At 308 pounds, I had to wear a XXXL football jersey.

Hello.  My name is Bryan, and I have been overweight my entire life.  There.  Now that’s out of the way.

There are many physical, emotional, and psychological factors that play into a person being overweight.  I am not here to discuss or analyze any of them, but if enlightenment comes to me or anyone out there through the course of the discussion, then great.

I am starting this Journal for two reasons.

1. I am involved in the publication of the American College of Endocrinology’s Power of Prevention Magazine.  The upcoming issue on obesity has been very important to me.  When I started work at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), I weighed 308 pounds.  Despite being 6′3″, I knew that I was morbidly obese.  Since starting at AACE, I have been exposed to some of the real harm that comes from carrying that much weight, including type 2 diabetes.

I have come a long way since then.  Through better nutrition on daily exercise, I have dropped down to 245 pounds.  That’s a major accomplishment, to be sure, but not good enough.  In the magazine, I tell my story and how my life has been touched by a trainer and a former contestant on The Biggest Loser.  I want to share my story so that hopefully someone out there somewhere may be touched and encouraged to make a change as well.

A recent photo, at a more reasonable weight... probably about 255.

2. The second reason is dramatically more selfish.  I have had success twice in losing significant amounts of weight.  In fact, in May of this year, I hit 229 pounds, the lightest I have been in more than 15 years.  But summer vacation, football season, and complacency have begun to set in, and I am not losing weight anymore.  In fact, I weighed in this morning at 246.5 pounds.  As anyone who has ever lost even a little weight knows, it’s easy to slip back into old habits, and the weight comes back with a vengeance.

I want you all to be a witness, and to hold me accountable as I begin this journey.  The immediate goal is to run the Outback Steakhouse Half Marathon on Thanksgiving Day in Jacksonville, FL.  In order to do that, it means I need to begin training today.  My training will include exercise and an eating plan.

My goal is to keep you up to date with how I am training every day, and how well (or poorly) I am eating.  I will also try to keep a fairly regular weight log, so we can track how the regimen is affecting my weight.  My long term goal is to get under 200 pounds.  That looks like it’s a ways away, but this half-marathon will be a good start.

The only thing that I ask of you is that you visit here semi-regularly and give me some feedback and comments.  If I need encouragement, I am asking you in advance for any you can give me.  If I am honest, there will definitely be times when I will need to be reprimanded, or at least reminded to get back on track.  I give you permission right now to do that to me as well. If you have some training tips I can use, please share them.  And if you have an inspirational story, need encouragement yourself, or just need an idea to get started, please feel free to ask.

OK, here I go.  Let’s have fun with this together!