Water. A lot of contestants gorge on high-fiber food and drink a ton of water prior to the first weigh-in.

Glamour magazine gave me all of the answers.

I told my husband what I told you. He said, "I could do it." Hahahahaha

Oh sorry, Ardiril. I missed your comment. Yeah, I imagine water weight is huge, especially in the first week. It's still kind of difficult to understand how a person could drop 20 in one week, even if they were exercising all day and eating low-cal.

They won't be dropping that much the second week because by then they will start adding muscle weight, especially given activity levels on that show. Even cardio will put muscle on an out-of-shape body.

I have been doing this on account of rainbaby mentioning it. I am on week 3 and maybe feeling stronger. I am also trying to generally work out harder at the gym.

I'm depressed because I am getting all these compliments about losing my baby weight. Except I haven't! I'm still freakin' 15 pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight. So I looked like this before? It's making me not want to work out.

Aw, gaspode. I'm sure you look great. Maybe you have 15 pounds of boobs.

I'm depressed that I ate a ton of junk today and yesterday. I'm not going to let it bother me too much. I'm back on the healthy train tomorrow.

4 years ago I started a diet where I lost 70 lb. in 6 months.

≡ Click to see image ≡

Then I put about 50 lb. back on over the next 3 years or so. I got back on the weight kick this summer after vacation and have lost about 25. I look thinner, but after the holidays I'm going to try to lose another 10 or 15.

The difference, I think, between losing the weight this time and four years ago is that now I have a heavier and more consistent exercise load since I regularly ride my bike to work. Two 35-40 minute cardio workouts a day does a body good.

My body looks a little weird to me because it's toning up from the bottom up. I've got calves of steel, respectable thighs, a little bit of a gut that I still need to lose (although it is getting more defined with muscle) and the upper body of a slightly overweight skinny-@ssed nerd.

I have been doing this on account of rainbaby mentioning it.

Oh. That sounds like my ticket out of my skinny-@ssed nerd upper body. That will become part of my New Year's resolution along with getting back to my South Beach Diet and continuing my bike riding.

Sweet.