Mr. Scale said, “220.5” this morning at 7:00 AM.

Yesterday was a change of pace. Here is what was new: Dot’s twin sister and her sister’s fiancée came for a visit. There was a dinner involved with the visit and so we had to plan our points accordingly. Also, I did not have much in the way of “free food” in the house to munch on. Dot’s sister was delayed in arriving, and that increased the stress level some, and so I found myself hungrier than usual in the afternoon. Our dinner, was a bit “heavier” than usual, and I drank a lot of water in the evening because I was out of points for anything serious to munch on. Here is how it went.

I got up in the morning, for weigh-in day. I weighed in and then set about making the required changes in my Weight and BMI values in my signature file, and I updated my Weight Loss Graph. After writing my journal entry for yesterday, it was time for Dot and I to head to the gym for racquetball. [I noticed when we got there that all the treadmills in the next room over were pointed at a bank of televisions and I could hear something blaring over the speaker down there. Even the weight area has TV screens up on the wall. I could never use this gym for its machines, because one of the beautiful things about exercise is that it releases me from the stresses of life and gets me away from the little propaganda boxes that our society is so completely hooked on. (I can’t help but think of Winston Smith trying to get away from his video screen.) At least they don’t have any televisions in the racquetball courts.] Dotti and I had a good workout, and I was quite tired at the end. Also my neck was sore from an old problem that was exacerbated at work this week. After racquetball it was aching all day long.

I was really hungry after racquetball and so we stopped at Subway and grabbed a 6 inch sub. After my normal 5 point breakfast, that brought me up to 11 points for the day. When we got home, it wasn’t long before I started getting hungry again. I ended up eating a Mr. Cookieface ice cream sandwich (3 pts), and drinking a lot of water. A little later on, when Dot’s sister was delayed, I had another one. I also drank a small can of V8 juice. (0.5 pt) So, by the time dinner rolled around, I had consumed 17.5 points. Dinner was pot roast, potatoes, and green beans. When Dot handed me my plate, I could tell she had given me good portions (as in small enough). She portioned out 10 points worth of food. When I looked at it, I was torn in two directions. First of all it looked like food that would be heavy, and difficult to digest. I have not been eating much of that kind of food lately. So, a part of me was mentally pulling back away from it. On the other hand, I was struck with how much empty space was left on the plate. Before I started this journey, my plate was always filled up, and there were no bare places showing through between the food. And the pot roast looked good. So, I dug in and enjoyed the meal. That brought my points up to 27.5 points. Because my neck had been bothering me, I had a headache all afternoon, and so I thought a shot of caffeine might just knock it out. I had a cup of coffee and creamer. (1 pt) That was it for my points for the day, and left me with a total of 28.5 points eaten.

I was then left in the position where one more three point snack would have put me over my points for the day. It had been a while since I was in that situation. I was drinking water like crazy the rest of the night. I ended up drinking a total of 25 glasses of water, or 200 ounces (12.5 pounds). And a lot of it was consumed the last couple of hours before bed time. So, naturally, I was up, over and over again, during the night trying to shed that water. This morning I don’t think I am done with it yet. And the sodium content, in the meal last night, may have been high enough to cause me hold on to more of the water than usual.

But I am happy to report that I stayed within my points yesterday, and that made yesterday a success. I will say that if it were not for all the water that I drank, I would have had a very real problem with staying OP. Water is a magic potion, that adds no weight, but fills me up. Some days I just can’t get enough of it.

I hope that today will be less of a challenge for me.

43 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/220.0/200/BMI:27.5/WK-6/Weight Loss Graph

I stepped up on Mr. Scale this morning and he said, “Hey, you are finally at 219.0!” That has been one of my goals, that I have been looking forward to reaching very much. Besides being over halfway to goal, with 20.5 pounds gone, and 19.0 to go, and being only 3.5 pounds from 10%, it is in the 2-teens. I have fallen out of the 230s and the 220s, and for the first time in my life, after leaving those weight decades, there is a very real chance that I will never return to them. For the first time in my life I have the tools to allow me to stay under my goal weight once I reach it. OK, it is just one day’s weigh-in and who knows what tomorrow will bring, but it feels good anyway!

Yesterday was a much easier day than Saturday was. I had no problem with staying within my points during the day, and by the end of the day, I still had some points left over. I feel more comfortable when I am not against the upper limit. There is something about being against the hard spot of not being able to eat anything else, even if I am very hungry that is unpleasant. I may not even be hungry at the time, but having the freedom taken from me, of whether I can choose to have a little something or not, is unpleasant in and of itself.

