ON FOOD ALERT

I am on "food alert" until further notice. It's a term I invented for weight management, rather than weight loss. My weight - while not out of control like last summer at this time - is just at the high point of where I want it to be. To prevent further weight gain, I have tried to limit my diet to not include greasy foods or eating late at night.

This, however, does not always dovetail with my lifestyle. I am a night owl, and tend to get hungry late at night. I've tried to just eat a 100-calorie pack before getting in bed, but...sometimes I'm out with friends at a place that serves chili-cheese fries. How can I help myself there? Just this weekend, I ate a dinner of burger and fries on Saturday much later than intended because I was waiting for friends - ditto for Sunday night (except with homemade pizza).

I know that the food I eat is my decision, and I can't blame others for what I eat and how much I weigh. And I certainly have no excuse for not exercising enough - even if my mile-and-a-half run on Saturday resulted in a surprising amount of chest tightness (I blame the one slice of pizza I ate before running).

I really don't know why I'm so concerned with my weight. I'm not in danger of obesity or anything, and I also don't want to get to the point where I never eat anything delicious because I'm worried about my body fat content. I just would like to make smarter choices regarding my diet, and maybe putting all of this in writing is what it's going to take for me to do so.