A FEW MORE THINGS
YOU MIGHT ENJOY
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WEEK 443
Week Ending November 11, 2009
On day 3106 of my Journey
Weight Watchers Goal
(the top of my normal weight range)
200.0 pounds
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Week 443 Update
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| Weigh-In Date: | 11/11/2009 |
| Weight: | 200.0 |
| Body Mass Index: | 25.00 |
| Average Daily Points: | 30.50 |
| Average Weight for week: | 201.93 |
| Miles Walked for week: | 0.00 |
| Miles Walked in 2009: | 191.75 |
| Pounds +/- for this week: | -3.0 |
| Pounds lost total: | 39.5 |
| Pounds From Personal Goal (185 lbs) | +15.0 |
Week's Data
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
11/04/09 |
11/05/09 |
11/06/09 |
11/07/09 |
11/08/09 |
11/09/09 |
11/10/09 |
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203.0 lbs
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204.0 lbs
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203.0 lbs
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203.0 lbs
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200.0 lbs
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202.0 lbs
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201.5 lbs
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27.5 pts
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30.5 pts
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31.0 pts
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38.5 pts
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32.5 pts
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29.0 pts
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24.5 pts
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CONTROL PANEL
GRAPH (Calculated) |
CONTROL PANEL
GRAPH |
FUTURE
GRAPH (Calculated) |
FUTURE
GRAPH |
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60-DAY
GRAPH |
90-DAY
GRAPH |
1-YEAR
GRAPH |
2-YEAR
GRAPH |
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TODAY
BUTTON |
DAY OF WEEK
Gain/Loss |
30-DAY
Gain/Loss |
40-WEEK
Gain/Loss |
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It was 4:38 a.m. when I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "200.0 pounds!"
I have finally walked up to the line that looks a bit like one that someone might draw in the sand and say, "Come this far but no farther in 2009!" I have placed my toe against the line for the third time this year, and now the question is, Will I finally cross that line? Will I continue on down to my personal goal, or will I once again give up after hitting the top of my Normal Range? What I think I will do isn't what is important. Time will show what I actually do.
I think I picked up a head cold from one of the kids at Halloween. It has been a nuisance but nothing too serious. My sinuses have been clogged up, but I haven't shown any temperature above 99.1 and that was just for a very short time. The only problem is that I am scheduled for oral surgery to have my failed implant removed (finally) and generally when they are cutting into your bone they don't like having any sort of infections or illness going on at the time. If I am not running a fever I should be okay.
It was a quiet week for the most part. We shipped off Dotti's Newsletter #83 on Friday.
On Monday I had to go into the dentist here in Spokane—who kindly is working with my dentist in Vancouver—to get a bite mold for doing my final crown for that good implant that is still unused on the left side. They took the molding of my bite and shipped it off to the lab. Hopefully, after my surgery, the crown can be placed, and all that will remain will be having the stitches removed in a few days and I will finally be done with the Mastication Miracle, which lost a bit of its shine when that implant failed to take on the attempted left sinus lift. Without that sinus lift implant in place, it makes putting in a full set of crowns difficult, if not impossible. But, switching to the "looking at the cup half full" mode, this is light-years ahead of where I was when I was trying to use a denture plate. So, I'll take it and call it good.
I have frankly been dreading going in for this procedure. I have used up my reserves for sitting there for hours in the chair. It is almost like what happened with flying. After flying half way around the world several times, and back and forth all over the USA, I finally just hit the point where I don't want to get on a plane any longer. I have reached the point where I don't want to get into a dental chair any longer, at least one where a lot of time and cutting is involved. It is sort of like what the body does when it builds up an allergic reaction. At first the body encounters something that it has never encountered so far. There is no reaction at all, but inside the body decides that it doesn't like that material. Later on, when it is exposed again, the body reacts with hives or a rash, etc. From then on any exposure of the material will produce a major reaction. I am about at that point with dental work. My "fun meter is pegged."
