The Money Diet: a setback in week 6

I'm afraid to look at my bathroom scale.

I have no idea if I've lost or gained weight this week. Well, actually, I have an idea, which is why I'd rather not weigh myself. The best I can probably hope for is that I've maintained my weight.

I'm in week six of "The Money Diet." For those of you who don't know, I'm using my wallet as motivation for losing weight. Every time I don't spend money on junk food -- as in, I look at something at the grocery store and am tempted, but I don't, or I go to a fast food outlet and buy a diet soda instead of a burger and fries -- then I count that as money I've saved, and at the end of the week, I add up how much money I didn't spend.

It's kind of goofy, and if you think too hard about it, there are a million holes in my plan, but it's worked so far. In five weeks, I've lost 16 pounds, doing amazingly well the first week and quite well last week. But in week six...well, it's been a pretty bad week for dieting and exercise.