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You are considering two major decisions in life:
1) to marry someone who is not of your faith
2) to convert as a condition of the marriage
We suggest that you keep the two issues very separate. Conversion to Islam should not be a condition of the marriage. Experience has shown us that such placing such conditions unnecessarily strains the marriage from the start. Two Islamic teachings are relevant here: a) there can be no coercion in religion; b) people do not guide people, but Allah guides the hearts of people to Islam.
You have to ask yourself: Are you converting only so that you can marry this man or are you convinced that you want to submit to Allah and it is a matter of learning more before you convert?
There are potentially two scenarios that we may suggest:
1) Marry now, convert later: You are a christian woman, and Islam allows Muslim men to marry women from among the Christians and the Jews. If you both would like to get married soon, since you have already awakened to the teachings of Islam, then you could get married without converting and then work hard to learn more about the religion. Placing time-based limitations on matters of the heart will strain both you and your fiance.
2) Convert first, marry later: You have already awakened to the teachings of Islam. So, could delay the marriage while you learn about Islam. Once you are convinced to accept Islam, then you could get married, thus avoiding the condition that you must convert in order to get married.
Areas where we have noticed that pose difficulties are the following: Muslim husbands expect that if you agree to the condition of converting before marriage, overnight you will begin to internalize the faith and the teachings of this comprehensive religion. Take for example, the hijab or the headcovering for women. As you said, it may be difficult for you "drastically" change your food and dress to fit the teachings of Islam. So, we have had situations where the Muslim man appeared in public with his non-Muslim fiance without her wearing hijab or even adhering to the criteria of wearing loose-fitting clothing. Sometimes we are told, he even complimented her on how good she looked. Literally the day after they were married, on the condition that she convert, he expected her to not only wear the hijab, but to give up the tight jeans and short skirts. She was obviously shocked at these expectations and felt he was being hypocritical.
To be successful in your marriage, please communicate openly and frankly with your fiance. Tell him that if you convert, i.e. declare your acceptance of Islam as a condition of marriage, that you will need time to fully learn about, internalize, and ultimately practice the teachings of Islam. You will need time to adopt the changes in dress although food should not be as difficult a problem. If you do not feel you can wear the hijab, then you must let him know now. Please do not think you are doing him a favor or avoiding conflict by just agreeing to the conditions he makes. Write out what you can and cannot do immediately after marriage. Get his verbal agreement, and if you have to, draft a pre-nuptual agreement that is notarized and made part of the marriage contract. You can avoid alot of heartache and pain by doing this, even though it may seem like you are being overly formal or contractual about the entire matter.
We hope you will write back if you need further advice.
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