Since I have been dreading this, I have put it off for months. But the piper must be paid sooner or later and he has come to collect his due. I have pulled in an assist for this one though: for the first time in my life I have asked to be sedated for a dental procedure. I am told I will not remember this one, and that is just fine with me. Just wake me when its over.
Because of my head cold, I didn't get out in the weather and do any walking this week. I have been doing all that I can to get back to 100%, especially with the oral surgery coming up.
I averaged over 1 point per day more food this week than last week, but I was careful towards the end of the week, unlike last time. So, I was able to cash in on that weight I didn't lose last week, and pick up a 3-pound loss this time around. 
I collected the Weight Commander Calculated Control Panel Graph from when I only had put in my weight for today, mainly because it ended up being so close to where the graph was when I later put in the real data for the whole week. Last week it was quite different, but my daily weigh-ins were a bit less erratic this week. The solid squares are right on track for both versions of the graph.
Looking at the finished Weight Commander Control Panel Graph feels a lot more positive this week. All of my daily weight-ins fell below the solid square average running weight line! That means I am on a very strong losing trend, especially since the solid squares are dropping so sharply. This graph says I had a very good week! Of course after last week, I needed a good week this time around to get back on track!
Last week I noted that, because of the 1-pound gain I had, I had broken the streak of showing a 4.5-pound loss for the four weeks of data on the left side of the Control Panel. I said I needed to show a good number this week to get back on track. With the 3-pound loss this week, the numbers add up to a total loss of 5.5 pounds for the past 4 weeks! So, I am back on track there as well.
The numbers on the right continue to show good numbers, even improving numbers for 30, 60, and 90 days ago, where I am between 9 and 16 pounds lighter than those numbers. It clearly shows that I have had a tremendous turn around from where I was 3 months ago.
However, for one-year ago, I am fighting a sharp drop I had last year about this time where I hit the lowest point of any time for the past two years. So, even with tying the best weigh-in I have had in 2009, I still weigh 3.5 pounds more than I did 1 year ago today. It could have been worse; if my weigh-in had been tomorrow instead, on November 12, 2008 I hit the lowest number for two years at 194.5 pounds. From that point on, my weight started to climb, and so it should become easier and easier to catch and pass up the number for "1 year ago." (For example, the number to beat next week is 198.0 pounds, and the week after is 200.0 pounds. If I just maintain for two weeks I will weigh as little as I did 1 year before that.)
So, I am working on first catching that moving number from last year, and then later, catching the fixed number of 194.5 pounds in order to finally move into new territory, for over two years of weigh-ins. I can feel it! It is getting close.
I included both the Weight Commander Future Graph from the calculated data and the real data just to show that they are not all that far off. Using the calculated data it projects my weight for 90 days from now as being about 178 pounds. Using the real data, it shows me as being about 182 pounds. Since my target weight is 185 pounds, either one of these projections would put me at my target weight and back into maintenance mode by the first week in February! Sounds good to me.
By Christmas I could be down around 190 pounds if the future graph is right! (My Excel Spreadsheet 90-day projections for the 14-day trend based upon weigh-ins and average weights show me at 180 and 194 respectively three months from now. That is quite a range, but they both are at least showing a projected loss!)
My Weight Commander 60-Day Graph shows that the recent days have shown a sharper drop than the earlier days. A line drawn from the first point to the last would leave most of the data points above it. That shows that my weight is dropping more now than it was earlier.
The Weight Commander 90-Day Graph shows a more consistent loss and a line through the first and last points would tend to cut through the heart of the data points. There have been both a slight downward and slight upward variation over time but it all balanced out to show a nice consistent loss. For 90 days, things are looking very good.
