First, thanks to all of you for the wealth of information posted on
this newsgroup.  I have learned quite a bit lurking here.  I wanted to
publicly publish my goals, since I have met one of them.

Background:  I am 6'1", male, 33 years old, and am a kidney transplant
patient
Started:  01/02/06
Target Wgt:  185lbs
Target Date:  05/30/07 (my 35th birthday)
Mini Goal #1:  Lose 20lbs by 05/30/06 (my 34th birthday)
Mini Goal #2:  Lose 50lbs by 12/31/06

As you can see, I have met my Mini Goal #1 about a month early.  Since
I am goal oriented, I am now going to try and lose 25lbs by then.  I am
also thinking of going for losing down to an even 200lbs by 12/31/06.
I know the closer I get to making my target weight, the slower things
may go.  I will just have to see how things go.

So far, my formula for success has been to limit my calories to
1500-2000 (I vary it), eat more nutritious foods, and exercise 2-3
times a week for 30 mins or more.  I have not always done the exercise,
but I have been religious about being honest about my calories.

Some things that I have noticed with my loss so far:

-  My belt has run out of notches in the RIGHT direction
-  I can't physically eat a whole meal at most sit down restaurants
-  You can live without fries
-  There is time to exercise

Again, I want to thank everyone who posts here for all the good advice.
I am sure I will hit another wall and need to figure out how to
adjust.

Joe