First post...the challenge

Alrighty folks, it's time.  I've been watching the iPad commercials from the sedentary comfort of my living room, and I must admit, I covet myself a new gadget.  Here's the catch: I'm already waaaaay too inert to warrant the additional couch potato-hood that will no doubt accompany the addition of an iPad to my immobility-inducing distractions.  After a long day at work (sitting behind a desk), it's pretty easy to grab fast food on the way home and plop down for the rest of the evening in front of a mind and time and momentum-sucking device for the evening.

Do I really NEED another excuse not to move?  Not remotely.  Moreover, the patterns sedentary living and unhealthy eating I've developed over the past months (years) have added more pounds to my frame and girth to my midsection than I care to divulge.  Now I've never been a particularly svelte fella.  Ever.  But in recent months I've noticed a plethora of physical nuisances.  Perhaps passing the mid-point in my thirties has taken its toll on my body...but the aches, shortness of breath, fatigue, and other signs of age are no doubt exacerbated by excess weight.  Besides, my damn clothes don't fit right, if at all...and I'm too proud to bump everything up a size yet again.

As much as I want the new toy, I don't think I can afford it.  Physically.  At least not yet.

In a recent once-over at the doctor's, I learned that almost everything me is borderline.  My blood pressure...borderline high.  My cholesterol...borderline high.  My blood sugar levels...pre-diabetic (a sobering term.)  My weight...well, let's just say that the borderlines in the weight department are the kind a cartographer draws on a globe...yeah that part's out of control.

But "borderline high" is just barely above the upper edge of "moderately okay."  Good news, right?  I'm not a lost cause.  No reason to abandon hope--everything is reversible.  I may survive yet!  Just a handful of conscientious adjustments coupled with a half a lifetime of persistence and I'll be good as new.  Well good as a healthy 36 year old.

Bottom line: I need to drop 50 pounds.  I want to (ought to, and hope to) drop more, but I NEED to drop 50.  And until I've done that, I can't justify the iPad.

So here's the deal.  We have just hit the mid-point of the year.  26 weeks till 2011.  And since my birthday is just a couple weeks before the end of the year, I figure at a healthy rate of 2 to 3 pounds a week, I can drop 50 pounds by my birthday.  And my birthday present to myself?  A lighter healthier me...and an iPad.  If and only if I drop the 50 pounds.

This weekend I am drafting the plan, outlining the changes I need to make and how I plan to implement these changes.  My guess is it won't be anything drastic--just portion control, healthy substitutions, and exercise.  No fad diet.  No crazy off-the-hook expectations.  Just a lifestyle adjustment.  A re-focusing on healthier habits.  A paradigm shift.  That's all.  And a new gadget to look forward to.

I start Monday.  Wish me luck.