And So it Begins…

Sooo…for those that emailed me yesterday…good guesses and thanks for your support. Well, the guess about number of strokes required for climax wasn’t such a good guess…and the one friendly reader that suggested I cram my “sophmoric html skills” where the sun don’t shine…well…I don’t really appreciate his support.

Here’s the deal. I’m overweight. Always have been. There are a mydrid of reasons, but the main one is that I do like to eat.

Now I’m on a quest to lose the extra. This is not a simple thing to do. It has become a very confusing issue, and only the most naïve out there (that have never had a weight problem) will tell you that it’s simply a matter of willpower or counting calories.

The bottom line is that you must eat less calories than you burn, but even that’s not a simple issue. The CDC (and the people that have never had a real weight problem) will tell you that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.

As a unit of energy, this would be correct, but that hopelessly simplifies the issue. As far as a lifestyle, overall health, and weightloss are concerned, calories are not calories. The kind of calories you eat can determine such complex issues as your metabolism, overall health, energy levels, appetite, sexual function and drive, diabetes, and more.

So, the CDC says calories are calories.

The Atkins ™ folks would have you believe that calories are irrelevant and it’s only the type consumed that matter.

All sides have some science AND empirical evidence to back them up. I myself, have used Atkins successfully (but not in the long term…more on this later).

The reality seems to lie somewhere in between.

There are additional issues such as artificial sweeteners, calorie labels on consumer goods that are just plain incorrect (sometimes by orders of magnitude) and more.

I’ve dieted before, but never with this level of seriousness, commitment, or education on the issue.

I’m healthy as a horse, and strong as an ox…now I just want to ditch the extra weight I’m hauling around. I’m essentially carrying an extra person around. I intend to do this in such a manner that I retain my muscle mass and strength.

My principle strategy is slow, sustainable changes in my habits. As for diet, I am reducing calories substantially, and reducing carb intake, focusing on more high quality protiens. Any carbs I do get are coming from quality sources such as fruits, vegetables, and things such as oatmeal.

So, here we go…I’m going to use this space to post my progress and struggles with the weight. I’ll blog about new things I’ve learned, successes along the way, and of course the failures too. I’ll also be keeping a “food diary” just to help track what I’ve been eating, calorie-wise.

Some basic stats…according to the CDC I burn around 3600 calories a day just hanging out. Any excercise is additional calories burned. A pound of fat is 3400 calories. The theory is that any day I eat less than 3600 calories is a win for me. We’ll see how these figures hold up.

Anyway, watch this space if you’re interested. I’ll continue to blog about other stuff too, but this “project” is an intense focus for me. One of the reasons I’m blogging about it is to force myself to pay attention to the issue.

The progress bar below I will update on each post…the green is my target weight, the red is weight I need to lose, and the yellow is pounds shed. For those that can’t add, the total of all three is 363 pounds, which was my weight on 1/21/06. I’ll weigh at approximately the same time every morning and update this daily. In addition, a summary page of these by day is here.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer