Day 3: 312 lbs

Stayed on my diet yesterday, consuming just under 1,500 calories. For exercise, I did about 90 minutes of housework, and chopped firewood for about a half hour, logging (pun intended) 1,457 calories of exercise. 600 of that was from chopping wood, but I think that's low because the chart I used was calibrated for a 150-lb woman not a 300-lb man. Of course, I'm not going to let myself consume an extra 1,500 calories because I spent a half hour chopping wood.

I find splitting firewood a very satisfying form of exercise. Not only does it burn a lot of calories, but you can actually see tangible results: pile of big logs becomes pile of wood ready for the fireplace.

In this case, it is a necessary activity, too. The pile of logs has been sitting in our backyard for years, and while we've been gradually using it up, they're now so old that they're starting to rot and get infested with carpenter ants. Big Ick Factor. Fortunately we don't get termites this far north. So I've been meaning to split the wood and get it stacked up to burn for the winter.

I've made it through the first two days, but those are the easiest ones. Today the challenge begins: back in the office with its attendant temptations. We have a lunch meeting on Mondays, so I will have to maintain discipline then. Plus the hardest time on a diet is from about day 3-4 to the third or fouth week, after my stomach realizes that it isn't getting as much food, but before my body adjusts. If I can make it to a month, it will get easier, since I will have formed new habits and adjusted my behavior.