Fledgist

I'm 54, very solidly now. I'm a college professor (university lecturer to my fellow Brits) in Atlanta, Georgia. That counts as a sedentary job, but I spend a lot of time on my feet in the classroom. Not enough, as I get bogged down in administrivia increasingly these days.

I'm married to a wonderful woman. I have two children (from an earlier marriage, to a lovely woman who also nags me) both now in their twenties and *out of college*. Yippee.

I weigh too bloody much. I've got to get my weight and my girth down. In March 2010, my nephrologist told me that I'm on the edge. I can do something about it, but if I wait much longer my health will deteriorate beyond recall. Then he asked if I would consider bariatric surgery. Instead, I started making changes to how I was living and how I was eating.

The last big lifestyle change I made was over seven years earlier. Then, I gave up smoking for my present wife. I've never regretted that. What are cigarettes when put in the balance with the love of a good woman? Now, I have an even bigger struggle. To get rid of this excessive weight, and get myself down to what I weighed when I was in my twenties.

It is an immense struggle, and, though I seem to be winning, the goal still seems distant. Still, I am determined to get there and maintain myself there once I've achieved it.

Paso a paso se llega a la cumbre. Pero, sin duda, se llega.

MILESTONES

350 lbs (25 stone) -- Sometime in May 2010.

300 lbs -- 9 September 2010

280 lbs (20 stone) -- 4 November 2010.

100 lbs to go -- 21 December 2010.

90 lbs to go -- 20 January 2011.

250 lbs -- 27 January 2011.

80 lbs to go -- 10 February 2011.

70 lbs to go -- 27 March 2011.

16 stone -- 3 May 2011.

60 lbs to go -- 3 May 2011.

100 kilograms -- 20 May 2011.

50 lbs to go -- 18 June 2011.

15 stone -- 30 June 2011.

40 lbs to go -- 30 July 2011.

200 lbs -- 12 August 2011.

90 kilograms -- 20 August 2011.