MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! It is only 4 days away!

After getting to bed late last night, I was blurry-eyed and feeling very tired at 06:00 this morning when I stepped on Mr. Scale, and he said, "185.0 pounds!"

This is my 52nd weigh-in in a row where I weighed under the top of my target range! A year's worth of weigh-ins and my "First Year's Maintenance Graph" is looking mighty full. I think next week I will create a new one, and bring the first one to a close.

This week my average points per day went up from 43.36 to 48.00, while my average weight dropped slightly from 184.79 to 184.29. There have been two differences this week. The one that I think did the most to cause the change was that I stopped eating the "free food" on my drive home from work. I was having a lot of trouble with my digestive tract and I thought I would test and see if the celery and cucumbers were responsible. Apparently they were, because the problem cleared up as soon as I stopped eating them. (This is something that is common with when I go on the road, and may be part of the reason that my points always go up when I get out of my normal routine when I travel.) The other thing that I did differently was exercise!

Last weekend, I walked both days. On Saturday, I walked 2 miles (4 laps around our half-mile block) at a comfortable pace of 15 minutes per mile. On Sunday I walked 3 miles (6 laps in 47:03, which averaged, a slightly slower, 15:41 per mile.

I wanted to get 3 walks in for the week. My left knee was hurting after my Sunday walk, so I wanted to give it rest for a couple of days, and by Wednesday it was almost back to normal. However, I had things I had to do at lunch that day, and pushed the walk off for one more day. Thursday, turned out to be an interesting day for weather. On my drive in to work my van was jumping around more than I ever recall when I was crossing the Columbia River on the Glen Jackson Bridge. The wind was very strong! So, at lunch, I bundled up nice and warm with my knit cap, and gloves, plus I pulled the hood of my coat up over the cap, and snapped it tightly in place before setting out on my lunchtime walk. It was not raining, but the sky was completely overcast with some threatening looking clouds. I therefore threw my raincoat over my arm and started walking. I walked at a comfortable pace, and completed 2 miles in 31:33 or 15:47 per mile. So, for the week, I got in three exercise periods, and I walked 7 miles total. This morning my knees feel pretty good, so I don't think that I over did it this week.

Last Saturday, I weighed 185.0 pounds. When I am right on my target, I normally shoot for 43 points. I ended up a little lower than that with 38.0. My weight held at 185.0 on Sunday, but I didn't want to eat low two days in a row because I knew my weight would drop. So, I moved up to 47.0 to average 42.5 for the two days, which should have been just about right. On Monday my weight dropped to 184.5, which is still about on target. So, I ate 42.5 points. My weight dropped again on Tuesday to 184.0. I added a few points and ate 47.5, but my weight dropped again to 183.0 on Wednesday. I moved it up a gear and ate 57.5, and my weight responded by moving up to 184.0 Thursday. I ate 51.5 and watched to see what was going to happen on Friday. I moved up another half pound. So, I ate 52.0 points, and a couple of them very late (after midnight). This morning I was up another half-pound to my target 185.0. :D

I don't know what I was thinking last Saturday, but I didn't drink much water at all. I did drink other fluids of course but I definitely did not get my water in. I did better the rest of the week, getting in at least 6 cups each day.

I hope I can continue my exercise this week. It should be easy to do, since it is a holiday week and I will have a number of days off. (I am on call for three of the days, but if the pager doesn't go off, I will have the whole week off. I will keep my fingers crossed.)

Today we are heading south to visit my Mom and her husband Jim. It should be a fun time, and we are looking forward to it! For 13 years we lived on the East Coast and as a result we didn't see them very often at all. They came out to visit us once in Virginia and once in Massachusetts, and we took a train ride from Virginia, across the country to visit them in 1984. I also came back alone in 1990 to teach a class in Corvallis, Oregon, and got to visit with them. But that was pretty much it for all that time. Now, we are much closer, and while we don't get together as often as we would like, we do see them at least several times a year.

Christmas is fast approaching!!!

1 year, 223 days OP, a lifetime to follow!

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/185.0/185±2/BMI:23.12/WK-84
Weight Loss Graph/Maintenance Graph/Success Story