Here's to No. 5

Post weekly weigh-ins to hold yourself accountable.

Don't post your weekly weight because it puts too much pressure on you.

Go cold turkey -- it's the only way you can stop overeating junk.

Allow yourself a cheat day -- that way you won't feel deprived.

Run, run, run that weight off.

Be careful about running because you will be hungrier and you'll then eat more and won't lose anything.

Eat six small meals a day so you won't be hungry.

Don't snack in between meals.

Don't weigh yourself every day because it will frustrate you, and your body goes through natural ups and downs. Just weigh in weekly.

Weigh yourself every day so you can see when you've gotten off track.

Don't weigh in ever again because it's not about the number on the scale.

Don't eat carbs.

Don't deprive yourself of anything or be extreme about your diet.

Reward yourself when you hit small goals.

But don't reward yourself with food!

Don't eat after 5 p.m.

Drink a lot of water.

Fill up on fruits and vegetables.

Get a lot of sleep.

Don't forget strength-training.

And people wonder why it's so hard to lose weight. Everyone has an answer -- the key to making the weight fall off. And this girl has tried just about all of them. I mix and match. (One month, it's weigh in daily, have a cheat day, increase the running. Another month, it's blog your weekly weight, go cold turkey, record everything you eat. Then, it's go no-carb, stop weighing in, stop blogging. You get the point.)

I'm 38 years old, I've had a weight problem my entire life, and I've only successfully lost weight four times: seventh grade, 11th grade, 2003-2005 and 2008. The rest of the time, I've been this. But no matter how I look, I'm always, always thinking about my weight.

What a waste of a life.

My latest attempt (a strict schedule of when I sleep, work, eat and exercise) looks great on paper and even kind of worked one day this week. But it didn't take into account the day I had to stay in the office until 10 p.m., then work more at home, then wake up early to work more. There went the running and the early sleep. And then there was the day the workload was large and the deadline small and I couldn't get my last meal in before 5 p.m.

I wish I could say "just be healthy, don't worry about anything, and the weight will take care of itself." But that doesn't really work for someone like me. This 250-pound woman who cares so little about herself and her life that one little upset can take her so far into a depression that she can't dig out from the candy wrappers and pizza boxes she's sought escape in.

So I come up with a strict mix-and-match of the above and hope this time will be the magical fifth success story.

For starters, I'm trying to get more hours out of my day, like I did when I worked the night shift in my former jobs. As it is now, I get up, go to work, come home, eat and go to sleep. So I tweaked my schedule a bit. I get up at 6, run/walk/do something healthy, have breakfast at 9:30, do my freelance work until 11:30, go to work, lunch at 1:30, dinner at 5:30, get home by 8:30 and to bed at 9.

I was successful on Monday with most of this (I ended up falling asleep during the freelance work). But on the other days, even though they didn't work out schedule-wise, I did eat well. And that is the key. Not letting myself get derailed if one part -- or more -- of the schedule goes awry.

Right now my big question mark is if I should allow myself a cheat day. I had planned on allowing myself to eat a dinner out on Wednesdays (trivia night). Today, trivia has been canceled and I'm going to a movie instead. So do I allow myself popcorn? Or do I only allow myself that cheat meal if I go out to dinner? And where does it stop? Can I let myself do anything on Wednesdays? Dessert? Or will that only derail me?

I also am going to try my best to not step on the scale until my next trip out of town. Which means I won't be blogging about my specific progress. But I do want to write. Because I know there's a lot I need to get out, and I hope that will help.

So here's to trying, trying, trying. And involving serious prayer to keep me on my path.