And so it begins...

I'm not someone who likes blogging or reading blogs. I feel like many blogs are read by few people and are quite frankly wastes of time, boring, or the author simply gives up after awhile.

So why am I blogging and what is the purpose of this? Let's start with the title, 30 minus 50. Starting today, I have embarked on a quest to lose 50 pounds (lbs) by my 30th birthday on March 5th. Hence the title 30 minus 50.

One question that my girlfriend had asked me when I initially told her my goal: Why did I decide on 50 lbs as opposed to another amount? First, my measurements: I am a male just under 5'10 and currently weigh the most I've ever weighed, which is 230 lbs. Second, I feel losing 50 lbs by my 30th birthday is a lofty but attainable (and not unhealthy) goal. I would need to lose an average of 15 lbs a month or 3.75 lbs per week. In my opinion, losing 3.75 lbs per week is a reasonable amount and I figure based on my diet and work out plan, I will likely exceed that in the first few weeks. Lastly, I lost 40 lbs in my last major effort to lose weight back over 3 months in the summer of 2007 starting at 215 lbs and got down to 175. I think I can lose 50 lbs in approximately 4 months based on my history.

So why am I actually blogging about my endeavor? Quite frankly, I'm blogging for myself. I'm not particularly interested in developing an audience and I may not even share this beyond a few close friends. We'll see. I think if I document this on an almost daily basis it will further commit me to accomplishing my goal. I'm not sure if I'm going to do another fitness journal on Fitday.com like I did back in 2007 but I'm considering it.

I have a lot to blog about regarding my personal weight-loss history, exercise strategies, diet, etc. I'm going to try my best to keep my blog entries short as I find myself getting bored when I have to read long blog entries or columns. I'll hit on these topics and more over the coming days.