Week 86 Update

I weighed-in at 0655 this morning and Mr. Scale said, "184.5 pounds." I was tossing and turning last night but I finally dropped off for a several hours about 3 AM. The temperature when I awoke was a balmy 49°, and it has been in the 40s and 50s all week long.

My journal says Day 603 today. It is hard to believe that my journey already stretches back over 600 days. Six hundred and three days ago I weighed in at 239.5 pounds, and I ate 24 points. One year ago on January 4, 2002, I had a daily weigh-in of 187.5 (and I ate 27.5 points), but my weekly weigh-in on the 5th was back down to 185.0. (An interesting aside is that on the Tanita scale, my weigh-in was 184.0 exactly one year ago, and today it was also 184.0. The Healthometer I was using at that time was reading 3 or 3.5 pounds higher than the Tanita. As that Healthometer aged, it actually got better, because it was only 1.5 pounds different from the Tanita by the time I finished using it. Today, I have a new Healthometer and it shows only about 0.5 pound difference up from the Tanita. That is better, because Dotti checked the Tanita with her scales at WW and it is right on the money. The reason that I have continued using my Healthometer scale is that it is one piece and easy to take with us when we travel. The Tanita has a power supply, a base unit and a readout unit, so it is harder to transport. Also I don't want to take a chance on damaging or losing that one.) Six months ago on July 4th, 2002 we were in Spokane, and I weighed in at 184.5 pounds, and ate 59.5 points that day. While the scale has remained fairly constant over all these months the points keep on changing.

I feel like 2002 was a good solid year of maintenance. I hope to keep that going through 2003, while at the same time making this year my year to get my exercise on track. My goal is to start going to the gym at least 3 times a week, and to set up a standard routine of exercise. I am going to focus on looking for, and using, exercises that will not irritate my knees, and therefore will allow me to continue exercising each week.

As for this week, being back home again, my average points per day fell from 52.43 to 49.64 (-2.79 points per day). At the same time my average weight increased from 183.79 to 185.21 (+ 1.42 pounds). My Points per Pound ratio therefore fell from 0.285 to 0.268.

Comparing that with one year ago today, my average weight for the previous 7 days was 186.07, and my average points per day for that week was 29.57. That means that my Points per Pound ratio was only 0.159! While not quite doubling, the ratio has increased by a factor of 1.68, which is a significant amount! Six months ago my Points per Pound ratio was 0.255, which was not too far off from today. So, for the last 6 months things have stabilized quite a bit for me.

For exercise I have not been doing much. My knee has still not completely recovered from the last flair up, and that is most depressing. Clearly, walking is going to have to be done with great restraint if I am going to be able to use it at all. There is something about that repetitive motion that causes problems. Playing sports like racquetball and basketball has never given my knees the kind of problems that walking, and especially jogging, have done. It is too bad, because I really love to be out on a track or on a nature trail walking with my thoughts, while at the same time getting my exercise. It is healthy for the mind as well as the body.

I started this week off with a weigh-in at 185.0 pounds. I ate 54.0 points on Saturday. Sunday, I was finally off the on-call pager, and looking at four days off before having to get back to work. I weigh-in at 184.5. So, I ate 59.0 points, 2/3 of which I ate as snacks throughout the day. On Monday morning, I was up to 185.5. We ended up going out to eat that evening and that drove my points up to 67.5. That was an interesting experiment after being up a bit on the scale that morning. Tuesday, the last day of 2002, showed me up to 186.0. Not bad really, after that many points on top of being up a bit already. But I did not want to push my luck two days in a row! So, I dropped my points on New Year's Eve to 39.0. (I drank 15 cups of water that day.) On New Year's Day, the scale said 184.5. So, I called the dealer and held pat with 43.0 points. On Thursday, I headed back to work. :( The scale said 185.0 pounds. As it turned out, I ended up working right through my normal lunch hour, and didn't eat my lunch until about 3:30 PM. That threw my whole eating off for the rest of the day. I didn't have an evening meal, I just snacked a bit right up until bedtime, ending up with a total of 45.5 points for the day. On Friday morning I was up to 186.5 pounds. I had spent most of the day before on my feet and got some exercise as a result. It may have caused some water retention. In any case, I held my points down on Friday to 39.5, while not drinking anywhere near enough water. This morning, I was back down to 184.5.

If I am successful in reaching my exercise goal this year, I will be very interested in seeing what happens with my Points per Pound ratio, and how much adjustment I am going to have to make in my eating to keep the scale constant. I have a small layer of fat that I am going to try to move from my stomach area, while adding some muscle elsewhere to keep the scale constant. If I can find the right mix of exercise that will not cause any damage to my knee, shoulder, or elbow joints, it will be a fun experiment to perform. How will exercise impact my weight maintenance journey? Hopefully we will see.

I just did some number crunching on my Excel spread sheet, and I found that since August 1, 2002, my average points per day has been 45.6, while my average weight has been 184.8. Since November 1, 2002, my average points per day has been 47.6 with my average weight being 184.2. Since December 1, 2002, my average points per day has been 46.9, and my average weight has been 184.6. This leads me to believe that my zero gain point for 185 pounds has gone up from 43 points to somewhere around 47 points. So, starting today, I am going to move my target points value to 47 points, and work my program around that fulcrum.

I just did some number crunching on my Excel spread sheet, and I found that since August 1, 2002, my average points per day has been 45.6, while my average weight has been 184.8. Since November 1, 2002, my average points per day has been 47.6 with my average weight being 184.2. Since December 1, 2002, my average points per day has been 46.9, and my average weight has been 184.6. This leads me to believe that my zero gain point for 185 pounds has gone up from 43 points to somewhere around 47 points. (This is very interesting, since according to the Calorie Calculator, for my height, weight, activity level and age, I should be burning about 2370 calories, and at 50 calories per point, that would come out to 47.4 points.) So, starting today, I am going to move my target points value to 47 points, and work my program around that fulcrum.

1 year, 237 days OP, a lifetime to follow

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/184.5/185±2/BMI:23.06/WK-86
Weight Loss Graph/Year 1 Maintenance Graph/ Year 2 Maintenance Graph/Success Story