Howdy. Pardon this wall of text.

I don't really know if this site is right for me, but I'm going to give it a shot. You see, for pretty much all of my adult life, I've been a leech on society. I've never accomplished anything. I've never learned how to drive. I've never had a job. I've done nothing. I'm the... quintessential man-child that they show in movies, living with their parents well into adulthood. I'm 27 years old and I weigh 318 pounds. I never bothered to exercise.

Roughly two weeks ago, my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Survival rates are low, to say the least. They gave him four months to live but I am hoping that the treatment he receives - which starts in the next few days - will go well. Suffice it to say, it was a wake-up call for me. I need to do something with my life and my weight is going to be Priority A. I didn't even mention how both my father and my brother have diabetes. The diabetes wasn't enough to wake me up. But now I am fully awake.

The reason I said this site might not be right for me is because it plays things too conservatively. I don't want to eat 2,000 calories a day, thank-you-very-much. I aim for 1,500 but often fall short of there. To me, that's just fine. You see, after I graduated from high school, I pretty much stopped eating breakfast and lunch. I would eat one big dinner and I would eat unhealthy junk food whenever we could afford it. I suppose I should be fortunate that we couldn't afford it very often, so I wasn't constantly stuffing my face with snacks.

So now, even though I eat far less, I feel more full. I eat something for breakfast, lunch and dinner. By most of your standards, I don't eat enough. Usually, my breakfast consists solely of one breakfast bar. My lunch? One chicken/turkey sandwich with half a glass of juice. My dinners are probably still "bigger" than average, but the calories are still low for the day. The "worst" thing I eat are two Red Baron mini-pizzas. Combined, they're 820 calories total. But when paired with a 120-190 calorie breakfast bar, and a whole-wheat bread turkey sandwich totaling short of 250 calories, it's still well within my goals. Even on the days I drink half a glass of juice.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think when people go on diets, they make the mistake of thinking they "have" to eat healthy. They give up all of their favorite foods and force themselves into a corner. That's not right. The name of the game is portion control. Or at least it should be. I aim to eat more fruits and vegetables, especially for my dinners, but I'm pretty sure I can still lose weight eating a hamburger every now and then if I keep the calories accounted.

I've always had good willpower and I am thankful for that. For pretty much all of my life, I drank soda like water. Well... I never drank water. When I was thirsty, I grabbed a soda. As a kid. As a teen. As an adult. I cut out the vast majority of my soda intake a few years ago. I guess it WAS a response to my relatives getting diabetes, so I wasn't totally dense. Now, I usually only drink soda for special events - or at least ones that are special to me. The Super Bowl, or a video game that I've been looking forward to for years. I plan to stop that, however. I'll probably still drink a soda when I go to the movies, but I only go to the movies once-or-twice per year. Again, not really a rich family.

So, I have no desire to cheat on my diet. There are candies and snacks in the house, but I don't eat them. I don't attempt to "reward" myself for exercising. The way I see it, the exercise IS the reward.

And with that... the elephant in the room, I suppose. Other than me. I never really exercised, as I've said. Even back in high school. I passed gym class by goofing off with friends. We always elected to go outside and walk, but there was no supervision. So we passed for doing nothing. I intend to change that, but it's hard to find something I can do at my weight. I intend to walk, seven days a week for 90 minutes. Of course, those 90 minutes are only actually 80 minutes. It tends to work out that way when you stop to drink water every lap around the yard. It's a big yard. Full of uphills and downhills. Kind of slows me down.

I just got back from my walk today. I bought a pedometer for $35 and I don't think it's entirely accurate, but it put me at 10,115 steps. 3.21 miles at 2.10 miles per hour. Total walking time: 1:23:03.

I walked as fast as I could, but because my yard is uneven, I have to slow down when going down or up hill because there are divots where I can twist my ankle. But I stay moving. I don't sit down. The only time I stop is to get a drink of water, which usually only takes 10-15 seconds.

My folks keep telling me I'm walking too much, but the rest of the day? I'm doing nothing. Sitting back in my room watching TV and playing video games. I used to think that was the American Dream. The real American Dream. Doing want you want with no responsibilities. But it's time I grow up.

I'm going to keep walking and I'm going to keep my calories under 1,500. I'm hoping that, as I lose weight, I will begin to do some other forms of exercise. The only weights that I own are two fifteen pound dumbbells, but at my weight, doing anything - even basic curls - is awkward and doesn't feel mechanically correct.