My meals were all pretty standard yesterday. My 5 point breakfast was followed with 2 of my eggbeaters, fried egg sandwich for 2.5 points. I had a bag of popcorn, during the afternoon, for an additional 2 points, which brought me to 9.5 points heading into the evening. My dinner was 2 turkey hot dogs (2.0 points), 4 ounces of baked French fries (3.5 points), sour kraut, asparagus, and butter spray (all zero points) which brought me up to 5.5 points for dinner and 15.0 points for the day. Three meals for 15.0 points is pretty good I think.That left me open for a few goodies for the evening. I had a Mr. Skinnycow (3pts) a part of a Luna bar that Dot gave me (3 pts - and I did not really enjoy it enough for 3 pts. Dot loves them, but I want something more for 3 pts.) About 9:00 pm, I realized that I had eaten only 21.0 points so far, and with my new resolution to hit at least 22.0 points, I had two chocolate meringues, for that addition point, bringing me to my final total for the day of 22.0 points. Success!

For water yesterday I ended up drinking 20 of the 8 ounce glasses, or 160 ounces (10 pounds). I didn’t get any exercise yesterday, but my neck was feeling much better. I gave some thought to taking a walk, after reading a walking thread up in the Daily, but the weather had gone sour and we had a cloud burst, which washed away my desire like speck of dust off a blade of grass. Hmmm. This is obviously a point which is going to need more work in the future. (Our temperature yesterday never got out of the 50s! It was cool. I even had the heater on for a bit in the morning. For a June 24 th that is not bad at all, for someone like me who likes the cooler temperatures, and is no longer fond of hot weather.)

I have been taking a High Energy Pak assortment of vitamins most days. I never know, from the way I feel, if they are doing any good or not but, in case I am missing anything important in my diet, I feel it is a good backup. Looking at the cellophane bag that they come in, I can see 4 “horse pills,” one Shetland pony sized pill, a vitamin E-gel capsule and a tablet that looks about the same size as an aspirin. The company that makes them is Kirkland. The vitamin listing on the side of the box, says that you get all your daily requirements, plus quite a bit extra of vitamin C and vitamin E, and several others. Dot says that she picked them up at Costco for about $14.00, and that was for a 90 day supply.

Speaking of pills, I have finally gotten to where I swallow pills without chewing them first. (For years I had chewed everything from asperin to vitamins, and any other pill I had to swallow no matter how bitter.) That is because of the teeth I have had extracted over the last few months. In order to take the horse pill pain medication the dentist prescribed for me, I had to learn to swallow without chewing. (My wounded mouth would never have tolerated chewing something like that at the time.) Now I am still doing it. My throat doesn’t like it much, and I still get a feeling of having the pill stuck in my throat for a while after I swallow it, but I just drink some water until that feeling goes away.

Well, yesterday I stayed within the point range that I have targeted, and drank plenty of water. I felt that overall it was a really good day. (It helped that I was not called in to work at all, even though I had the pager coverage this weekend -- actually I had it for the last 7 days.) And of course seeing 219.0 on the scale this morning was a real pick-me-up! The future looks bright, and on top of that, we will be seeing Jim and Tammy this weekend too!

44 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/220.0/200/BMI:27.5/WK-6/Weight Loss Graph

I woke up this morning with a start. I looked at the clock with my blurry eyes and it said, “9:03.” I squinted my eyes, and tried to see if the 9 was really a 9 or if it was a 5. I got up and went into another room where we had an analog clock instead of digital, and it was indeed 5:03 AM. That was good, because I would have been a hour late for work the other way.

Mr. Scale, was easier to read, even though he is digital as well. The light was better in the bathroom, and my eyes had cleared a bit, but he clearly said, “219.0.” I am kind of getting used to that, or at least I am getting to feel less surprised by seeing it. Just a few weeks ago I was struggling to keep my weight below 240. It was sort of like a cork going up and down in the gentle ripples going by. I would hit 240 and go into crisis mode, and pull it back down a couple of pounds and then drift back up again. Over and over and over. Now I am not fighting to keep from going over 240. In fact I am not fighting at all. I am just an observer of the results of being OP. My only real tasks are monitoring what I eat, and making the right choices during the day. The scale takes care of itself. I must admit that I was possessed of a growing eagerness as I approached 219. It was a big deal to me. Now that I am here, it is beginning to feel natural. Soon, I will be setting my sites on 210, which is only 10 pounds from the “promised land.” For now, I will enjoy finally being in the 2-teens.

