Moderation is my motto. And most of the time it works for me when it comes to food, exercise and maintaining weight. But since I stopped nursing my daughter a year ago, six pounds have slowly crept onto my frame and they seem to be sticking more than in the past. I guess it's because I'm now 36. And I'm a mother. And I have an evening glass of wine to wind down more often than when I was childless.

So, am I stuck with these six pounds? Probably not. If I want to do the extra work it will apparently take to get them off. Clearly, I can't cut a few calories here and there for a couple weeks and do my usual two or three workouts a week plus walking, mowing the yard, etc. and watch the scale go down. It's going to take more. Ugh.

So, my goal after I get back from celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary with a weekend in NYC and consuming Tapas and Italian aplenty is to do just that. Wish me luck.

You eat healthy, you go to the gym regularly, you watch your portions, and yet you're still gaining weight slowly. What's the deal? If you're scratching your head and asking these questions, start to pay attention to every little think you put in your mouth. Why? Because according to this article, forgotten calories can lead you to gain up to 20 pounds a year. Yikes!

By forgotten calories, we're talking about the couple of chocolates you ate here, the handful of chips to ate there, the spoonful of ice cream you smuggled out of the ice cream container last night. You probably didn't add these to your calorie count because you figured it wasn't enough to matter, but guess what -- it was.

What to do? Keep an eating journal and take it with you everywhere. And whenever something passes your lips, write down right away. Then keep subtotaling your calories throughout the day so you know how much you've really eaten that day. Sound too complicated? Then go cold turkey on the snacks.

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Sometimes after laundry day, when I pull on my favourite jeans, I start doing bizarre poses -- squats, kicks, bends -- all to break my jeans in after they've been freshly washed. 'Stupid dryer always shrinks them', I grunt as Jon looks at me quizzically. But that's not the truth -- I've been washing them for years and they're beyond shrinking now. No, the real truth is harder to face -- that weight gain, however small, has been creeping up on me pound by pound over the last few years. It's nothing too significant, but significant enough to warrant early-morning squats.

But the good news is that facing the problem is the first step to fixing it. Go check out this eDiets article -- it's full of helpful advice for facing your extra pounds and banishing them for good.

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