I got myself an iPhone this week which is what I am posting this blog entry with. So tell me, are there any good apps to assist with my weight loss?

On the subject of target weight that is going to be 252 lbs initially, I will re-assess after I reach this weight and see if I am comfortable with it or not. If I set myself a target of losing 2 pounds a week I figure I will reach my target within a year.

Finally I am going to weigh myself on Saturday mornings, the thinking behind this is that historically when ever I have eaten badly it has been on the weekend so if I ever stray I will have the remainder of the week to make amends before the next weigh-in, not that I plan to stray but I am a realist and I know if may happen especially over a year.

My first weigh-in was yesterday and it was 326.2 lbs, a 2.8 lbs drop from my start weight, so a good start…

But there is hope for me. I am not what you would call a compulsive eater but I do like food and this is a major hindrance in my quest to lose weight and be reasonably thin and healthy.

Ok so here are the stats
As I write this my weight is 329 lbs (23 st 7 lbs or 149.2 kg for you metric nuts) this is not my top weight I have reached 364 lbs, not a comfortable experience and certainly not one I wish to repeat.

I am currently 38 years old 6ft 5″ tall and coming up for my 39th birthday in August 10. So time is still on my side but the metabolic clock is ticking.

A Brief History Lesson
Skipping past my childhood which was typical and with no emotional scars coming out of the other side (well none that are relevant for this blog) we catch up when I was 13yrs old. My dad is a bit of a sport billy. He played for and managed a local football team, played rugby at County level and was (and still is) a super fit cyclist, the racing type.

Being a natural step for a son I took up cycling when I was 13, I was fortunate that my parents gave me every support and even though money was tight back then they provided me with the best possible equipment for me to succeed in cycling.

My dad was my personal tutor, he had a wealth of knowledge in cycling which was invaluable to a youngster like me. I trained hard (roughly 300 miles a week on average) won races, got gold medals and was by far the fittest teenager in my village/school by a long chalk. I used to be able to cycle 100 miles on a Sunday morning and play 3 hours of football on the afternoon.

Then I reached the difficult age of 16. The disciplines that are needed for competitive cycling were not so appealing to me any more, I was working full time now and earning money. I was going out to pubs and night clubs and interacting with the fairer sex. Daily training on a bike could not have been farther from my mind. So began the downward spiral to my current state.

Present Day
20 plus years of abusing my body with food, drink and a lack of exercise has left me in a right state. I was recently diagnosed as having dangerously high blood pressure and if it isn’t treated I could contract diabetes or worse heart disease, at this point I know something has to change.

I have tried many different diets in the past each has had a level of success however I can lose focus very quickly and any type of crimp in my life can knock me off track easily. So this is why I am doing this blog. It is partly to motivate myself to reach my goal of getting down to 18st and healthy again, it is also partly to try and educate others to the pit falls of getting over weight and trying to get it back off again.

I am pretty comfortable about my weight, by that I mean I can joke about it and I don’t feel self pity. I am a pragmatist, I know I was the one who got me into this state and I also know I am the one to get me out of it.

Sure I get down sometimes about my size, I don’t particularly like seeing myself in the mirror and yes sometimes I worry that my wife may not find me attractive any more. But I consider this normal behaviour and I know that this depressive state does pass.

What Next?
Well I plan on updating the blog with my ramblings of how my quest is going and hopefully you will find my posts insightful, dare I say inspiring but mainly entertaining. So it starts from now…