It won’t be long and I can move down to 38 inch waist jeans, which will be another big deal for me. As a digression, during my adult life the waist size on my pants has gone from 34 inches up to 44 inches. When I got skinny I could put on 34’s and at 6’3” I felt like a toothpick. When I could comfortably put on 36’s I felt really good. And 38’s had sort of a “normal” feel to them. When I moved up to 40’s I knew I was becoming overweight. And then 42’s and 44’s made be feel out of control. (I was teaching when I first hit 44’s, and I changed to using suspenders in order to hold them up in front of the class, over my expanding tummy.) Yes, I had quit smoking, but the price was getting pretty high when I found myself buying 44 inch waist pants. I am now comfortably back down to 40’s and I can squeeze into 38’s, but not comfortably just yet. I have a selection of 38’s awaiting my arrival, both in my closet, and buried in the bottom of my pants drawer. I even still have a pair of 36’s that I bought on a month long business trip back in 1990 when I dropped a lot of weight, way too quickly. But I sure did enjoy being able to fit into them comfortably. When I can slip those pants on again, with no squeezing, I will know that I have arrived.

Yesterday found me carrying my computer bag around some, and that was the extent of my exercising. I found some rhubarb in a Safeway that was not too soft. (It has been getting hard to find really good rhubarb the last couple of weeks.) In the evening, Dotti and I worked on our computers.

Yesterday, I ate my 5 point breakfast, had 8 points for lunch including 2 peanut butter sandwiches, an orange, espresso beans, Jell-O and 2 chocolate meringue. For dinner, I had some mixed vegetables (0 pts), 2 tomato sandwiches(1 pt) and a fake 3-point blizzard (white chocolate MMMMM GOOD!!!). Not bad for a 5.0 point dinner. For snacks, I had a Mr. Cookieface ice cream sandwich (3 pts) and two cups of coffee during the day. That brought my point total for the day up to 23.0 points.

For water, I drank 11 glasses for a total of 88 ounces. As usual, at work I had to hold it down, which means I have to drink more at night to catch up some.

Well, I am off to work (thank goodness it is still on time and not 9:03).

45 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/220.0/200/BMI:27.5/WK-6/Weight Loss Graph

At 5:15 AM Mr. Scale woke up in a bad mood today and said, “220.0.” It was probably that @#$% garbage truck that upset him, making all that noise so early in the morning and waking us all up. (It happens every Wednesday. For years it happened at 4:30 AM, but they have changed their schedule to a bit later, though not late enough! In the wintertime we have our window closed and I sleep right though it usually, but in the summertime, the sun is already coming up, and the window is open and it gets me out of bed nearly everytime.)

Actually what happened with the scale, was that I noticed late yesterday evening that I had only eaten 16.0 points so far, and so I loaded up on six points to bring me up to 22.0 points for the day. One of the things I ate was a 2 point bag of pretzels, with its accompanying salt. So, I am not surprised that the scale read a bit higher today. If I went back to bed and slept another hour or two I am sure that it would come right back down, but I must get ready for work.

Yesterday I came to the conclusion that I am going to have to avoid eating large quantities of rhubarb. The sour acidic part of it attacks my teeth and makes them ache. I have had enough tooth problems the last few months where I am not going to do anything to make that worse.

I tried some new (plain or regular) meringues yesterday that Dot and I picked up at Trader Joes yesterday during my lunch hour. You can eat 5 of them for two points, and they are so sweet that it is hard to eat 5 in one sitting. So, you can spread those two points out over some time.

My breakfast was 5.0 points as usual. For lunch I ate 5.0 points also, including 2 turkey sandwiches (3pts), orange (1pt), Jell-O (1ot), Romaine lettuce heart, and some rhubarb (0pts). During the workday I had two cups of coffee (2pts). For dinner I had two tomato sandwiches (1pt), instant potatoes (3pts), green beans (0pt), and a pickle (0pts). So, going into the evening I had eaten only 16.0 points. I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, because I had some things I needed to get to.

It wasn’t until later (about 9 PM) that I finally realized that I had under-eaten for the day so far. So, I grabbed the 5 meringues (2pts), and they were so sweet that I drank a cup of skim milk with them (2pts). That brought me up to 20.0 points for the day. I have resolved to eat at least 22.0 points so I grabbed a 2 point bag of pretzels and that finished my eating day. I don’t like eating that late but I am going to try not to ever go below 22 points for a day again.

