I've been in the heat of my Biggest Loser weight-loss challenge now for about a month and a half. If you want to read about how awesome it feels when dieting works, read my previous progress report. If you want to read how it feels when you realize that dieting is hard -- really, really hard, stay with me here.

Yup, you heard it hear first: Losing weight is work. Shocking, right?

Okay, no, it's not shocking in the least. But it is something to constantly remind yourself to consider. This past week, I had two really bad days of eating.

cheat day #1.

Cheat day #1 included cookies baked in a pan with Oreos and brownies on top. Then we added ice cream. And this dessert followed huge handfuls of Smart Food popcorn, which was preceded by wine tasting, a big lunch salad and huevos rancheros for breakfast. Damn, all that food and I almost left out the pizza, chicken bites and rice crispy that I munched on too.

That day was horrible. Also, I didn't work out that day.

cheat day #2.

The next day was less horrible, but it involved chips, a crab dip and chicken sandwich, burger, beer, fries and a fried Oreo.

Still pretty awful, especially once you reflect upon it all in succession of only being two days apart.

So that's two bad days out of seven, and that week concluded with two additional pounds added to me in my diet. I did pay for it though. My body is no longer used to total shit all the time, and I was laid up like I had a nine-month baby baking inside me. I felt like what you'd expect me to feel like after all that shit I consumed. I also almost shared too much information that went along the same lines as shit. Anyways...

It wasn't good, and the scale confirmed that. It's just crazy to think that you can be great (well, not perfect but pretty good) for 5 days and bad for two and backtrack so heavily. On the other side of the argument though, I did lose six pounds in one week of the diet in the beginning, which seems pretty absurd because it wasn't like I did any unhealthy juice cleanse or stopped eating during that time. I just ate good things and didn't eat the bad stuff and went to the gym a bit more. It all seemed so simple then.

All this taught me something though: moderation is key (here's looking at you, cheat day #1), but mainly that weight loss is easy. There, I said it. But the downside to that is that weight gain is just as easy. Dropping 17 pounds seemed easy when I was consciously thinking of what I should and shouldn't eat at every meal, but gaining two pounds was equally easy to do when I stopped thinking all the time.

When I walk away from the Biggest Loser at the end of this month, I hope I takeaway with me the ability to live a healthy lifestyle, and not a mentality of dieting. When I lost six pounds, I was neurotic about it -- it wasn't a habit I could maintain long-term. Now is the time I need to transition to a sustainable plan of little splurges in a sea of good healthy eating choices.

This won't be the end of my lifestyle change. I have other goals I'd like to tackle on top of maintaining my new, thinner figure. Like my undefined calves. I'll be doing leg lifts until I get those puppies under control.