Today was my first official Wednesday home weigh-in since revisiting my surgeon's office. My weekly goal is to lose two pounds each week. I identified my starting weight as 242; this week, I'm down six pounds and the scale is rewarding me with a weight of 236.4. Ordinarily, I would be ecstatic about a six-pound loss. However, I plan on keeping my excitement in check until I'm at or below my last known weight in January 2007 (224lbs) before I started slowly putting the weight back on. The thing is, I've been in the game long enough to know that you always have to ask yourself, "Six pounds of what -- water, fat or muscle?"

I can't answer that question, but I can I do my part to work with my band and not against my band. So, I ensured that I drank at least the recommended amount of water and switched to Propel when I got tired of water, exercised at the gym, which included using the elliptical for 45 minutes to 1 hour and performing my standard series of weight training exercises, stuck very closely to the prescribed eating order of protein, vegetables and fruit, skipped meals when I wasn't hungry and last, but not least -- journaled to ensure a written record of my journey.