The Weight Commander 1-Year Graph shows that I still have a ways to go, but that I have made tremendous progress. If you take the starting point of this graph and draw a line through it and any other point on the graph for 2009, the slope of the line is climbing, and sometimes climbing very sharply. While drawing that line from the first point through the data point for today, here at the end of the graph, still shows an upward slope, that rise is very gradual, and with a just a few more pounds of loss, the line will change to one with a downward slope! I am almost to that point, and I am excited about that!
On November 11, 2007, two years ago, I weighed 201.0 pounds, one pound more than today! However, on November 12, 2007, the next day, I dropped to 198.5, which is the first point on this Weight Commander 2-Year Graph. So, instead of showing an overall downward trend on the line through the starting and ending points, it shows a slight upward rise. I am fast approaching the low zone for the past two years of data. I am not quite there yet, but it is oh so close!
It is fun seeing the numbers dropping so sharply but at the same time this graph shows something else that would be psychologically easy to try to ignore: a large number of gains! In a sense, for 2 years I have gone nowhere. Back and forth, up and down and here I am at 200 pounds once again. The mountain of 2009 was high and tough to remove, and the psychological stresses that helped build it were even tougher to face. And that part isn't even close to being over yet.
I like hitting the Today button on the Weight Commander Control Panel Graph because it gives me the data for Wednesdays, and Wednesdays are usually great days for my journey. It is a little pick me up. And the loss shown for the past 12 Wednesdays is up to 21.50 pounds! Best of all, the solid squares are shown as falling once more!
Hitting the DAY button on the Weight Commander Control Panel Graph brings up this chart of how each day of the week stacks up over the past 12 weeks. It is funny how different days play out during the week.
I only have gains for the average weights on Tuesdays, Saturdays, and Thursdays. Of course Wednesday is my weigh-in and I always let down a bit after that, so you would expect Thursday to be up. I must then pull back because of the higher reading on Thursday, which drives Friday back down a bit. Friday is a relaxed day and go up a bit on Saturday. But then I get back on track for a couple of days. I think I probably get all my high-sodium food in on Mondays, and avoid them on Tuesdays. Week after week it seems to play out the same way. As long as I am losing, it is all okay with me.
Hitting the Flip button on the Weight Commander Control Panel Graph shows this chart that indicates how my daily weigh-ins have fluctuated around. I might gain 3 on one day and drop 5 on the next. If you drew a line along the top and another the bottom connecting up the min and max points, you would just about have a picture of a fish.
Along the bottom of the chart, it says that I have 15 loss days, 13 gain days, and 2 even days. That is the way real life data goes. It is not all one way or the other. It is back and forth, a perpetual struggle. Only time and persistence will win out and create a trend in the direction you want.
The final Weight Commander graph we'll look at this time is the Weekly Graph. This one shows 40 weeks of data, where the net result for each week is marked by a bar. The scale runs from +5 down to -5 pounds. The first third of the graph is more volatile with large swings in both directions, but the trend is upwards. The middle third sort of balances out with a few losses followed by gains. The final third is much better. You can take the three gain weeks and subtract them from the longest bar beside each of them and it would then show a nearly solid loss of about 1.5 pounds each week. Now, can we tell where I was journaling and paying attention and where I was not by looking at this graph? Oh yes!
As we prepare for our trip, I am going to close with this final graph. This is my graph so far for my eighth year of maintenance. It is true that "repairs" have fallen short, and I sure could use a better repairman for this data. I have been "playing the game" this entire year on the "wrong end of the field." All that green portion of the graph is unused. I think it is time to change that!
As I begin week 444, I am in a position to break into new ground. I still have a few weeks left in 2009 to close with a flourish, and to end on a good note, despite all the struggles I have been through. Wish me luck, because I may need it.
8 years, 183 days on my journey; a lifetime to follow.
-Al-
6'3" 239.5/200.0/185.0±2.5/BMI:25.00/WK-443
Starting weight: 239.5
Target Weight Range: 185.0±2.5 pounds
BACK TO WEEK 442 On To WEEK 444
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