No time like the present

Hi all,

I've finally taken the plunge after months of complaining about my weight while eating Doritos and generally feeling sorry for myself. So I decided it's time to take action and apparently the only way to actually change how I look and feel is to change what I put in my body and the amount of activity I do.
I'm so bloody sick of being the fattest person in the room and having to shop at plus size stores that design clothes for the 55+ set. I'd like to go out on a date with someone and not wonder if they are secretly ashamed to be seen with me.
No doubt about it I have a long way to go. I figure it's going to take me about a year to get down to my goal weight, but I think I can do it. I've already started working out - it's been about two weeks and as sick as it sounds I find myself actually craving a workout if I haven't been in a few days. The biggest obstacle for me is night eating and drinking.
I like to go out on the weekends and its not hard for me to down four or five pints. And of course once I get my drink on it's usually pretty easy for me to have a few slices of pizza or a burger and think nothing of it.
I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the drinking but so far I've been dealing with the urge to munch after 830 p.m. by drinking lots and lots of water. The only downside is that I have to get up a few times in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, but other than that I think it's a pretty good strategy.
More than anything I'd like to feel like I'm part of the world again rather than just an invisible fat person. I realize this is a generalization but when you are overweight it feels like you suddenly have to try so much harder to be noticed. Having been thin and now being fat (I'm okay with the f-word) I've noticed that people seem to pay more attention to thin or average size people without them having to make much of an effort.
OK that's probably a huge unrealistic assumption that once I loose this weight suddenly my life will magically transform and doors that were once closed to me will suddenly spring open.
Meh I'm just sick of feeling like I'm missing out on a lot of things because of my weight and the inhibition I feel as a result.
So I say bring on the change. I'm motivated and ready to tackle this one pound at a time.