I think I've decided I'm taking a "holiday" from the counting for a couple of weeks.
I've lost a total of five pounds since I started keeping track not quite three weeks ago. I was hoping for twice that amount by the time I went on my Chicago trip next week, but five pounds is respectable. It's better than nothing.

And I'm still going to be working on this eating well and exercising more (more than nothing? that should be easy) over the next couple of weeks, but I'm taking a break from the scale and the keeping track. Coming up this weekend we have a couple days away at a friends house with a game night gathering involved, Easter Sunday/birthday party at another friends house on Sunday, and then I'm leaving for the much anticipated Chicago girls weekend next Thursday for four days of eating out and snacking into the wee hours of the morning (well it's not like eating is the main objective of the trip, but you know how it goes)... that's probably not a schedule conducive to ideal weight loss.

I will most definitely be trying to make the smartest choices in all these situations, but I'm still planning on having fun and not stressing about it. While I will always have my goal in the back of my mind, I'm not going to worry about stepping on the scale for a couple/few weeks. I figure why bother. If I don't do as well as I hope in the midst of all this extra curricular activity, it'll just discourage me... if I do better than I give myself credit for, then I'll be pleasantly surprised a couple of weeks down the road when I step on the scale and find I've still managed to shave off a few pounds in the aftermath of a week of dieting booby traps!!
Wish me luck!