60 pounds in 60 days?

Yep, that's what I've been looking for -- the perfect diet and exercise program, the one that has the weight just melting off of you.

It's out there, right? Every yahoo who's read a nutrition article or taken an exercise class thinks they have the perfect plan, it can't be hard to find, right?

Okay folks, I'll admit, my idea of a 60-pounds in
 60-days plan may be just a taaaad extreme.

Sorry folks, it ain't out there. I've searched high and low, Googled, Yahooed, WedMDed, I even Binged (we'll keep that just between the two of us, okay?). I've checked out bodybuilding sites, running sites, diet plans. I even made a visit to Oz (the doctor and the wizard),

Best I can find are a few plans that promise 8 pounds in two weeks! Up to 20 pounds in two months!
Up to two dress sizes in two weeks! (Um, not that I'm into, you know, dressing in dresses -- though, if it would get me 60 pounds of fat loss in two months I'd be tempted to slap that thing on and just call it a full-body kilt).

Of course, I knew going in there's no such thing as a 60-pound in 60-day plan. So I'm going to put together my own nutrition and exercise plan, with the goal of dropping 48 pounds in 60 days. Not exactly 60 pounds, but still -- 48, that's a HUGE challenge, you have to give me that.

Think I can do it? One of my kids has already weighed in saying no. We'll see.

Here are my weekly/monthly goals.

Week 1 -- lose 11 pounds
Week 2 -- drop 5 pounds
Week 3 -- drop 5 pounds
Week 4 -- lose 5 pounds
That leaves me two more days until a full 30 days are up, and I'll drop one more pound those days, for a grand total of 27 pounds the first month.

We'll take a look at setting weekly goals for the second month at that time.

Here are the ground rules I'll go by:

1. No drugs or supplements that screw around with your metabolic rate, heart rate, or anything like that. The ONLY supplements I may take will be protein powders/drinks, possibly some fish oil for achy joints, and maybe a few vitamins, though that would be a first for me, and a potassium supplement. The potassium is probably a must -- I've been down the road of severely low potassium levels before, and believe me it ain't pleasant (and it's far worse than a few cramping calves).

2. No days below 1,000 calories, and probably none below 1,200 calories.

3. Hold or increase strength over the two months.This is a key -- I want to exercise and eat in a manner that retains, or increases, lean body mass and strength. The weight loss has to be all fat!

Well, that's about it. All-natural, no ultra-starvation diets. Other than that, I'm pretty much anything goes.

I've already got a pretty good idea of what I'll be doing -- high protein with lots of lean meat, moderate carbs with lots of veggies, and low- to moderate fat, spread over five or six meals a day. Combine that with lots of water intake, three to four cardio sessions a week and three weight training sessions and it ought to be simple, right?

We'll see.

Anyway, that's the plan. Tomorrow morning -- Thursday. March 30 -- I'll do the official weigh-in and measurements. Every day, as I have time, I'll blog, telling you about the day, outlining what I ate for the day, what exercises I did that day, maybe tell you a little bit about what's going on at work, with my kids, my writing, whatever.

And each week, on Thursday, I'll weigh in and report the results.

Of course, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop them off here and I'll respond. Heck, go head and put in the comments whether you think I'm crazy or not....go ahead....

Ready?

Let's roll!