Time for me to brag a little. I lost 2 pounds this week. I still have at least 30 to go, but its a start. The previous week I didn't do as well. Just a mere little .4 pounds. And it was my first official week on the diet. Or at least on the Weight Watchers plan.

In Weight Watchers, I'm what is known as a lapsed Lifer. I became a lifetime member in the early 90's and have bounced in and out of the program ever since. After having a baby this fall, I really needed to get back on the program. So once I had my 6 week checkup and the OK to exercise again, I marched straight to the superbly calibrated scale of Weight Watchers.

I tried not to be disappointed last week when I had just a .4 loss. That's almost half a pound. And it did take me nine months to put the weight on, so I can't expect it all to fall off over night.

Besides, I can't afford to quit. For my health, for my vanity, for my self esteem. I have no choice but to take this weight off and I know from experience that Weight Watchers works for me. It works for my diabetes, too, but with a little tweaking.

My dietitian gave me a meal plan where I wasn't really losing any weight. I'm not surprised by this because you need to cut calories to lose weight and with exchange diets, there really is too much freedom. If I'm only allowed X ounces of protein a day, I'll gravitate toward the ones with the most calories, like nuts. In my head, I know one ounce of nuts is the caloric equivalent of several ounces of fish or chicken, yet exchange for exchange, they're equal.

On WW, I'm only allowed so many "points" a day. The game is to get the most food for the fewest points. That ounce of nuts: 4 to 5 points! Two ounces of shrimp are just 1 point. That means 10 ounces of shrimp "cost" the same amount of "points" as one ounce of walnuts.

(OK, that JUST occurred to me right now. It's no wonder I can't lose on exchange diets!)

So what I'm trying to do it meet all my "exchange" requirements while staying in my "points range". It's a bit more challenging, but I try to make a game of it.

One where I win when I lose.