Richard Ha writes:

Today’s weight: 198.3 lbs. This week’s target weight was 194.0 lbs. I am 4.3 lbs. behind schedule. Instead of losing one pound, I gained 2.6 lbs. this week.

First of all, Thanksgiving dinner and all those leftovers did not help my weight loss efforts at all. I didn’t try very hard to control myself. Perhaps I should have.

And last week I wrote about that article that said red wine helps you lose weight. I tried hard to prove that this works, and if it really did work I would have lost lots of weight.

But instead I gained lots of weight. So much for that experiment. I think I’d better limit myself to one or two glasses.

When I started losing weight on May 23rd of this year, I weighed 214.6 lbs. In the last six months, I have lost 16.3 lbs.

This week I must regain control. It will take more than just exercise to continue losing weight. I need to work on controlling portion size, and limiting snacking.

My friend, who is also trying to lose weight, started following the Ha Ha Ha! weight loss plan recently. She said she liked the idea of it being so mechanical—that if she worked off 500 calories every day on the elliptical trainer, she’d lose one pound a week. That was working, but then she told me she noticed if she cut down on portion sizes, didn’t eat as many carbohydrates, and stopped snacking so much during the day and eating after dinner, the weight dropped off even faster.

She admits she got lazy about exercising, but by watching her food intake she kept losing. Maybe I should try combining that approach with my exercise plan.

I’m just the opposite of her. I love to exercise but I tend to drift when it comes to controlling calories. This week I exercised six days for 40 minutes each at an aerobic rate, and once at 90 minutes at a slightly relaxed pace. I thought this would keep me on track.

But looking back, I realize we got takeout from Hilo Rice Noodle twice, and once I ate the gorgonzola cheese hamburger at Hilo Bay Cafe for lunch. And then there was the Thanksgiving meal at Kimo and Tracy’s, plus some take home pumpkin pie.

I look into the refrigerator way too many times in a day. I think I’ll start writing down each time I open the door and what I did. I’m afraid to guess how many times a day I open the refrigerator door.

I guess I should be happy I didn’t gain more weight. But it’s pretty apparent to me that I need to pay more attention to how much and what I eat.

Tonight we go to Tracy and Kimo’s house for Kapono’s birthday. We won’t bring home pie this time.