Week 57 Update

I was happy to see that the temperature was back down to 57°F, at 4:30 AM as I stepped up on Mr. Scale. He said, "184.0 pounds!"

This was a hot week for our area. The forecast had said on Tuesday that it was going to be 90° on Wednesday, and 93° on Thursday. As it turned out, according to the Weatherbug on my computer, we hit 101° on Wednesday, and 96° on Thursday. Yuk! Fortunately, the humidity dropped low as the temperature went up, and so when I walked out of the building each afternoon, heading for my car to drive home, it really did not feel as hot as it was. I would have guessed the temperature was 10 degrees cooler than it really was, just from the feel of it. We had our little window air conditioners running full blast, in our apartment and still the temperature in the living room crept up to 80° on Wednesday. :^( But it was a lot more comfortable with them on, than it would have been if hadn't had them. We just broke 80° for the high yesterday (the dependable forecast had said it was only going to hit 75°.) Today they say it should once again only reach 75°. Naturally I believe them. :^)

The lows for the two hot days only fell into the 60s (about 65° and 62°), but we are back in the 50s again now. Yes!

I found one local television station web site that has an hourly prediction, where it says what temp and conditions should exist at each hour of the day, for up to 12 hours in advance. That one actually predicted an 80° high for yesterday. Today, it shows us breaking into the 60s right at 10:00 AM, and at 4:00 PM being 75°. So, we may actually stay below 80° today. I hope so.

My weigh-in weight, and even my average weight for the week, were the very same this week as they were last week. So, not surprisingly, the average number of points-per-day that I ate this week was within 0.14 points of what I ate last week.

My weight had fallen off a bit on Friday so I ate a few extra points, and it came back up this morning.

I started walking again this week. I walked Monday through Friday at lunch; 1.25 miles, 1.3 miles, 1.3 miles, 1.3 miles, 1.68 miles respectively. On Thursday, I took my lunch an hour early to try and get my walk in before it got too hot. It was already up over 80° even at 10:30 AM, but it was tolerable.

I didn't want to push it too hard, because when I overdo it, it always ends up backfiring on me, and I have to quit exercising again for a while to heal up. So, I didn't walk too fast. Only on Friday did I walk faster than 15 minutes per mile. I also walked a bit farther on Friday, but I did not get carried away and walk the entire 2 mile path that I often do. I turned around at a landmark that I had measured off previously, that was just over 8 tenths of a mile, one-way. Fourteen and a half aerobic points is not a lot, but it is more than I had last week. Hopefully, I can do even better this coming week.

Dotti has been doing really well on not smoking, and I am very proud of her! She is still struggling with the aftereffects of the cigarettes. It is hard to focus, and her energy level is still down. The fact that her knee is hurt, and probably will require surgery, is keeping her from being able to exercise at this time too. But she has nearly 4 weeks done now, and things really start to pick up after 6 weeks, so we are looking forward to an easier time for her soon.

In the meantime, she has not even wanted a cigarette! Hypnosis is really something. (When I quit, for the first few weeks, there was hardly anything else that I could think of, besides wanting a cigarette.) WTG Dotti!!!

This Week in Books

I finished listening to the Roddy McDowall reading of Battlefield Earth. It is amazing how quickly the story moves in that abridged version. (It is only 6 tapes long, whereas the unabridged version is 30 tapes long.) I remember the first time I listened to the abridged version, and while the story was interesting, there were a lot of choppy spots, where things just didn't flow right. When I listened to the unabridged version I saw why. This week, when I finished the abridged version, for the lack of something else to listen to, I started the unabridged version again. The difference in detail is really something.

At lunch I started the flip side of the ACE Double novel that I have been reading, and it is a story called The Anything Tree. The story is something that is rare in old sci-fi; one with a female lead character. I haven't gotten too far into it, since I have been walking at lunchtime.

This week, when things were slow, I did start a book that I bought at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago. I found a stack of books called, The Wonder Book of the World's Progress published by Funk & Wagnalls Company in 1935. I am not sure what the complete set had originally, but volumes 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 were there on a table, and they only wanted a quarter apiece for them. So, I snapped them up and now I am reading volume 2.

The series of books seems to be a history of the world, beginning with the scientific view of the earth's beginning and progress of life. I think volume one covered the time from "The Big Bang" to the origin of life. Volume 2 is going through the progress of the various ages. I am nearly up to the Jurassic period in the book. It is fun seeing where science was at in the 1930s. I found it very interesting that the author was discussing the tectonic plate theory that early, as if it were fact. I believe that there was still debate going on, in the scientific community, much later than that, as to whether or not it was correct.

In volume 8 it goes as far as ancient Rome and the tremendous accomplishments of that great empire. I have to assume that originally there were a couple more volumes to the set, now missing from the end. But still, I think this series will be an interesting read.

I have started a new Perry Mason novel in the evenings but I have not gotten very far into it yet. With the heat and other things going on, I have been tired when I went to bed most evenings, and just didn't read at all before drifting off to sleep.

1 year, 34 days OP, a lifetime to follow!

-Al-

6'3" 239.5/184.0/185 ± 2/BMI:22.9/WK-57
Weight Loss Graph/Maintenance Graph/Success Story