Liz, Wendy has probably come up with your "culprit" for the weight gain. Same thing happened to me this weekend. I put on 1 1/2 lbs. My calorie intake wasn't bad, but I ate much more carbs than usual. I've already lost 1 lb of it. But I want to lose more, not keep gaining/losing the same pounds. <img border="0" alt="[bang]" title="" src="graemlins/banghead.gif" />

I know what you mean about it being hard to constantly count everything you eat. I think that is why I tend to go off my diet. I just get sick & tired of having to think about it all the time. But, if we want to keep it off (and lose more for me) we'll just have to accept it as a way of life. We can relax for a weekend every now and then. But not give up the counting completely. Oh well . . . no one ever said it was easy :)

I thought of another tip to pass on. Especially since you like salads, Liz. I love the creamy type salad dressings (ranch and blue cheese). What I do is thin it out with water. If, I use 2 Tbsp of dressing, I add 2 Tbsp of water and stir it well before I pour on the salad. It's the same great taste, but covers a lot more salad!!!