I'm 60 very solidly now. I'm a college professor (university lecturer to my fellow Brits) in Atlanta, Georgia. That counts as a sedentary job, but I spend a lot of time on my feet in the classroom. Not enough, as I get bogged down in administrivia increasingly these days.

I'm married to a wonderful woman. I have two children (from an earlier marriage, to a lovely woman who also nags me) one in his early thirties, the other in his late twenties, and both *out of college*. Yippee.

I weigh too bloody much. I've got to get my weight and my girth down. In March 2010, my nephrologist told me that I'm on the edge. I can do something about it, but if I wait much longer my health will deteriorate beyond recall. Then he asked if I would consider bariatric surgery. Instead, I started making changes to how I was living and how I was eating.

The last big lifestyle change I made was over seven years earlier. Then, I gave up smoking for my present wife. I've never regretted that. What are cigarettes when put in the balance with the love of a good woman? Now, I have an even bigger struggle. To get rid of this excessive weight, and get myself down to what I weighed when I was in my twenties.

In the past couple of years I've let things slide, and my weight has slid upwards. I need to get it back down, and I'm starting again.

It is an immense struggle, and, though I seem to be winning, the goal still seems distant. Still, I am determined to get there and maintain myself there once I've achieved it.

Paso a paso se llega a la cumbre. Pero, sin duda, se llega.