Week 81 Update

Today we are driving back home. So, it was early (04:30), cold (28°), and dark when I awoke and stepped up on Mr. Scale. He said, “183.0 pounds!” Whew! I just made it into my target zone.

It has been a fun week, and an interesting eating week as well. For the fun, we have very much enjoyed the company of our dear friends, Jim and Tammy, as well as that of our “nieces,” who always seem to change so much in just a few months between our visits. We have had fun conversations, some “retail therapy,” several guitar sessions, many chess games, and a great Thanksgiving Day meal, along with a family get together. It has been relaxing and fun!

On the food front, my eating changed significantly for the week. I didn’t have all the celery and cucumbers that I normally have at home, and my snacking was different. The meals were all excellent! (Tammy is an exceptionally good cook!!!). Overall my points went up this week, while my weight was attempting a nose dive. On Saturday, when we headed to Spokane, I started the day at 184.5. So, I did my normal correction, and ate 45.0 points. I even had a 12” sub at Subway for lunch in the Tri-cities area in Washington (about halfway up to Spokane). The result was my weight dropped 1.5 pounds. So, on Sunday, I kicked my points up to 55.5 to try and stabilize and recover my weight. The scale remained steady at 183.0 the next day. So, I ate 52.5 points on Monday. I didn’t go out for any big point desserts or anything. I just snacked my way up, nibbling here and there throughout the day. Mr. Scale went up a pound. So, I thought I was right on track. I had a busy day on Tuesday, and did not snack as much as usual. My points dropped to 33.0. As a result, on Wednesday, I weighed 182.0. I have been in this situation before. However, I knew Thanksgiving Day was coming on Thursday, and I was in a quandary as to whether I wanted to hit the points hard on Wednesday, or hold back and save that bump for Thursday. I decided to hit it on Wednesday, and see if I could do like I did last year on Thanksgiving, and eat reasonably low; if my Thursday morning weigh-in was around 185. So, I ate 60.0 points on Wednesday, and the scale came up, but only to 184.0. That left me open for a near free-for-all for Thanksgiving. :) After a normal breakfast, I ended up eating only one meal late in the afternoon for both lunch and dinner. That meal came out to 42.0 points, and the entire day came out at 60.0 points. (Both Dotti and Tammy said that they no longer liked me even a little bit, when I weighed-in at 183.5 pounds on Friday morning. Tammy was mumbling something about ‘justifiable homicide.” :lol )

On Friday, I felt that I was in a tricky situation. I knew that the added points I had eaten (120 points in two days) could still show up a day delayed, and so I didn’t want to overdo my points. However, I also knew that my weight could take a dive again, and then I would drop out of my target range for my weigh-in. I had a large lunch (25.0 points), and then I weighed myself before dinner. (My total for the day at that time was 49.0 points.) The scale read: 186.0. That is where I often am at home right after work, before dinner, although it is a bit lower than my normal 187 to 189. I had a reasonable 8.0 points for dinner and ended the day with 57.0 points. Judging by the scale this morning, it was too low.

I am still not eating as much as Jim gets to eat, but it’s getting closer, and the difference in our weights was just under 10 pounds for most of the days we were in Spokane this time. That is the closest our weights have ever been to being the same ! He is a Normally Thin Person, and has been all his life. (He tells a very interesting story about all the things he had to do to get his weight up high enough to be able to qualify to enter the Navy when he first went in.) So, naturally, it feels good to be in the same weight neighborhood as he is in.

Our temperatures this week have been colder here in Spokane than we would have seen in Vancouver. When I weighed-in on the morning of 11/23, before heading out for Spokane, the temperature was 50°. The next morning at weigh-in, in Spokane, it was 28°! The rest of the morning lows were: 22°, 22°, 24°, 24°, 25°, and as I said above, it was 28° this morning at 4:30 AM when I weighed-in. (It had dropped to 25° by 7:00 AM before we hit the road!) All week long, the highs would crawl into the mid 30's, and then when the sun set it would get cold quickly. We were fortunate that they were not having abnormally cold weather. These are the normal temperatures for this time of year in Spokane. Their record lows for November are well below zero!

Last year at this time, I was finally at my personal goal. It has been over a year now since I last had a weekly weigh-in above 190. However, I had not decided on how I was going to maintain yet. I was more or less thinking that I could eat X number of points, and my weight would just stay put at 190. I found out that that was not a realistic goal. My weight was going to jump around some, no matter what I ate. So, I revised my plan after my December 8th weigh-in, where I would maintain in a range below 190, and things were much easier then. It still took several weeks -- until about Christmas -- before I settled into what I am doing now: maintaining in a range of 185 pounds, ± 2 pounds. I am very satisfied with how this has been working. Since last Christmas, I have only had 3 weekly weigh-ins that were outside of that range, and all of them were no more than 1.5 pounds below my range. And most important to me, I have not had any problem keeping my weight below 190 for the entire year.

I know that when I travel, my points-to-pounds ratio always goes up. (This week it was 0.284 points/pound.) I can always eat more, and sometimes a lot more, when I am away from home. Obviously what I am eating is different when I am away, and perhaps the change in stress level, by avoiding that rush hour traffic each day actually changes my metabolism some. I definitely eat less of certain types of snacks (cough drops, hard candy, etc.) when I am not making that drive each day. It looks as if only I were independently wealthy, and didn’t have to go to work, I would have a much easier time with my journey. :^) (I guess it‘s too bad I don’t play the lottery. :lol )

Dotti has not been feeling well the last couple of days. Her stomach has been upset and her system just doesn’t feel right. Hopefully she will be feeling back to normal again soon. She was able to go out with Tammy, fight the crowds, and do some shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, but she was not feeling well. This time of year tends to bring, not only the wonderful holiday season, but also the flu and cold viruses. :(

Dotti’s eye is still not 100% yet, and she has been putting drops in every day. As long as she remembers the drops, her eye feels pretty good.

It has been great seeing Dotti finally be able to relax for a week, and lay down the stress of running DWLZ for a while. It has done her a world of good!

It is about time to pack up the car and hit the road.

1 year, 202 days OP, a lifetime to follow! -Al-

6 '3" 239.5/183.0/185±2/BMI:22.9/WK-81
Weight Loss Graph/Maintenance Graph/Success Story