A FEW MORE THINGS
YOU MIGHT ENJOY
|
 |  |
|
WEEK 421
Week Ending June 10, 2009
Weight Watchers Goal
(the top of my normal weight range)
200.0 pounds
|
Week 421 Update
|
|
| Weigh-In Date: | 06/10/2009 |
| Weight: | 213.0 |
| Body Mass Index: | 26.62 |
| Average Daily Points: | 28.43 |
| Average Weight for week: | 213.36 |
| Miles Walked for week: | 5.14 |
| Miles Walked in 2009: | 83.25 |
| Pounds +/- for this week: | -3.0 |
| Pounds lost total: | 26.5 |
| Pounds From Personal Goal (185 lbs) | +28.0 |
Week's Data
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
06/03/09 |
06/04/09 |
06/05/09 |
06/06/09 |
06/07/09 |
06/08/09 |
06/09/09 |
|
216.0 lbs
|
216.5 lbs
|
214.0 lbs
|
213.0 lbs
|
212.5 lbs
|
213.0 lbs
|
211.5 lbs
|
|
26.0 pts
|
21.5 pts
|
36.0 pts
|
30.5 pts
|
28.5 pts
|
30.5 pts
|
26.0 pts
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONTROL PANEL
GRAPH |
FUTURE
GRAPH |
60-DAY
GRAPH |
90-DAY
GRAPH |
1-YEAR
GRAPH |
|
|
It was 6:00 AM when I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "213.0 pounds!"
Today is Dotti's and my 33rd wedding anniversary, but we are waiting one day to celebrate, because Dotti has her Weight Watchers meeting in the morning and we would like to drive over to Idaho for our anniversary celebration. Still, I have to say:
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DOTTI!
I hit a point a few days ago, where I just got tired. I didn't get tired of journaling, or watching what I ate; I got tired of drifting without a direction. I decided to take charge of my journey once more and to get moving in the right direction. I had been moving along on my journey in a disjointed way. If things were easy, and no temptations presented themselves, I was fine, but when any sort of opportunity came along to go wrong, I jumped in with both feet. I felt like Alfred P. Doolittle, in the play, "My Fair Lady," where he sang:
The Lord above made liquor for temptation—
To see if man could turn away from sin.
The Lord above made liquor for temptation,
But, with a little bit of luck, with a little bit of luck,
When temptation comes you'll give right in.
Oh you can walk the straight and narrow,
But with a little bit of luck you'll run amok.
|
In my case it is eating, but the principle is still the same. When things like ice cream cones, or other goodies came within my reach, I grabbed them without hesitation. When I was pulled into a restaurant, I ate hearty. These were choices that I was making, choices that could have gone a different way, but it required my commitment to make them go the other way. This week I focused on making better choices, and it paid off a bit, with a 3 pound loss.
Now, this 3 pounds are not what would be called virgin territory at all. I have been over this same ground so many times I can't begin to count them all, and I have been doing this for decades. So, while I am very happy to lose 3 pounds, I am not focusing on that, but I am looking down the road, weeks, months and perhaps years, where Goalville is once again in my view. Sure, I have to use binoculars to see it these days, because of the way I have drifted away, but there it is, and it is where I am heading.
My Weight Commander Control Panel Graph shows a very positive change this week. The last 6 daily weigh-ins in a row have come in under the solid square average trend numbers. And of course that has caused the solid squares to move downward as well.
If we look back across the whole month, it is clear that I have made very little progress. My daily weigh-in number is lower than 30 days ago, but my solid square average is slightly higher. The numbers on the left of the panel show that I had a 3-pound loss this week, and a ½-pound loss the week before that, and I am happy to see that. However, the week before that, I had a 3.5-pound gain, which leaves my with no change from 3 weeks ago. The previous week to that I gained another 2 pounds. So, for four weeks I have net 2-pound gain.
On the right side, the numbers show that I weigh less today than I did 30 days ago and 60 days ago. That means I am not on an overall gaining trend the past two months. I only weigh a half-pound more than I did 90 days ago, and that is pretty much a maintain there as well. So, for 3 months now, I have been holding a winding but fairly steady course. That is better than gaining of course, but it is not getting me to my goal.
A very strong positive thing that I see is that when I apply myself and work the program, I always get results. Looking at the solid squares on the graph, I can tell when I have been paying attention and working the program, and when I have not.
My Weight Commander Future Graph is the best I have seen in a while. It shows me reaching my Normal Weight Zone by my birthday! By the time autumn rolls around, it projects my weight as being somewhere in the mid 190s.
