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All right -- today I'm 211 lbs.

That's nearly 8 lbs down from the 218.8 lbs at which I began.

If I can lose (and keep off) two pounds in the next two weeks, I will have met my goal.

This comes as a great relief after a few weeks of no loss at all and the thought that I'd never make it. So what changed this week?

Well, I did.

It's true I've been going to the gym less -- but when I was going to the gym regularly, I was mostly just running. I was afraid of seriously lifting weights because my family has a tendency to put on muscle quickly and I didn't want to stay at the same weight (or even gain pounds) while trying to drop 10 lbs in ten weeks.

But a guy at the gym and my aunt both gave me the same good advice in the last two weeks: lift, but lift light. Go with lower weight and higher repetition. You're not looking to build mass -- you're looking to tone your body and drop some of your fat. To do that you need to take in more protein (I now have hardboiled eggs at the ready at home) and not shy away from the weights.

So I began doing a push up, sit up, dumbbell routine at home at least once a day and --- gasp -- it worked. I'm still watching what I eat and monitoring my food though my online database -- but I'm not starving myself or eating anything I don't like.

And -- knock wood -- it seems to be working. Here's hoping I can keep it up through the end.