New Year’s, there are a lot of traditions centered around this unofficial holiday. There’s the Ball Drop, staying up till Midnight with friends or alone with your cat and even kissing someone when the clock strikes 12 (If you have a significant other that is.). However, there’s one tradition that this year is more important to me than all the other ones. The New Year’s Resolution/’s.

Every year most people make them. Some want to lose weight, others resolve to conduct themselves in a more appropriate manner, most end up not following through on their goals. I must confess that I am not immune to that all too human failure. I have a graveyard of failures.

Lose weight, woo a certain special lady, save a certain amount of money, I’ve never managed to follow through on any of them. Sure, I’ve tried. But I’ve always abandoned my ventures at one point or another. Whether due to my family’s history of laziness or distraction I am not sure.

This year, things will be different. For once, I’m going to follow through on one of my goals, that ambition being to lose some weight.  In recent years I’ve been eating and drinking like a detective from the 1920’s, so it’s time I try to put a stop to that ugly and very dangerous trend.

That’s why on January 1^st, I ordered two weeks worth of the new food substitute Soylent. For those not in the know, Soylent is a liquid consumable developed by a fellow in New York City. I initially tried it out in the past when it was still experimental and non FDA approved, and it didn’t go well. I won’t get into details, but I suffered some adverse effects on my health.

Now though, things are different. The product is legit, writers have tried it and either signed off on its flavor or scorned it and there is a drink version currently for sale on the company website.

So, I will be subjecting myself to an intense but short period of consuming nothing but Soylent and for safety reasons, some fruit and vegetables if anything should happen to go wrong. I’m excited about it, a little nervous and will be bringing all of you week by week updates as the time passes.

What will happen? That’s really anyone’s guess. Others have spoken about the intense psychological and physical changes that can happen to a person when intensely dieting. And to be honest, I’m a little scared that some of them will affect me on a severe and dangerous level.

Will I start to cry when looking at ads for pizza?

Will I find myself digging through trash in order to find something different to eat?

Honestly, I don’t know. What I do know is that I need to do this. Too many Americans treat their health as a cavalier and carefree thing that should not be closely managed. That needs to change. Hopefully, I can be an example to my friends and all others on the internet to look up to.

These postings will be cross-posted to menstrait.com. A site for guys who aren’t afraid to compensate.