278.8

Wow. That was my weight on Monday, July 21. That was the most I’ve ever weighed, and it represented a gain of over thirteen pounds just in the last four months. My doctor has been after me for a couple of years now to lose weight, and I often asked him, “How?”

He would reply to eat healthier and get more exercise. But how, exactly, are you supposed to do that? I mean, I’m a reasonably intelligent guy. I know that a nice, fresh peach makes a far healthier snack than a bag of Cheetos. It’s easy to say (especially for someone fit and trim, like my doctor), but the psychology of it is overwhelming. For example, I’m hungry when I get off work. Am I going to snack on celery sticks? No, I’m stopping at the EZ Food Mart and picking up a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos. If all I have in the house is healthy things, I’m more apt to eat nothing, or to grab the car keys and head to the Zip ‘n Go for a bag of Tostitos and a jar of Salsa con Queso. (Okay, now I officially blame Frito Lay for making me overweight. Is there a lawsuit here?)

So I heard about a diet called the Shangri-La Diet which claims to reduce your hunger while you don’t have to change what you eat. You just feel fuller, so you don’t eat as much. It sounds like a bunch of garbage, especially when you consider that the way you quash that hunger is to throw 300-500 calories worth of oil or sugar-water down your gullet every day. Yet, as crackpot as the theory behind it sounded, it made some sort of sense to me, and so, with really nothing to lose except my high-blood pressure, high cholesterol, and a not-quite-there-yet-but-give-it-some-time-and-you’ll-be-diabetic blood glucose level, I embarked upon the Shangri-La Diet one week ago today.

275.0

That’s my current weight. Did I do anything different besides consume a bunch of olive oil? Aside from walking on the treadmill once, I did nothing special. I ate fast food, like I normally would have. I even craved and ate Doritos. The difference was that I didn’t eat as much. And, because my appetite is down, my cravings for certain things are down, too. When we went to Carl’s Jr. last week, I skipped the fries – I just didn’t want them – and I was perfectly satisfied with just the sandwich. And I’ve begun to desire things I never thought I’d want. I was upset on Saturday that we had no fresh fruit in the house, and I was excited that there were some raw carrots on an hors d’oeuvre platter at a party we attended Saturday night.

Time will tell if this is just some crazy placebo effect that will wear off in two weeks or if it’s really something. Therefore, beginning today, I’m going to be posting my weight on this page weekly (I hope). I figure if people are actually looking at my weight, the less chance I’m going to have to stray.

But what I’m not going to do is turn this into a weight-loss blog. To me, nothing could be more tedious. So, check back often to see how I'm doing. Hopefully, you'll be seeing a lot smaller number in that box to the right in the near future.