For water I drank 15 glasses, or 120 ounces (7.5 pounds). I really didn’t get much exercise yesterday. It was a quiet day.

In spite of what the surly Mr. Scale said this morning, I feel very good about yesterday and it was all around a good OP day. I will try to avoid the late eating today, and maybe I can swing some walking or other form of exercise today, but other than that I would love to have another day today just like I had yesterday.

46 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/220.0/200/BMI:27.5/WK-6/Weight Loss Graph

Mr. Scale said “221.5 pounds this morning at 6:15 AM. That sort of reading sort of reminds me of flying in a fog. Your instruments all say you are on course but your feeling is that you are off course. In this case the scale may be more of a “feeling” than a reading. At least I have to have faith that it is. I have not gone anywhere near over points any of the last few days, and so a 2.5 pound gain must have another source other than accumulation of fat. I can tell that I am loaded up with water this morning, because when I close my hands into a fist, they both feel very puffy. I run into pads of puffy skin, long before I actually get my fists closed. I have to fight past those puffy bags in order to actually get the fist completely closed. We have been having some very strange weather and that may have something to do with it. Last night I noticed that our predominate wind direction, which never changes directions from blowing down on the Columbia River was blowing up away from it. In the several years that we have lived here, I have never noticed that happening before. Always before the wind would blow our bedroom door closed when the windows were open, if the wind was blowing at all. Last night it was blowing the door open and made it hard to close. Also, the humidity is 89% right now, and we do not normally have high humidity here. Pollen is only medium in level but there may be something in the air that I am allergic to. Or perhaps the amount of salt I have taken in the last two days has been higher than normal, but I am skeptical that is what is wrong. Lastly, yesterday I had a much more physical day than usual, and that my account for some of the swollen hands. The final analysis is that I have done nothing wrong that I know of, and that means that this change is a temporary aberration that will evaporate when whatever is causing it goes away, and then I will see a quick correction in the other direction. In the meantime, I am going to focus on being OP.

Yesterday, my breakfast was 5 points My lunch I was only able to eat part of at lunch time before I had to get moving on a new problem a customer was having. So, I consumed 2 turkey sandwiches (3pts), an orange (1pt) and 2 chocolate meringues (1pt) for lunch. I then ate a cumber (0pts) and the Jell-o (1pt) from my lunch in the evening. For dinner Dot and I split a Heaven’s Bistro pizza (4.5pts) and I had a glass of skim milk with it. (2pts) That brought my total for the day up to 17.5 points. For snacks, I had a cup of coffee at work (1pt), and a Mr. Cookieface ice cream sandwich (3pts) at night. My total points for the day were 21.5.

For water, I drank 96 ounces (6 pounds), yesterday.

My hope is that both the weather and my body will snap out of the bizarre pattern that each of them are in, and I can get back to normal soon.

I must get off to work.

47 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

PS I just read something interesting in the Daily forum. Anne said that "anti-inflammatory" drugs often cause water retention. One of the effects of Advil is being "anti-inflammatory." The last two days, I took some Advil for pain. Perhaps this is what is the new factor that is causing me to retain water? I will find out the next couple of days, by not taking it any more.

It is great having so many people sharing info on this message board!

-Al-

239.5/220.0/200/BMI:27.5/WK-6/Weight Loss Graph

Climbed up on Mr. Scale this morning at 6:00 AM wondering what he was going to say to me this time. Was it going to be even more of an increase? Would it fall back down? As it turned out, he said, “220.0 pounds.” Right back where I was last Saturday. So, at least I am not in the “gain” category for the week so far. Who knows, maybe I can lose the other surprise pound by tomorrow. But that is another day.

Yesterday I did not take any Advil and the weather changed back to normal. My hands are not as swollen today as yesterday, and I am left with a little doubt as to what caused the hiccup in my weight. But I knew that things were going to be better yesterday when the wind was again blowing in the direction to push our bedroom door closed, instead of open. The temperature never got out of the low 60’s and the humidity fell back to the 60s as well. Right now the temperature is 50 degrees outside, and the weatherman says it is supposed to get up to 75, though it will be cloudy. Last night was a very nice cool sleeping night.

