Week 3 weigh-in

Beginning weight: 216
Last week's weight: 210
This week's weight: 208
This week's loss: 2 pounds
Total loss: 8 pounds
Left to lose: 42 pounds

But don't get too happy for me.

I admit I was pretty happy this morning to see that number finally go down a tad. My scale, however, is old-fashioned. I've had it since, well, forever. It's not digital. Not like the scale at the doctor's office that I stepped on moments after I stepped on my bathroom scale (with not even a drop of water digested in between). The doctor's scale had me more than four pounds heavier.

But I'm trying to remember that feeling I had this morning, the one that made me want to put on my running shoes and get out the door, perhaps even come home and do the workout DVD. That's what happens to me -- when I start to lose weight, I gather such momentum from it. But when I'm stuck or I see an awful number on the scale, my motivation is nonexistent.

Yesterday was really hard from me, as my blog post shows. I just couldn't get over wanting to eat, eat, eat. At one point, I grabbed the bag of cheddar rice cakes and sat in my La-Z-Boy. That's a big no-no right there. NEVER grab the bag. ALWAYS portion it out first. But I was feeling crappy and just wanted to grab it and flop down and stuff my face.

Luckily, I had a little more sense and I counted each and every rice cake that went into my mouth. I had three servings. I wrote down the number of points that meant. I stuck to my plan. Even if, for a second, I wanted to ditch it.

So I'm proud of myself. Made it through three weeks, which I haven't done in a long time.

Now for a little experiment, which I'm actually afraid to write down here because it means I will be held accountable to all of you. I'm going to try -- try, try, try -- to exercise in some capacity an hour a day for five days this week. I want to see what it does. I want to see if I have more energy (something I've been severely lacking lately). I want to see if the scale responds. It sounds pretty unrealistic, as I've been only exercising two-three times a week. But I'd like to try.

As a wise reader/friend reminds me, the mantra needs to be not "I think I can" but "I KNOW I can." I'll think of her as I lace up my running shoes and head out the door.