Today, I’m the heaviest I have ever been in my life: 236 pounds. It’s time for a change.

I’ve always struggled to manage my weight. Even while enlisted in the Marine Corps, I was never able to achieve the weight that would be considered fit. I have been running to improve this situation; however it’s becoming more and more obvious that I need a diet to go along with the exercise. Sigh.

I’ve chosen the Atkins diet because I did attempt this diet half-heartedly before and lost 5 pounds in the first week. I didn’t prepare myself properly by having foods nearby that are low in carbohydrates, so I quickly fell of the diet. Today, I’ve purchased so many special foods for this diet, that I only have myself to blame for failure. I have the credit card bill to prove it.

All of the stories that you heard about the diet are true. Pretty much eat tons of protein without regard to fat or calories, but limiting yourself to less than 20 g of carbohydrate per day. The thing you probably haven’t heard is that this part of the diet only lasts the first 14 days. After that, you’re steadily increasing your carbohydrate intake to find where you stop losing weight, and then lower your carbohydrate intake by just a few grams to continue gradual weight loss. So yes, I’m looking forward to eating carbohydrates again, just not as many as I have enjoyed in the past.

In addition, I’m publicly announcing my diet, so hopefully that will be a good incentive for me to stay on track. The theory here is to keep myself accountable. So, today, September 8, 2003, I weigh 236 pounds at 27% body fat. I’ll check back in next week to detail my progress.