Dear Weight Loss Diary,

I survived the first weigh-in at the meeting tonight. There I was, waiting in line, shuffling my stocking feet, making small talk, watching the reactions of my fellow "losers," partially breathing.

Praying that I did not, dare I say it, gain any weight…even remaining at the same weight, not losing one bloody ounce, would have been better than that !

Promising, just like we did as kids, you remember - God, I promise if you just let me pass this test (fill in the type), I'll be really good. I'll turn down that cup of hot chocolate or glass of pinot noir…

OK, so, here we go. Snap out of it and get on the freaking scale already. It's my turn, I did not wear my lucky pants, not that I have any lucky pants, and then I begin thinking about the weight of my clothes, why did I have to wear jeans and a sweater…what? I lost 2 pounds? Maybe more - like two or three because it's hard to tell weighing in at different times? Hunh. Imagine.

So…maybe the "pinot vino" 'taint so bad after all…think I'll have to mull that over…

Coach Matt addressed dining out and emotional eating after some of us had put removed articles of clothing back on.

He handed out new weight loss pages for our journals to include exercise lines to record time of exertion, I mean exercise, and rating columns - vigorous (please, on my daughter's Total Gym I could barely cajole the pulleys forward and over my head to my bent knees - all on an incline, mind you, six times!) or moderate (where's the column with the header "moving" - seriously).

The final column is "weights" and I suspect that he is not looking for a "yes" or "no" survey type answer asking if I, a.) possess weights, or b.) feel "weighted" by life, or c.) need a place to record my actual body weight after torment, I mean, exercise.

The second new section on our journal pages is to be used to record our emotional eating. There are columns for time, activity at time of craving and, the "big E," emotion.

Oh, this should be good fun. Do we really want to record our emotion-driven cravings? Aren't they best forgotten like the mental process or situation that prompted the craving to begin with? Just asking.

Coach Matt then covered dining out. He told us that he has found restaurants are usually very accommodating when it came to menu substitutions - within reason, of course. For example, asking for extra vegetables to replace fries (and, speaking of fries, did he have to say "fries" so many times, I mean he said it 20 times if he said it once!), or to sub a salad for potato, or asking for your salad to be brought out when the bread basket made its appearance - so you didn't binge on that lovely, yeasty food that comes in infinite varieties.

Now that I think about it, Dear Diary, Coach Matt had so many suggestions for substitutions that one member of the group said he must not have ever been a chef. We all had a good laugh about it - even our fearless leader. He admitted that it was true, he had never been a chef, but most restaurant staff really are "very good-natured about it."

It's good to be able to laugh about things. I will keep this in mind while I am waiting for my next weigh-in, making deals with my "Maker," and waking each morning from dreams of bread.