Jim -- GREAT to hear that you are on your way. You've got an even longer road than I did -- but PLEASE don't give up! I'll PM you my cell number -- if you're ever struggling -- day or night -- just call and I'll talk you off the ledge!! I'm with you on the methodology. The diet I've used to lose the weight is close to a lifetime diet, but not exactly. Also, making certain 'main items' in quantity is exactly what my wife and I are doing -- brown rice, chicken breasts, and things like that -- we make each Sunday night and use them in our meals over the next 7 days.

Regarding boneless chicken filets we have discovered something that you may want to consider. We have switched to the breast on the bone with rib meat, skin still on. Those are easier to cook by baking/roasting in the oven and don't require the 'babysitting' of doing boneless/skinless on the cooktop -- they also stay jucier in the fridge over several days. We pack them by threes in big ziploc bags (meat from three will feed our family of 5) -- and just pull the skin off and pull the meat off the bone on the day we eat them. They are also typically cheaper than the boneless kind. Just a thought. We also switched away from quick rice to traditional long-grain and long-grain brown rice. I make up about 6 quarts of cooked rice every Sunday and put it in 1-quart containers.

DAVE -- I like the way you described the time between your meals. Meal 1 lasts about 2 1/2 hours, then "I'm hungry again" -- -- I've had to re-learn the difference between wanting to eat and actually being hungry. I also like that you called good snacks 'substantial', and bad ones 'continuous' -- I see an apple as substantial... and Doritos as continuous (though they are delicious.....) I've worked very hard to size my portions so that I'll be hungry again by the time the next mealtime rolls around. I've stuck with the general plan of whole grains for breakfast at 6:30am, piece of fruit and maybe some cheese at 9am, big salad or light lunch at 11am, actual lunch at 1pm, piece of fruit at 4pm, dinner at 6pm, and only super-lo-cal snacks after that (like popcorn).

For MY update... I do NOT want to steal any of Jim's thunder --- his start in the right direction deserves the biggest note here, but by way of motivation for him, I've hit a milestone that turns back time for me 20 years. Ready?

I was so close last week that I could smell it... so I did vegetarian for 3 days and upped my road mileage aggressively... and this week...

I weigh 199 pounds as of 08/25/09!!

That is down from 264 about 3 years ago (the unofficial start of doing something about it)... and down from 241 since the official start of efforts on April 1, 2009. That's a loss of 42 pounds -- or 17.4% -- since my official start of efforts. -- -- if I claim back to my heaviest, I've now lost 65 pounds.

Stage 1 of my goals is 195 pounds -- so I've got 4 pounds to go. I'll assess my health and how I feel from there, and will probably go a little lower -- but my structure isn't going to cooperate with much further than that.

I've gone from 38 waist jeans / 40 waist slacks down to 34 waist jeans / 36 waist slacks. I think I want to be in 33 jeans / 34 slacks (why is it slacks are less forgiving than jeans??). My dress shirts are down from 19-1/2 x 36 at my peak to 18 x 35 now. I haven't bought a new sports-coat yet, but can no longer wear my 52-short -- -- it looks like a tent on me -- but I did wear an old 48-regular this last weekend, and it fit nicely with a little breathing room. I've told myself I'll reward myself with a new suit when it can be a 46-regular (or athletic) with 34 slacks. I think I'll have to get down to about 190 to fit into that.

By the way... the lightest I've ever been since I met my wife 17 years ago is 196 pounds...