I'll start a journal, but I need help on doing it.

Here is a quick overview of that first week.

After the challenge weigh-in, my wife and I went to Texas Road House. We had the six oz. sirloin with chili (it has no beans, steak and chiles) and a salad ... no croutons. I ended up eating one of their rolls (a major accomplishment for me, I usually eat four).

On Sunday, for dinner I had meatball parmagiana (store-bought meatballs, about 1g carbs each ... had about nine or 10); a bacon-wrapped hot dog and some sugar-free ice cream.

Monday night I made some stir-fry pork with a frozen bag of stir-fry veggies.

Tuesday night I had some hot wings and cheese.

Mainly, it has been meat, salad, veggies, nuts (a lot of dry roasted, some smoked almonds) and cheese (sharp cheddar and hot pepper).

In December, I wasn't pleased with my weight. It just kept increasing slowly, but steadily. I decided that after the holidays, it was back to a low carb diet. When I heard about the challenge, it was, "OK, after the Jan. 10 weigh-in, it's back to the low carb diet."

I cannot explain it, but after the weigh-in, following the low-carb diet has not been a problem. Yesterday, while watching my beloved New England Patriots (I grew up in Revere, Mass.) march onto victory over NFL Co-MVP Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, my brother-in-law had crackers, chips, veggies, dip, meat and cheese. I ate very little meat and moderate amounts of veggies, dip and cheese. I was not tempted at all by the high-carb offerings, which I cannot say was always the case.

I usually eat an EAS low-carb bar for breakfast because I do not want to spend a lot of time figuring out what to eat. Most days it does a fair job of holding me off until lunch.

For lunch it is usually a salad and some meat. But as I mentioned earlier, my diet is basically meat, salad, maybe some veggies (usually broccoli), nuts and cheese.

And, I am one who does not measure things out. I cannot tell you how many ounces of pork I ate, etc.

We'll see what week two holds. I cannot believe it will be the same. I am hoping that I can average 3 pounds a week for the remaining 11 weeks of the challenge.

My wife said she dropped two pounds this first week.

So, let me know how to get the journal started, and I'll give it a try.

Bobby

p.s. I eat the nuts as snacks throughout the day. While I eat what I consider a lot of nuts, I usually have hunger pangs by the time I eat lunch and dinner. That is another difference, I am eating because I am hungry, not because it is time to eat.