So here I am, back on the weight-loss wagon. Given the behavior of some of my friends and acquaintances, I'm pondering having "DO NOT FEED" tattooed on my forehead.

It's not really their fault. I've always been the "Mikey" in our group, that one guy who will taste anything and eat food that would leave most of the rest of them either begging for water or swearing off meat for life. Super-duper hot wings? Gimme! Barbecue covered in a sauce made from fermented demon sweat and battery acid? I'll take seconds!

The problem is that almost every one of the "dare" foods that gets put in front of me is incredibly fat-laden and calorific in the extreme. Yes, just that one taste won't hurt, but it's the mindset that "one taste" comes from that got me in this pickle in the first place. I can't stop with just one taste if what I'm trying turns out to be good, or at least I haven't been able to until now.

This is a very dangerous time in any dieter's life. During these first few weeks, we make the choices and set the eating patterns that will lead to our ultimate success or failure. We get our gym schedules in order, keep track of our water consumption, carefully peruse restaurant menus and in general pay microscopic attention to the things we do that affect our weight loss. Over time, many of these things will become instinctive and automatic. My father, for example, lost weight with Weight Watchers more than 20 years ago, and to this day, even though he hasn't set foot in a meeting in more than a decade, he still lives more or less by the WW principles.

Training our friends and others in our lives is an important part of the process. They have to begin looking at us not as the Bottomless Grub Pit, but as the Weight-Loss Guy (or Woman). It may take repeated lessons, and might result in some hurt feelings, but you have to keep in mind that your ultimate goal is to lose weight so you can spend more time enjoying your friends' company. It would be rude in the extreme to deprive them of your witty insights and gift for bon mots, wouldn't it?

So keep at it. Invite your friends over for dinner and cook them some of your new healthy food. Get them to try what you're ordering off the "light" section of the menu. Remake your image in their minds and make them your allies.

Or you can always move to a cave and cut off all ties with the outside world. That works, too. Save me a rock to sit on.

Got a question? Comment? Want to brag about your weight loss? Drop me a line, anytime!