Hi Everyone

Sorry, a little late on saying, "Hi". I've been on MFP now for 25 days straight trying to dial in an eating style that will help me lose the nearly 100 lbs that I need to lose.

This isn't my first time trying to lose weight, as most of us find keeping the weight off a challenge. I've lost 76 lbs before (about 4 years ago) after I got up to 310. Looked in the mirror one day and was disgusted with what I saw.

This time the motivation to begin anew was different. I have a picture in my head... a series of videos, really, that plays constantly... showing me the kind of life I want to live. My fiancee (my wife in the videos) and me being active around the house, small family farm, and living a wholesome, peaceful life. But in the videos there's a lot of work happening... and I am right there, doing some of the heavy lifting. Today, I can't do that. I have back issues, arthritis, knees are clicking and I don't have the lung capacity to work for very long.

So, after a family gathering on January 2-5 in Texas (where LOTS of photos were taken and I look like a whale!), I said to myself, "You won't be able to live the life you want if you don't do something dramatic to heal your body from the weight and all it causes".

So, I started going back to what I knew worked... low carb eating. I'm a bread guy... REALLY a bread guy. This is going to be a bit difficult, I thought.

While looking around the internet for some more information on low carb eating, I stumbled across information for the ketogenic diet. Interesting, so I read as much as I could and in just a week or so decided I would give that a try.

It's working!

In 38 days I'm down 25 lbs and well on my way to the 100 I need to lose to get out of morbid obesity and into a normal, healthy weight range for my 6' 1" frame.

I want you to know that reading some of your posts... hearing your stories... is inspirational. Whatever pain causes us to start is worth it because if we can get to a healthier us, we are going to win at life. We'll be stronger physically, mentally, emotionally. And that strength will feed our relationships and our outlook on life. That pain that moved us into this phase of our lives will seem like a blessing.

Hang in there, people... we got this!