These pictures are from early 1994. They were taken on three separate occasions, judging by the clothes, at a piece of property we almost bought in Lafayette, NJ. This is how I looked for most of my adult life. In these pictures, I weigh somewhere in the low- to mid-160s. That weight is the midpoint of what I consider to be my ideal 20-pound weight range (150 to 170). In those days I wore pants with a 32- or 33-inch waist. I also had more hair than I do today.

I gained 100 pounds. I stopped working out and caring about my health. I ate sugar in various forms as a reaction to upset and stress.

This is what I looked like as my weight fluctuated, but tended upward.

April, 1997. With my mother. I weighed about 210. At the time I was gaining weight again after losing 30 pounds by taking Phen-Fen.

Christmas Eve, 1997. I weighed about 230.

January, 1998. I weighed about 225.

April, 1998. I weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 225. This was after losing some weight on Weight Watchers, then abandoning Weight Watchers. In this picture, I'm well on my way to gaining it all back.

June, 1998. I weighed about 245.

August, 1998. I weighed about 250.

October, 1998. I weighed about 260. Those shorts have a 42-inch waist, and they were tight.

October, 1998. I weighed about 260.

In January of 1999, the death of a close relative caused me to draw a line in the sand with regard to my well being.

The first thing I did was work with an Ayurvedic doctor for about 2 months. During that period, I ate nothing but steamed vegetables and certain fruits (and eventually tofu and lentils). I gave up in utter frustration; it was a huge task to prepare steamed vegetables and take them to work every day. However, I did manage to lose 30 pounds or so (I went from a high of 265 to about 235), kick my sugar and caffeine habits, and start to have a taste of what it's like to feel good.

Unfortunately, when I abandoned the Ayurvedic diet, I went right back to my old habits and gained back 10 of the pounds I lost (getting up to 245 by May 15).

A couple of things happened in the days leading up to May 15, 1999, including a kick in the butt from a coworker (who showed me an article in Esquire that upset me tremendously, yet which suggested that my situation was not hopeless; the article was about an obese man who lost weight quickly by following a low-carbohydrate diet and working out aggressively) and the death of my beloved golden retriever, Sage.

On May 15, 1999, I got serious.

I changed the way I eat, I started exercising, I took supplements, I was ruthless, and I haven't stopped.

The weight came off quickly. I started keeping track on July 11, 1999:

• January, 1999: about 265
• May, 1999: about 245
• July 11, 1999: 205.5
• July 31, 1999: 199.5
• August 15, 1999: 191.5
• August 31, 1999: 181
• September 17, 1999: 177
• And I've kept it off. My weight has fluctuated a bit; I've gained some muscle, bulked up in the process, and gotten lean. But at no time since I started all this have I been "out of shape" or "sloppy."

Exercise has been an important part of my process. Some milestones have been:

• I started walking on a treadmill in May, 1999, almost as soon as I changed my diet.
• I rediscovered mountain biking in June, 1999, during a trip to Provincetown. During the summer and fall of 1999, I rode frequently both on the hilly roads in my town and off road wherever I could.
• By the summer of 1999, I was walking up to an hour a day on the treadmill, and eventually jogging on the treadmill, then outside.
• In July, 1999, I started weight training with a succession of personal trainers, workout partners, and on my own.
• By the early fall of 1999, I was spending an increasing amount of my time on the treadmill jogging, rather than walking.
• In April, 2000, I started taking spinning classes.
• In July, 2001, I started kayaking.
• As of August, 2003, I still lift weights almost every day, I kayak as much as possible (5 or 6 days a week in the nice weather), and I use various cardio equipment in the gym.