses of water, I felt like yesterday was a complete success.

Today we have even more "adventures" planned. But before I can write about them, I have to live them.

26 days OP, a lifetime to go.

-Al-

239.5/227.5/200/BMI:28.5/WK-3

This morning the scale said, "225.0" when I stepped on him. The thing that I think is the most exciting right now, is the fact that I can weigh myself at night, after all my eating and all my water drinking and still weigh in the 220s somewhere. To weigh at my heaviest point of the day, and still be in a range that seemed out of reach for my lightest time of day, just a few weeks ago, is really cool. I must admit that I am eager to see the 210s however. I have not been under 220 for quite some time. It will be so nice to finally get there.

Yesterday, we went down to a little town called Lincoln City, where there are two things that Dotti and I like: used book stores (Al's favorite); and a casino (Dot's favorite). First, we went through the bookstore, that we consider the best in town (Robert's Books - huge selection and well organized. If you are ever in Lincoln City and you like books, don't miss it!), and I found a number of good books, including "Modern Chess Openings 9th Edition, which was the first Openings book on chess that I ever used. I remember back in 1972 checking it out of the library and copying down opening lines. I have two newer editions of the book already but this one was the first, and they say that you always remember your first.I won't bore you with the other titles.

Next, I dropped Dotti off at the casino. She loves playing the slots. I don't see the point of it, but she enjoys it and that is all that matters.I went to a couple of other books stores and found a pretty good non-fiction book on space colonies (how to) and then listened to my current audio book while I waited.

I had eaten my normal breakfast (6 points), and Dotti and I stopped at Subway for lunch for our 6 inch subs (6 more points). We have come to the point where, anytime we are eating on the road, and are looking for "fast food" we always eat at Subway. A six inch sub is filling. It is only six points if you get the turkey breast sandwich, and avoid high calorie additions to it, like lots of olives. Compare that with a single cheeseburger and SMALL fries at McDonald's, for 12 points. No way! If I am going to eat 12 points, I would rather have a 12 inch sub, and be full for a long time. But usually the 6 inch sub is plenty to eat, more filling than the cheeseburger and fries, and much healthier to boot. Serendipity.

While I was waiting for Dot to finish in the casino, I was parked in their back parking lot, where I enjoyed a great view of the ocean. As I sat there, listening to my audio book, I started to feel a bit hungry, along about 3:30 PM. I had already eaten two sticks of rhubarb that Dotti had bought earlier for me, and felt like having something else. Well, Dotti had left the big container of candy in the car, that she had put together and taken to the conference, for the participants to use. She wrote all the point values for the different types of candy on the lid. As it turned out, hardly anyone had any at the conference. I had never tried any of them out either, for that matter. But since I was hungry...I grabbed 1 point worth (4 pieces) of sugar free fruit twirls, and by the time I finished them, Dotti was done. She came out a winner from the casino (nice change of pace)!!!

Since McDonald's was right across the street, we dropped in for a 3 point ice cream cone. On the drive back to our room, we stopped at a flee market we saw along the side of the road. Dot found a nice 32 ounce cup for me for less then $0.50. I was looking for one because I have been using a 24 ounce coffee mug for my water on this vacation. That mug works great for the car for my water, but when I want to rapidly drink something from it, it doesn't work. (Because of the large radius on the top, it spills with rapid drinking, with or without the drinking cover on.) With this new cup it is like the one that I use at home. Much better! We also found a nice wooden carving of an eagle for our son (he loves eagles), and then continued on our way. When we got back close to our room we stopped and had another sub, since it was after 5:00 PM. We may get burned out on subs at this rate, but so far they are still tasting great!

We stopped at a store for Dot to run in and get something, and I had another point's worth of that candy. It was pretty tasty.

By the time we got back to our room, I had eaten my 3 main meals, and had consumed 23.0 points. During the rest of the evening I ate 6 more points, with a yogurt, some pretzels and some cat cookies. That brought me to 29 points for the day.