My day yesterday was quiet at work, with not much happening with our customers. We did have an office meeting, and naturally it was scheduled during our lunch hour. The announcement was made, “Pizza will be provided.” As our guys started dropping in from all over town for the meeting, I had about 30 minutes to go before the meeting started and so I grabbed my lunch. I ate my sandwiches, and meringues, and then ate a cucumber while I was visiting with my coworkers that I had not seen in a while, and they were enjoying their pizza. (I declined the pizza without even a twinge of regret.) Of the entire group only one mentioned that I had dropped some weight, and I was even wearing my 38 inch pants for the first time too. (I remember Dotti having to wait until she had lost about 50 pounds before people started taking notice, so I am not too concerned that 20 pounds are not making waves.) I was happy that one of the guys noticed though. He is good friend and I was not surprised he spotted it, since he had not seen me since I had started my journey.

I did eat my 22 points yesterday, exactly. I had my normal breakfast and then a couple of cups of coffee at work which added up to 7 points by lunch time. I had the same things as yesterday for lunch for 6.0 points. That brought me up to 13 for the day. I had instant potatoes and 3 tomato sandwiches for 2 points. (The mayo that was added for the third sandwich was enough so that it pushed it over the threshold to where I counted my total mayo for the 3 sandwiches as 0.5 points that is why I counted it as 2 points rather than 1.5 points.) So, I had eaten 18 points for the day, and I wanted to get all my points in early. So, I ate two meringues for 1 point and a Mr. Cookieface for 3 points. That made 22 points by 7 PM and I ate nothing else for the evening.

I did drink water however, right up to 9:00 PM. Yesterday, I drank a total of 128 ounces (8 pounds) of water.

Well, the wind changed directions, and so has Mr. Scale. Hopefully there will be no more going in the wrong direction for a while.

Today is Friday, and then we start our vacation! Jim and Tammy here we come (right after my weigh-in tomorrow).

-Al-

239.5/220.0/200/BMI:27.5/WK-6/Weight Loss Graph

*** Weigh-in for WEEK 7 ***

Week Completed:	__7__
Weigh-In Weight:	218.0
Body Mass Index:	27.0
Week’s Average Points/Day:	23.0
Pounds lost this week:	2.0
Pounds lost total:	21.5
Pounds to go to 10%:	2.5
Pounds to go to goal:	18.0

Here it is week 7 weigh-in time. I am amazed at the progress so far on my journey. The scale said 218.0 this morning at 6:00 AM and that means in 7 weeks I have dropped 21.5 pounds. Looking at my weight loss graph I have lost exactly 2 pounds in 4 of the last 5 weeks (the fifth week was 3 pounds). So, I have been pretty consistent, since the first crazy week.

I was very happy to lose that excess water that I was picking up on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I am sure that it was the Advil that caused the water retention. That is something for me to remember for future reference.

I feel fairly confident that by Halloween I will be at goal. If I continued to lose as I have so far I will be there in early September, just after my August 23 rd birthday. However, I do not expect that. I may move my points up a couple of notches, because I feel like I could use a little more energy than I have right now. I think that an increase in my exercise and my points would be a very positive thing for me. And what better time to put it to the test, than on vacation when I have some extra time to make it happen?

Yesterday, I ate my 5 point breakfast, and then had 2 cups of coffee at work. Total: 7 points. For lunch I had the same thing as I had the previous days, except Dot gave me a peach (1pt) instead of an orange in my lunch. The peach was just perfectly ripe and delicious! So, that was 5 points for lunch again, and a total of 12 points by the time I got home. I wanted a light dinner in preparation for today’s weigh-in. So, I had a bowl of cereal and some skim milk (4pts) and then had three snack items -- Mr. Cookieface (3pts), 2 meringues (1pt), and an 8 ounce cup of yogurt (2pts) -- to bring my points up for the day to exactly 22.0 points. I was done eating by 7 PM. I next put my water down quickly and before 9 PM I was done with that, having drank 88 ounces for the day.

My Body Mass Index has fallen from 30 down to 27. A BMI of 25 is what I will have at goal, and that is considered to be in the normal range. Things are looking up!

While I feel that I am doing well on the weight loss aspect of my journey, I know I still have a long ways to go on getting my eating to optimum. Right now I am focused on weight loss and keeping my points in range. I will need to focus more closely towards balancing my food choices in the long haul. Am I getting enough fat in my diet? I am not sure. Am I eating all the right foods that I need? I need to research it more closely. I think that I am eating more healthily than I was before I started my journey.

Well off to visit Jim and Tammy. Dotti and I always enjoy spending time with our best friends.

49 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/218.0/200/BMI:27.0/WK-7/Weight Loss Graph