It's time to get serious about getting healthy

This Saturday, I am going to turn 45 years old.  Already, I am three years older than my dad was when he became ill.  And he was perfectly healthy at the time.  Anyway, I will be 45 on Saturday, and getting on the scale this week I have seen numbers that I have not only never seen before, but never wanted to see.  It's time to get serious about losing weight.  Ideally, I need to lose 50 pounds to be where I really "should" be, but my goal for right now is losing 20 pounds.  I'm not even sure I know exactly how to do it, but I'm hoping this forces me to be more mindful and aware, and take it seriously.