Jesse's Day 1 - 100 pounds to go

Okay, today I started my new Medifast diet - specificaaly I am on what they call the Jump Start program. It basically invovles 5 meal substitutes (shakes, soups, protein bar, etc.) and 1 meal with lean meat and healthy green veggies.

Before I go into the details of the diet, let me first explain why I am dieting in the first place. For the last 16 years, I have been steadily gaining weight - as much as 10 pounds per year at one point. I am now at least 100 pounds overweight. I have managed to maintain my current weight pretty stable for the last 2 years, but haven't managed to drop any and keep it off. That has to change.

In the past, I have tried several other diet - Atkins, Weight Watchers, Zone... all had some limited positive effects, but no significant weight loss, and nothing that lasted. Of course, my lifestyle doesn't help - I pretty much work a desk job and lead a fairly sedentary life. I have had years where I worked out religiously, but during those periods, I didn't lose weight - I just built stamina. My clothing sizes have gotten progressively larger over the years, until I can no longer buy clothes from the "regular" size selections, but must revert to the "big & tall" fashions, which are fairly limited. That, too, has to change.

My goal with this new diet is to lose about 100 pounds in the next 35 weeks. I will do this through a combination of the strict diet reinforced by weekly weigh-ins and counselling at the local Medifast center. If all goes well, by next May I will have gove from my present 324 lbs to a much healthier 224 lbs. Along the way, as another means to "hold my feet to the fire", I plan to blog about my experience; I plan to talk about the things ranging from the meal substitutes that I try, what I cook for my "lean and green" daily meal, the cravings I have to endure - all of it. Wish me luck!