"Truth be told, before this started, the only time I knew my weight was at the doctor's office. I'd stand on the scale, squeeze my eyes shut and that would be it. If I heard what the nurse said, fine ... well, maybe. Ignorance in my mind was bliss."

"But for this, we weigh in weekly. The idea is to see which team can lose the most pounds. Weekly tallies are announced and prizes, such as a pedometer and jump rope, are awarded to those lucky team members ? none of whom, I sadly add, have been us on the Gold Team."

"One of the guys in Maintenance has lost 20 pounds. A dear friend and teammate has lost 10. I have lost 1, and gained 1, over and over and over. Actually, this past week, I gained 1.5 pounds. So if I don't stop this upward trend, a year from now I'll be 78 pounds heavier."

"Part of me laughs this off. True, I have a penchant for peanut butter (extra crunchy) and for Pepperidge Farm goldfish swiped through butter (Smart Balance Light). But I can't remember the last time I ate a whole piece of cake or more than a few of a friend's french fries."

"I take care of myself. I'm healthy. I can do push-ups, and I'm happy with how my arms look. I swim and run (quite regularly) and use my health club's weight machines (not quite so regularly)."

" Leslie, the slightly rational one, tosses her head jauntily, puts on a sleeveless top and goes about her merry way."

" When I leave the weigh-ins on my I've-gained-a-pound weeks, I hang my head like some despondent "

"A number, by the way, I don't tend to share. When I've had my body fat measured at the health club and the trainer asks my height, I'll boldly belt out, "5-6!" When he asks my weight, I whisper."

"As if anyone would care. As if I should care. And for the most part I don't. Honest. It is a "

" Is it anywhere near as important as the books I read, or who I love, or what makes me cry, or the people who make me laugh?"

"Not anywhere close. Yet sometimes, depending on my mood in general, I let it be important, at least in my mind."

""Everybody is obsessed about the number," says Brook Dabbs, fitness coordinator at Southern Methodist University. "We have some women who want to weigh themselves multiple times a day ? more women than men, and women will fluctuate more. It's part cyclical."

""It's ridiculous to weigh that often; the number will change that often. It's just water.""

"She weighs herself once a day because, she says, she used to be overweight and wants to make sure it doesn't happen again. Studies back her up, showing that those who weigh themselves on a regular basis tend to keep their weight in check better than those who don't."

"Yet there are different theories on this, says Joanna Zaremba, corporate membership and wellness director for the Downtown Dallas YMCA."

""I'm not a
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