I stepped on the scale Monday, and I was disappointed. The numbers had gone up not down. I knew it was going to be that way, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be.

I haven’t been good about my eating habits lately. I told myself it was OK to indulge once in a while, and it is, but not for days in a row.

So I am going to renew my commitment to losing weight and exercising. I am even considering taking drastic steps.

One of my big pitfalls, I believe, is the number of calories I consume in liquid form — coffee with creamer, pop (although I don’t drink a lot of this) and alcoholic beverages.

I am going to take the easy step first — I am eliminating all regular pop from my diet. I reserve the right to continue to drink diet drinks because….

I am going to give up alcoholic beverages. This one is tougher because I am a social drinker. It is going to require me to tell people in social settings “no thanks;” and I don’t think that is going to be easy to do. But this is a place where I really need to get my calorie intake under control. If I am trying to stick to a 1200-1500 calorie diet, the 110 calories in just one can of beer is a huge percentage.

I am not yet ready to give up my coffee and creamer. I know I should, but I can’t do it yet.

I am also going to increase my water consumption. I have done this in the past, and I like the way it makes me feel, but I have not been doing this lately.

One of the problems with my intake of liquid consumption is that I like convenience in my drinks. I would much rather open my fridge and take out a cold can or bottle of whatever and consume it than go about the effort involved in grabbing a glass and pouring something or waiting for the faucet’s water to get cold. I need to get over this convenience factor.