The journey to 179.5 begins

Here I go! There’s the starting number, in all its ugly glory!

This time, all I’m doing to start is counting calories and fat grams. I’m going with the government numbers of no more than 2000 calories and 65 fat grams daily. (Yes, I know those aren’t dieting numbers, but be assured they are substantial drops from my usual consumption.) I’m at 17.5 grams of fat and 971 calories for the day headed into a dinner of skinless baked chicken, so today is looking like a successful first step.

I’ll add an exercise regimen next, but I want this to take for several weeks first. If my history holds, I’ll drop 15 pounds nearly immediately, at which point I’ll get a lot more excited about getting more active. For now I’m only taking the little steps, like parking far from the door when shopping, taking a walk around the building on the way back from the restroom at work, and the like.

I’ll stay with just these changes until they quit working, and given how atrocious my unchecked eating habits are, that’s likely to be quite a while. Then I’ll add another change, and repeat.

Where am I going? Well, I weighed 165 pounds when I was selling cars. Two factors there: 1) no time to eat; and 2) hustling around a car lot 60 hours a week for a living. I’m not setting that as a goal, though. My doctor told me he’d leave me alone if I got to 180, so I’m going for 179.5, to make it an even 100-lb. loss.

I’d really just dearly love to have my shirt off at the lake for Independence Day, 2008. I don’t know what that number is, but I’m guessing it’s 200 or so. That’s a long way away, but it’s doable.

And I promise not to yammer about this all the time. I know it’s boring. I do appreciate the accountability, though.

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