Last week's Future Graph showed a slow,and quite small projected loss over the next 3 months, leaving me up around 214 for my birthday. So, this week was a better week by far than last week. Hopefully, I can keep this trend going on during the upcoming week.
Even my Weight Commander 60-Day Graph shows some cause for celebration, albeit a small one. I am down around the lowest that I have been for the past 60 days, and my trend during the month of June has been sharply downward. Despite those 3 nasty high peaks in May, the trend since April 17 has been generally downward. I have not focused at all like I should have on my Journey, but I haven't completely given up either. I have been drifting with a eye on not going over the edge. The past two weeks I have actually put the oars in the water and started to paddle—last week a bit, and this week a lot more.
In my heart right now, I feel like I am going to do this thing, and I am on track for that today.
Taken by itself, my Weight Commander 90-Day Graph doesn't give much reason to jump up and down in excitement. I was at a lower weight 90 days ago than I am now. Since then I have done a lot of gaining and only enough losing to hold the line against run away. Even so, the trend that I am currently riding is heading sharply downward, it is fast approaching where I was 90 days ago, and, if continued I will zip right past that point and move rapidly to goal.
If my 90-day graph of 3 months hence is like this one, I will be unhappy about it. Not as unhappy as I would be if it showed a huge gain of course, but I am expecting far better results during the upcoming 90 days. I am going to work to make that happen.
I have to work harder to make my Weight Commander 1-Year Graph give me a positive feeling. The little drop of the past couple of weeks is miniscule compared with the large gain I had after Thanksgiving last year.
Obviously, the stressful changes in my life that began with Dotti's car accident and then led quickly into the move to Tiller and all the trouble that turned out to be, are marked on the graph by the change from having a strong downward trend into my Normal range, to having a sharp upward trend towards the halfway point between my original starting weight of 239.5 and 200.0, where the top of my normal weight limit is. I was on a course to gain all my weight back, and I held steady on that path for about 5 months!
So, the fact that I have stopped that trend, is a very positive thing in itself. The fact that I have been slowly working in a downward direction since, is also positive. I have a long ways to go to get to where I want to be, but not only is the goal in view, so is the path that I have to walk to get there. It is up to me.
This week we finally got our central air conditioning installed. When we signed our lease, one of the stipulations we had was that the house had to have air conditioning. With our computers, and my low tolerance for heat, keeping the house cool during the summer is critical.
In Vancouver, each spring I installed 3 window unit air conditioners in our house. Each fall I pulled them back out again, so we could open the windows. I was frankly tired of doing that, and so, we looked for a house with central air before we moved to Spokane. We really liked this house, when we first saw it, but then we found out that it only had forced air heating, not central air conditioning. The landlord agreed to have the air conditioning installed by May 31st. Unfortunately, he didn't quite get it done on time, but it was only 4 days late. We had some hot days that we had to get through before it came online, but all is well now. 
On Wednesday, the electrician arrived and I enjoyed visiting with him and his assistant as they ran the conduit around to the back of the house and pulled the wire through to power the air conditioning unit. They did a good job and left a "pig tail" cable for the air conditioning install team to wire up the unit once it was installed.
On Thursday, the A/C install team arrived with two men who put in the outside unit, routed the cooling lines into the furnace room, and installed the cooling coil into the furnace duct. It all came off as promised and by Thursday evening we had a very cool house.
My office is in the basement, and, since heat rises, it is always cooler than the upstairs. On one of the hot days (before air conditioning) my office got up near 80° but it stayed just below it. Upstairs it was several degrees hotter. Now, when the upstairs is at 72°, my office can fall below that a couple of degrees. The computers, lights and other electrical devices help hold the heat up a bit so usually there is not a huge difference in temperature. I also have a small space heater available, that I used a lot in the cold days when we first arrived, should it get too cold downstairs. Generally, I like it cool, so the basement is perfect for my needs.
Saturday Dotti and I had a fun outing, doing the Spokane Bridge Walk with Jim and Tammy, who also brought along our grandson Hunter. Little Hunter's legs were not yet up to a 4+ mile hike, but he gave it his best effort, before needing to be carried. He loves to join in and nearly always has a cheerful disposition when going along on outings with adults.
Hunter asked Grampy Al if he could try on his sunglasses. Of course I let him and then I took this picture. He looks really cool with his "shades" on.
We rode down to the start of the walk in Jim and Tammy's van. Although there wasn't a close by parking lot, we were able to find room alongside a road nearby.
 The trail was marked by blue paint, and this photo is of the official starting point of the trail. Later on we found little blue arrows painted onto the sidewalk to mark our way.
Here the group was heading down to register for the walk. It was a bright sunny day at times, but clouds came by from time to time to keep the temperature down. It turned out to be a very good day for a walk!
I took this picture of Dotti, just a few feet away from the signup table. Spokane Falls is in the background and my lovely Dotti is radiating her beautiful smile in the foreground.
I think we walked over 17 bridges, and I checked the distance I walked with Google Pedometer, and it came to a total of 5.14 miles, including side excursions and walking to the restaurant and to and from the car. I know that I got some exercise because I was a bit sore on Sunday morning; so even though it was a leisurely pace, it was good exercise.
The first bridge we crossed over was the Monroe Street Bridge and in this picture you can even see Jim and Tammy's van (which we all rode in) off in the distance. (Of course you have to know where to look. ) The Spokane River is churning over the Spokane Falls on the right.
I took 1,073 pictures on the walk itself, plus more before and after the walk. I normally don't get into the second half of my 8-GB memory card, but was well into it by the end of the day. I am going to create a Coon Family Hiking Club entry on this walk, because I have way too many pictures to share here, and I want to get this update completed.
If you would like to browse through some pictures I already have up of much of the same area that we walked on Saturday, visit my Week 311 Journal entry, where I have pictures of the Davenport Hotel, Riverfront park (which is where the walk mostly took place), Stonehenge, Dotti's cast, and more. (It was a busy week!)
Hunter was perched up on "the best seat in the house" as Grammy Dotti carried him for a while. He has a good grip, and she has a big smile!
When we finished the walk, I found that the group was going to stop at a restaurant before going home, so I was faced with one of those moments, similar to what happened on Mother's Day, when I blew it badly. I was determined to not make that mistake again, and so I decided that I would wait until I got home to get something OP to eat and just drink water in the meantime. The walk had suppressed my appetite pretty well anyway and I wasn't hungry. (When I got home I cooked up a couple of eggbeater muffin sandwiches for lunch and at the end of the day came in under my limit at 30.5 points.  )
This little mall lies beside the path we walked on the Bridge Walk, and there were a couple of restaurants side by side just inside the door. Dotti and Tammy decided that the Sawtooth Grill, on the left side of this picture, would offer more OP choices and we went in there.
Being the “designated drinker” (water that is ), I had plenty of time to take pictures. This is the interior of the Sawtooth Grill.
After years of having a basic flip phone with no camera or other goodies, I finally got a nice one that has an 8-megapixel camera onboard. I tried it out at dinner and took this one of Hunter eating his pre-meal vegetable snack.
I used the phone camera for this shot of Jim with his menu, and though the flash went off, I wasn't too happy with the way it dealt with dim light. (I worked a while with Photoshop to get the colors to come out as you see them. It was much worse when I started.) So, I switched over to my other camera for the rest of the shots.
Dotti, after the long walk, still looks beautiful as ever, but she is seriously looking for something to eat on the menu.
Tammy is doing the same thing across the table.
Here is the menu, and the ladies said it was loaded with lots of choices, and everyone seemed satisfied with their meals!
For my part, I ordered water and a diet soda. The soda machine was not operating at first, and when they finally got it going, the soda was flat, and they took it back. By the time I finally got a good one, I only took a couple of sips before it was time to leave. However, I downed a lot of water. I was very thirsty after the walk and the water tasted awesome. I had no desire at all to eat anything and I was happily surprised by that. I had a very nice time sitting there and visiting during the meal.
After the restaurant, on our way back to the car, we passed by the Bloomsday series of scupltures, and Dotti struck a jogging pose by one of them. She looks like she is moving right along!
When we were crossing the Monroe Bridge, I took a picture of the Spokane Falls, and after playing around with it in Photoshop, I came up with something that looked a bit like an old hand colored postcard,with a touch of surrealism.
Later, when Dotti and I got home, I took this picture of Dotti in her office. After miles of walking and plenty of wind and sun, she still looks wonderful!
My goal at the end of last week was to take charge of my journey again and to make better choices. I feel that I really did that this week, and I hope to continue that into the upcoming week. I know I will have good results, if I only remain OP. It is up to me!
8 years, 29 days on my journey; a lifetime to follow.
-Al-
6'3" 239.5/213.0/185.0±2.5/BMI:26.62/WK-421
Starting weight: 239.5
Target Weight Range: 185.0±2.5 pounds
BACK TO WEEK 420 On To WEEK 422
|
|
|
