Moderately successful computer consultant, 56 years old (2011).

Was shocked from blissful morbid obesity by a warning that I was about to become a type 2 diabetic.

I had been hovering at 300 lbs for about 12 years. Now, it's like I've been awoken from some foggy slumber and am near-desperately scrambling to lose 100 lbs or lose my life. It's a determination I've not seen in myself since... well... ever. I'm hoping beyond hope that I can reverse the tide of type 2 diabetes - some say it can't be, some say it can. We'll see.

I don't have much support from my family. I don't know why, but that's okay. There's the ubiquitous sweet cabinet still there. Candy cereals in the cabinet. Oreos in the cookie bin. Cakes and pies on the counter. In a way, that's a good thing. I have to draw on my own inner strength to do this. I can't hide food from myself. I can't dispense with the temptations. All I can do is learn to RESIST TEMPTATION. After all that's the TRUE and necessary additude adjustment required.

What was I thinking all those years? If there's been anything I've learned in this, it's to put aside all mind games, toughen up, face reality, and make one decision: deal with it. You don't have to make thousands of tough daily decisions - they have already been made. I watch people struggling every single day, and want to just yell out "Why are you forcing yourself to make hundreds of tough decisions?". It's all a matter of turning over ONE BIG LEAF, and the rest is amazingly easy. At least so far.