Weekly weigh-in: In control

Last week's weight: 184.4
This week's weight: 183.2
Difference: -1.2
Total weight lost since January 2010: 88.6

It was almost a year ago this week that I feel like I lost control of my weight loss efforts. I think I knew it was happening at the time, but I kept making poor choices. As the year progressed I encountered several stressful life events, so my choices didn't improve. I finally think I've regained control.

I'm hesitant to celebrate too much and I don't want to be overly confident about my recent success. But this marks four consecutive weeks of losing weight. After so many ups and downs in the past year, it feels like a true milestone.

Plus, I've faced temptation so many times this week. I haven't always made the best choice, but I definitely haven't made the worst choice either. In fact, my food choices have been fairly good. And when I've splurged, it's been in small amounts. For example, I've been craving mac and cheese all week. I even tried making a lowfat version. It tasted good, but not really like mac and cheese. I finally gave in last night. While getting dinner to go at Carolina Farmin', I had the server give me what amounted to a few bites of mac and cheese instead of the normal side portion. Yes, that was a proud moment.

I've also exercised at least 30 minutes every day this week. This wasn't easy during my staycation because several days I wanted to just lay around in my pajamas. Turns out getting in my morning exercise stopped me from being a slug. It's been a busy and fast week and I haven't spent nearly as much time in front of the TV as I thought I might.

Finally, I should mention that I've tracked my Weight Watchers food points and activity points online every day for the past four weeks. I've said all along that one of the reasons for my previous success was keeping track of what I ate.

Obviously, eating well, exercising and monitoring both habits makes a difference. Keeping it up won't be easy, but I am a creature of habit. Just a few more weeks and I'm sure it all be routine again.