Things with my back are not looking too good, and I rapidly approaching the end of the window where I will still have enough time to train. I have been going to acupuncture, and it seems to help some, but I am still far from being out of pain. I have given up on all the drugs, and my weight is still at the same high level. I know I need to redouble my efforts, but I am having some trouble staying motivated and seeing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Pretty standard stuff, really.

Every day, in every way, I am becoming a better and better lieutenant second grade.

After one week (or four-and-a-half months, depending on how you look at it) I have had some early success. This is not totally unexpected, as the first week of a diet plan is always the easiest, or at least the most obviously dramatic. My weigh in today was 296.8, so that’s very close to ten pounds for the week. It may have even been more, but last night I had a couple of glasses of whiskey and some Del Taco.

I am pretty happy with this early result, but am aware that these sorts of numbers don’t really persist after the initial week or so. I will be happy if I can average something closer to three pounds a week for the duration of the plan. That is still an agressive pace, but not unattainable. A rate like that would put me in at my target weight sometime in October, which would be acceptable.

Now I need to start adding some exercise into the mix, so I get healthy and strong, instead of just lighter.

Has it been four months yet? It has? OK, good, now I can start.

I actually started a week ago, but hadn’t really done anything beneficial up until now. For a little recap on my starting position with only nine months to go, things are about the same. Weight was 306.6 on starting day (last Wednesday, actually, April eighth), and my back still hurts just as much as ever. This is especially sad because of all of the drugs I have been taking to help cure the back. As far as the drugs go, the Motrin didn’t seem to reduce the inflammation, the muscle relaxer didn’t relax my muscles, and the Vicodin was about the same as taking a single aspirin. I hope other people find these drugs useful but I may as well have taken sugar pills. I have decided though that the only thing that will do me any good is to lose the weight I need to lose and to try to get more mobile and stronger. I can’t imagine that that will be bad for my back. If it doesn’t repair significantly in the next couple of months though, my plans for the marathon may be shot.

Currently I am eating about 1700 calories a day in an effort to launch into weight loss. This comes in the form of oatmeal for breakfast, and a piece of bread with tuna salad on it three other times a day. There are other little things to the diet, but that is the bulk of it. I wanted to make it something that was consistently easy to prepare, and the same so that I would never wonder what I should eat at any moment. I will report my weight progress here weekly as a log on Wednesdays. Also, starting on this next week, I am going to ramp up the exercise. This will be limited by the back, but my plan is to do as much as I can on as many different activities as possible and try to add other, harder ones as I become more able. Pretty typical, except for me walking is one of the harder ones. Sad really since walking and running are really the core elements in marathon training. I can keep losing weight without working out, but I will get less and less healthy at the same time, and will conspire to turn down the metabolism.

I let you know what I discover.

As you should well know by this time, I am a fat load of crap. I have spent much time in the past dwelling on this, and am likely to continue in this new space. I also have a very bad back. Though it has been bad for many years, this most recent outbreak was purely my own fault. I attempted to jump up on something that someone of my advanced age and girth had no business jumping on. This was way back in June, and instead of proactively repairing my problem, I mostly just waited for it to sort itself out. Sadly this hasn’t happened at all, and if anything, I am now worse than I was.

This new journal isn’t about the failures of the past, however. Rather it is looking forward to the successes of the future. You see, I have not yet done the things I declare in my title, but those are my goals, and over the next year I am going to make them happen.

In January of 2010 I am going to run the Walt Disney World Marathon. My brother is going to run with me. I don’t plan on doing it very quickly, but I do intend on finishing it in the time allowed.

The goal of the marathon is really a carrot to make me change all of the habits in my life that have caused me to feel the way I do now. I figure that if I can get to the point where I can finish the marathon, the rest of the work will be pretty easy.

There are a number of other goals that are related to this project, and each must be realized before I can accomplish the final objective.

First, I must deal with this bad back. To that end I have finally gone to the doctor. He gave me some pain pills and some Motrin, and advised me on some stretches and things to do. I have now been doing these for a few days and there is a little improvement already, but I still have some way to go on that front.

Related to my back as the probable cause is my significant additional weight. I must remedy this to be able to stave off future back attacks, as well as to give myself any chance of running a marathon at all. This will also have a great impact on many other bad things for my health and happiness, and as such is probably the single most important component of the greater plan.

Pivotal to the weight situation are the changes I must make to my eating habits. In addition to eating far too much to allow the loss of any weight, I also make rather bad choices in the foods that I do eat. This leaves me in danger for all sorts of heath problems, including diabetes and heart disease. This situation must be rectified. Better choices in the food I eat will allow my body to build the muscle required to complete a marathon of running.

In order to be able to haul my body around for twenty-six miles, I will need to do a vast amount of exercise. This will be a challenge, considering how little I do currently. I must take it slow to give my body a chance to build without injury, but I look forward to the increase in energy and ability I will be gaining over the coming months.

My goals don’t come without significant challenges, but I am trying to completely change my life, after all. I have some interesting plans for how I will accomplish each of these goals, and will document my progress here.

Wish me luck.