Please join us in our weekly weigh-in. Whether you post your actual weight or prefer to post by how much you're up or down, please join us.

Don't forget the FOUR S's of Weighing Yourself:

Same TIME of day, on the
Same DAY each week, wearing the
Same CLOTHING, and using the
Same SCALE

Measure yourself - Sometimes your scale wont budge but your waistline will.
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Fun Weight Loss Motivators

SHAPE UP BEFORE YOUR OWN EYES!
Upload your own photo to instantly see what you look like if you lost or gained weight. The WeightMirror app uses advanced facial recognition to visually simulate weight-loss (or gain). http://modiface.com/weightmirror/

TRY A FREE ONLINE WEIGHT LOSS TRACKER
Check your activity and eating habits. What a great way to make sure to stay on track! There are several to choose from! (This is just a handful of sites.)

www.fitday.com
www.myfitnesspal.com
www.my-calorie-counter.com
www.sparkpeople.com
www.startyourdiet.com
www.fitwatch.com
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Diet Phases: Are You On Track with Your Weight Loss Goals?

Losing weight often requires advancing successfully through a series of diet phases. Getting ready for the diet, adjusting to the diet, maintaining it, reaching your goal, and maintaining your weight are all different diet phases you often must pass through before achieving your weight loss goals.

The Diet Planning Phase

Going on a diet is a conscious decision and requires planning. In the planning stage, you want to think about how much weight you want to lose and define a realistic time frame for reaching your goal. If you want to lose 20 pounds, for example, you might decide to achieve this goal at a pace of about 2 pounds per week. You then know that you have to allow yourself 10 weeks to reach your goal.

Part of the planning phase is also determining what type of diet makes the most sense for you. At this stage you might also determine what tools and strategies you will use to track your weight loss progress. For example, you might decide to use a food journal to track your daily caloric intake. You might also decide to weigh yourself once a week.

Beginning the Diet

When youre ready to start your diet, the temptation may be to weigh yourself constantly to track whether or not your diet strategy is working. As diet phases go, the beginning phase can be difficult for some people. This is the phase where you are adjusting to new eating habits. You might have to deal with cravings or feelings of deprivation. During this phase, its often less about weighing yourself and more about finding the support that you need to adjust to your new diet plan. Dieting with a friend or planning other activities that take your mind off of food are often useful strategies.

Maintaining the Diet

As you progress weeks into your diet, tracking your weight loss goals means weighing yourself on a regular basis and determining if the diet is working for you. This is a time for assessing whether you are adhering to your intended diet plan and if you are seeing results in the form of losing 1 to 2 pounds per week. Keeping this goal realistic is important for sticking to your diet and reaching your weight loss goal.

Reaching Your Diet Goal

As you approach your desired weight loss goal, this can be an exciting time. You are able to physically see a difference when you look in the mirror. Your clothes might fit differently. Your hard work has paid off at this stage. This is a time to reward yourself in some way; maybe buy yourself tickets to your favorite show or a pair of new jeans.

Weight Maintenance Phase

Once you have reached your ideal weight, you enter into the weight maintenance phase. Some dieters skip this important phase of all diet phases. The healthy eating and exercise habits you sustained through your weight loss plan still need to be maintained. You wont be cutting calories as much as you used to, but creating a weight maintenance plan will help you to maintain your new, fit body.
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I started the "myfitnesspal" program and have broken my plateau. I'm at 154 (again). This program is helping me stay on track calorie and exercise-wise. Using a tracking site has shown me that I was getting far too many calories even though I "thought" I was doing ok. OK was not good enough. I've changed my eating habits and am ready for some results again!!