I was always the skinny kid in high school. I am 6 feet tall and I might have weighed 145 pounds. Soaking wet. With lead shoes. I was such a lightweight, that when I entered the Marine Corps after graduation in 1990, my recruiter made me eat 7 bananas the night before I was scheduled for weigh-in during processing. The Marines have a minimum weight requirement, which I met by 1 pound thanks to my potassium-laced, late-night snack. True story.

So, yeah, I was skinny.

Eventually, I began working a desk job; married an amazing, beautiful woman; and spawned children. Somewhere in all of that, the pounds started to pack on. Maybe it was because I actually had the resources (read: time and money) to eat whatever and whenever I wanted. Maybe it was because I love food and didn't really know when to say when. Maybe it was because I would occasionally have an eat-the-entire-bag-of-Doritos video gaming spree. Maybe it was all of that. Whatever the cause, at the end of April 2007, I was up to 238 pounds and was beginning to have trouble squeezing into my size 38 dress pants.

I was not going to purchase 40 inch pants.

I've been reading technology related blogs for a few years now. I obviously enjoy the posts regarding gadgets, the latest computer technology, and those that relate to my job as a web programmer. But I also enjoy when they stray from their niche and just post something funny, cool, or interesting. One such post described an online diet book published by John Walker, the software engineer who founded AutoDesk and co-wrote the world's most popular drafting application, AutoCAD. I skimmed through it, but at the time I didn't think too much of it.

Recently, when I realized I seriously needed to do something about my weight, I returned to that book.

The book (OK, website), entitled "The Hacker's Diet," goes into fantastic nerdy detail about how the body processes the food we eat and how it stores and burns fat. It also reveals one the great secrets the weight loss industry doesn't want you to know. It's all about the calories! That's right. Calories. Take in more calories than you burn, you gain weight. Take in fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight. Plain and simple.

Yes, exercising will cause your body to burn more calories than if you did not exercise. Maybe I'm just making excuses, but I don't have time to exercise. I need that time to write lengthy posts like this one! Try typing and running. It ain't happening.

If I had to give you a three sentence summary of the diet, it would be this: Eating fewer calories than you burn is how you lose weight. You can do that by either eating less food or by eating foods that are lower in caloies. Or both.

Of course, just reading those three sentences and not the book itself would be doing yourself a disservice. The book (which would take more than 250 pages to print) gives you clever analogies, real examples, and computer-based tools to make the whole diet thing that much easier. It shows you what (delicious) foods are low in calories and how to gradually reduce the size of your portions. There's even a simple exercise plan involving sit-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks, and running in place to bring you back from "out of shape." You increase reps at your own pace and the idea is to finish in 15 minutes. So, it won't even take too much time out of your day.

Around the first week in May 2007, Rachel and I decided to try it. Let me tell you, the first week was brutal. I felt hungry most of the time. When you go from eating probably 3000 calories a day to only 1700, your stomach (and brain) notices. However, having the support of someone going through the same thing was a tremendous help. We found low calorie snacks, like grapes and pickles, and reduced calorie versions of Doritos and potato chips to get us through to the next meal.

In order to ensure we weren't exceeding our calorie goals for the day, we bought a small kitchen scale and religiously weighed our portions. As Walker writes in his book, it's better to feel silly weighing all your food than be fat.

At the grocery store, we found low calorie versions of plenty of foodstuffs: the aforementioned salty snacks (which use Olestra), hot dogs, sandwich bread, bacon, and ice cream. Of course, there are some foods that we've mostly given up, because there is no edible, low-calorie alternative: pizza, brownies (although Rachel is determined to find a way to make them low-cal), bratwurst, and french fries. I will admit, however, it's nice to have a "guilt-free" day every couple weeks or so. I've been known to let myself go in an orgy of beer and grilled meats on occasion.

So, as of today, the 27th of September, 2007, I type this at a reasonable 193 pounds. I don't have a target weight, rather a target pant size. I'm in size 36 pants now and my goal is to get back into size 34s. I imagine this will put me around 175 or 180 pounds.

Overall, following The Hacker's Diet is pretty painless. There isn't anything physically hard about it. Only mentally. Practically giving up high calorie foods like milk, pizza, and beer is tough.

But thinking about buying size 40 pants is harder.

[The Hacker's Diet]