Well, I did it. My husband and I signed up as a team for Scale Back Alabama.

If you haven’t heard of it – that surprises me because the statewide program has been encouraging Alabamians to lose weight since 2007. Scale Back Alabama, as the website explains it, “is a free statewide weight-loss campaign designed to encourage Alabamians to get healthy and to have fun while doing it. Since the first challenge in 2007, Alabamians have lost more than one million pounds!”

Since 2007, yours truly has not lost any pounds. Instead, weight gain has been the theme since I started college in 2008.

Neither my husband nor I are in the shape we were in when we married six and a half years ago, so we took the plunge this year and signed up for the 10-week challenge.

From Jan. 28 through March 30, we are joining thousands across the state to kickstart a healthier lifestyle. We’re going to get more active, eat smaller portions and – hopefully – watch the number on the scale creep downward week to week.

According to the Scale Back Alabama website, about one third of last year’s participants lost at least some weight. Out of 9,190 teams – 18,380 total participants – 901 teams had both participants lose at least 10 pounds, which is the benchmark to be entered into drawings for cool prizes.

We’re going to be in the 901 group this year. We’re going to be in the 10 percent of teams that hit the mark.

For a little extra accountability, I’ll share my Scale Back efforts with you week to week as I tackle those extra pounds. I’m not going to share my starting or ending weight – my commitment to transparency has its limits – but I’ll keep you apprised of my successes and setbacks.

Are you competing in this year’s Scale Back challenge? Unfortunately, it’s too late for you to officially sign up now if you didn’t already; if you have signed up, however, I would love to hear about your achievements, too – and even if you aren’t participating officially, you could still set your own goal and “join us” in the challenge.