I’ve thought about doing it for a long time. There have been false starts and half tries, but this time it’s serious. For the entire month of January, all 31 days, I’ll be a vegetarian.

“Why?” you may ask. Why not? It’s fun to challenge yourself in new ways and see what you’re capable of.  I just want to know if I can do this. I simply want to know if it is possible for me to give up hamburgers, steaks, BBQ chicken, and pork chops for a solid month. Plus it will be a great time to learn new and creative ways of preparing vegetables for the rest of the year.

The rules I’ll live by are simple.

1. No eating meat. No Fish, Pork, Beef, Chicken, Shrimp, etc.
2. Find new vegetable recipes and dishes and post them here.
3. Track weight, cravings, challenges, and rewards on this site and twitter.

I especially feel that number three will be a life saver during this challenge. Not only will it offer me a chance to track my progress, it also offers all of you the chance to keep me accountable and make sure I don’t give up. I believe not doing this is one of the biggest mistakes people make when going things like this. I feel that if you don’t have people behind you pushing then your chances aren’t good.

That being said, I’ve convinced a fellow twitter user to also attempt a meatless January. Osaka_Dave has volunteered be to along for the ride. If at any time you want to join us, just shoot me a comment, tweet, or email letting me know. The more we have on board the easier it will be for all of us to assist each other and exchange killer recipes.

I’m looking forward to this challenge and the unknown elements it contains. I won’t pretend to think this will be easy, but I do hope it’s rewarding. Here’s to a wonderful New Year and a successful meatless January.