On May 12, I began my weight loss journey. I stepped up on the scale that Saturday morning to read that my weight was 239.5 pounds. That was 50 pounds more than what I wanted to weigh. Imagine filling up a gallon jug of water, and carrying it around with you all day. You would be pretty tired of it by day’s end. Fill up two more and carry three of them with you for the day. The extra weight is gong to tire you out in a hurry. But 3 gallons of water only weighs 24 pounds. You would have to fill up 6 one-gallon jugs and strap them on your back in order to carry 50 pounds of water with you. Whether you envision carrying five 10-pound bags of flour, or a fifty-pound dumbbell stuffed in your backpack, day and night for years, it is a serious extra burden to drag around with you. Is it any wonder that I was tired all the time?

If you would like to go through a play-by-play of my weight loss journey, one that is still being updated every day, please Click Here. I started off by setting my main goal at 200 pounds. At that weight, I would be in the "normal" category for weight, just under the "overweight" category. (At 239.5 pounds I was right on the dividing line between the "overweight" and "obese" categories.)

In the picture on the right, you can see that my weight is 5 pounds over my main goal. I was smiling because I was already feeling much better, and much happier with the way I looked.

The first week, I dropped 7.5 pounds. I was shocked. After that, for the next 13 weeks, I lost about 2 pounds a week. Then, during the last 5 weeks until I reached my goal, I lost about 1.4 pounds per week.

Overall, during the 19 weeks of my journey to my main goal, which I reached on September 22, 2001, I lost weight on average at a rate of 2.1 pounds per week. Six weeks later on November 3, I celebrated making "Lifetime" even thought it was only a formality, because I did not ever actually attend meetings.

I started a form of "weight maintenance" on September 22, 2001. However, by that time, I had the personal goal of 190 pounds in my sights, and I so I continued to lose weight over the next several weeks. It took 9 weeks to move from my main goal of 200 down below 190, which is my personal goal. I averaged a loss of about 1.3 per week during that time. Looking at the graph you can see that it was not a straight line. My weight dropped in fits and starts, but it did finally reach my personal goal zone of between 185 and 190 pounds.

The weight loss journey has been many things to me. First and foremost, it has been fun. I have something to look forward to each week, when I have my weigh-in, and I can see the results of what I did all week long. Every day, I have the journey with me, wherever I go, and whatever I do. I track my points, whenever I eat anything at all. I count the number of cups of water I drink. I note any exercise that I do. All of these add together, to form pieces of the program, that when joined together to form a whole, produce the very results that I am looking for.

I have enjoyed the challenge of getting a lot of food for the least number of points. I like knowing that I will not go to bed hungry tonight, but I will still be on program.

One of the most surprising aspects of this journey for me has been the clarity with which I can now see how much of an eating problem I had before. I was seriously overweight. The pictures that I collected for this "success story" made a big impression on me. I knew I was overweight at the time, but I did not realize how much I was overweight. I had been living in denial for years, telling myself that it was just a minor problem that I would deal with "someday." But it was not a minor problem. Fifty pounds is a major problem and it can kill you, given enough time.

Something that was very helpful on my journey, was the support that I received from others. My greatest support came from my lovely wife Dotti. She has provided a positive face to me at all times, and she is a storehouse of information about "points" and the program. I know that the food in our house is always something that we can eat, if done in moderation, and still remain OP. Thanks to Dotti, "Red Light" foods, that would trip us up, are not to be found on our shelves or in our refrigerator. Whenever I made progress on my journey, reaching a milestone of even the smallest importance, Dotti was right there to cheer me on. She continually tells me how thin I look now, and hands out compliments every day. Throughout our whole marriage that is just the type of girl she has always been, and I am a lucky guy to have her!

Our dear friends Jim and Tammy have been very supportive as well. Tammy reads my journal quite often and provides feedback, sometimes online and sometimes off, but she is always helpful. Jim always has something positive to say as well.

Of course my Mom has a lot of nice things to say about my weight being down, and has always been supportive. She has been out of state for most of my journey, along with her husband Jim who has been dealing with some very time consuming medical issues that have required extensive physical therapy once the actual procedures were performed. But now that they are back they have been very supportive.

And lastly, a great deal of the support that I have received from others has come from DWLZ. The message board has been a continuing source of ideas, and supportive comments. Several people have dropped in on the Men's Forum where I am posting my journal, to make suggestions and just give support. When I have posted in the Daily and other forums about reaching a goal or milestone in my journey, there has been a huge outpouring of congratulatory comments, that just blows me away. Who wouldn't be motivated with all this support going on?