Dot and I did some walking, but it was not a big exercise day for us. However, I stayed within my points, ended up drinking 120 ounces (7.5 pounds!) of water during the day, and that makes it a successful day in my book.

27 days OP, and a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/227.5/200/BMI:28.5/WK-3

*** Weigh-in for WEEK 4 ***

Week Completed:	__4__
Weigh-In Weight:	224.5
Body Mass Index:	28.1
Week’s Average Points/Day:	26.9
Pounds lost this week:	3.0
Pounds lost total:	15.0
Pounds to go to 10%:	9.0
Pounds to go to goal:	24.5

___________________________

Today is the end of my 4th week, and it is my 4th weigh-in. I stepped on the scale and it said, "224.5." That makes 3 pounds lost for this week, and 15 pounds lost total for the four weeks. If you throw out the first week, which was just a drop in water weight mostly, I have averaged a loss of 2.5 pounds per week so far. That is about a half a pound more than I expected, but I am certainly not complaining!

Yesterday, Dotti and I just relaxed in our room and enjoyed the fireplace and the beautiful view of the ocean. As usual, we have not turned the television on the whole time we've been here, and it has been great!

That new cup, Dot picked up for me the day before yesterday, is really working out well. It holds 32 ounces and that adds up quickly. Yesterday, I was drinking from that cup all day long. When I finished a cup, I made 4 X's in my journal representing the 4 eight ounce cups I had drunk. By the end of the day I had accumulated 22 X's which added up to 176 fluid ounces of water. Wow! I drank 11 pounds of water. That is hard to imagine, even after doing it.

I wanted to take it easy because of my weigh-in today, so I did not eat anything late, and I did not eat much after dinner. In fact I only had a cup of coffee for 2 points in the evening. I had been using pretzels for a snack the evening before, but I did not want all that salt holding water for my weigh-in, and did not have any pretzels last night. For breakfast I had my cereal and coffee for 6.0 points. For lunch I had 2 points worth of pretzels (before I remembered the salt) 2 fried egg sandwiches for 2.5 points, and 2.0 points worth of cat cookies. That was good for 6.5 points. For dinner I had a yogurt (2.0 points), 1/2 cup of cottage cheese (2.0 points), applesauce (1.0 point), and 8 pieces of french toast with low fat surup (4 points) for a total of 9.0 points for dinner. That added up to 21.5 points for my meals and when I added in the 2.0 points for the coffee in the evening, my total for the day was 23.5. That was below my points range, but I was so busy last night that I did not realize until this morning that I was under points for the day.

For the week my points were 23.5, 29.0, 28.5, 28.0, 27.0, 29.0, 23.5, which averages 26.9 points per day. That is almost exactly the same as the last time I totaled my points up and averaged them. It is within my range, on the low end, and seems to be working pretty well.

A month ago, I was still struggling around 240 pounds, unhappy with my weight but not doing anything positive about it. Now I am moving in a positive direction, and am developing the tools I need to keep on track for life. I have lost 37.5% of the weight I need to lose to reach goal. I still have 24.5 pounds to go, but that is a lot better than 40 pounds to go.I have never gone over points yet, which I am happy for. I have goofed a few days and ended up under points, but never intentionally, and I have made up for it by having some high days afterwards. So, although I have not been perfect, I am perfectly happy with the way my journey has gone so far.

In time, I am sure my food choices will broaden out and I will feel comfortable with a wider range of eating choices. My personality requires that I first create a stable "fortress" that I can defend without fear of failure, where I know exactly what my limits are, and what I am doing, down to the last dotted "i" and crossed "t". From there I can expand the walls around my fortress to include more and more territory. And of course I will always have the core fortress waiting for me, to return to if I ever get in trouble.

I look back down the path that I have just come, and right beside my footprints, I see those of my lovely Dotti, walking with me each step of the way. She has been a wonderful help on this journey, just like she has been for life's journey for the last 25 years. What a treasure she is! Yep, I am one lucky guy, and I know it!

28 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/224.5/200/BMI:28.1/WK-4