Enough tedious preliminaries--let's get on with it! The sooner you start, the sooner you can put the overweight, out of shape part of your life behind you.
You've probably already decided you don't want to be overweight. Otherwise, why read a diet book? You're about to learn what's involved in achieving your goal. Mastering and applying the tools for weight and health management in this book will allow you to succeed, probably within the next 12 months. By this time next year, then, having reduced a nagging lifelong problem to a few minutes a day of minor effort, you'll look forward to many additional healthy years replete with all the joys life has to offer.