You might want to read up on The Shangri La Diet. It is very odd, but works well to lose a pound or two per week, automatically. No food restrictions, eat the stuff you like, eat anytime and as much as you like...but you won't be hungry, you stop nibbling and grazing, you automatically drop your food intake to about 1500 calories a day...and, like I said, you'll drop 10 pounds a month, safely and without effort.
It is also a diet you can continue.

The thrust of the diet is taking 3 tablespoons of extra light (not extra virgin) Olive Oil per day, with one hour between food intake and the oil. You can take it in one dose, or several.

ABEBOOKS will have used copies for a buck or two...I'm down 35 pounds on it.

Good luck.

Some may wonder, as I did, why it matters that it be extra light and not extra virgin oil, considering that the fat content is basically the same. Apparently it has to do with flavour content. The diet is based (partly) around a flavour-calorie relationship, and extra light is bland and flavourless. Interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8xvK-tD8Jg

I'm glad to hear of your progress. It sounds like you are highly encouraged on this now Mr. Critter.
Great going!

Thanks for the tips & encouragement everybody.

I have found that the website sparkpeople.com to be an excellent and even better free site for weight loss.

P.S. I'm mpk777 there if they ask for a referral

Came across a short manuscript today from the 1860s, that talks about the benefits of a low carbohydrate style of diet. You can read it here:

http://www.lowcarb.ca/corpulence/corpulence_full.html

Historical notes on the above, from Wikipedia:

William Banting (1797 – 16 March 1878),[1][2] was a formerly obese English undertaker who was the first to popularise a weight loss diet based on limiting intake of refined and easily digestible carbohydrates.[3] He undertook his dietary changes at the suggestion of Dr. William Harvey, who in turn had learnt of this type of diet, but in the context of diabetes management, from attending lectures in Paris by a Mons. Bernard.[3][4]

In 1863, Banting wrote a booklet called Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public which contained the particular plan for the diet he followed. It was written in the form of an open letter in the form of a personal testimonial. Banting accounted all of his unsuccessful fasts, diets, spa and exercise regimes in his past, then described the dietary change which finally had worked for him, following the advice of a physician. His own diet was four meals per day, consisting of meat, greens, fruits, and dry wine. The emphasis was on avoiding sugar, saccharine matter, starch, beer, milk and butter. Banting’s pamphlet was popular for years to come, and would be used as a model for modern diets.[4][5] Initially, he published the booklet at his personal expense. The self-published edition was so popular that he determined to sell it to the general public. The third and later editions were published by Harrison, London. The pamphlet's popularity was such that the question "do you bant?" referred to his method, and eventually to dieting in general.[3] Banting's booklet remains in print as of 2007.[6][7]

If you ever read the old Physical Culture manuals it's amazing how much people knew a century ago or even longer.
Now, I don't think carbs are the enemy, but I do think that refined carbs are. There've also been studies indicating that combining carbs with saturated fats makes the insulin fat storing effect worse.
So cutting sat fats and refined carbs seems like a pretty good idea.
I'm partial to that Ezekiel bread.

Down another 2.5ish pounds and 0.2% bodyfat.

If anyone's interested I am still with this. Been averaging a loss of 2 lbs and .2% bodyfat weekly. Missed a couple days at the gym to to a horrendous four day migraine last week so this might not be my best week. Never resorted to junk food though.

Keep it critter. I quite enjoy reading about your success. Think this will affect your caber-tossing capacities?

John

I hope so! I got freaked out right before the migraine kicked in because I suddenly lost a lot of strength. Went to pick up my couch and thought, "wait a minute, this is kind of hard..." I was ready to blame muscle loss from the diet. Then the migraine hit and I knew why I'd felt like Superman after climbing kryptonite mountain.
The fat loss is more important to me than the weight loss. I'd be pretty happy to be around 215-225 with <12% bodyfat.

On September 25, I started following the general principles laid out in the Dr. Poon diet I mentioned earlier in this thread:

- low (but not no) fat
- low cholesterol
- low sodium
- low carbohydrates
- high protein (not excessive, but I simply no longer worry about eating too much meat and have seconds or thirds if I want it)
- focus on mainly eating veggies that grow above the ground (many that grow below contain high starch)

I've lost 8 or 9 pounds over this time and feel like I have more energy etc. I'm also never hungry, and never have urges for junk food, sweets, or soda any more.

My BMI was about 25.8 when I started and now is down to 24.7 ... I'm not fixated on BMI, just giving it to you as a reference.

I had my cholesterol checked a couple of weeks ago (6 month appointment) and the levels were better than ever. Though this may well be due more to a new medication I was on for the last few months, as the diet change was likely too recent to have had much of an effect on the blood numbers.

I'd like to lose another 8 lbs and get rid of the rest of my tummy fat. We'll see.

Nice. Good work.

Thanks. Dr. Poon maintains a blog. I just caught up on my reading of it and found this post from a few days ago interesting:

http://www.poondiet.com/blog.php

"Oct 24: Just came back from Boston last night. Learned many new things about metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cholesterol etc. I will post them later. The conference provided free meals. On one occasion, I sat with a nurse from Philadelphia who teaches home dialysis to the Native Americans; specifically, those who are suffering from kidney failure due to their poorly controlled Type II diabetes. She saw first hand the negative effects of sugar on her patients. The lunch that they served that afternoon was not bad. After lunch, I had my coffee with cream and one sweetener. She had tea instead. However, she put 4 packages of sugar into a small cup of tea! She did all the talking at the table and she did not know what I do for living. She needs to lose about 200 pounds. It is remarkable that she is the one teaching diabetic care to patients! There are a big increase in Type II diabetic patients in the US and it is proportional to the increase in the number of people suffering from obesity."

Am now down to 24.3.

I'm still losing, but the last 2 weeks have been slow. However, I've being doing more volume work with the weights so that may change.

Bumpity bump bump. How's it coming along?

My weight loss rate has slowed to a crawl. Followed a brisk 30 pounds in 7 months with a mere 10 lbs in 4. I've got about a month left, but still 10 pounds to go to reach the goal.

Admittedly, though, I haven't been as careful as I should be, and have been eating a bit more of the stuff that I'd banned from my diet in the middle of last year.

Actually haven't weighed in a while. Guess I should. Have only missed two workouts though. Got a little loose with diet over the long break but not too bad.
Focus is going back to strength training but trying to do it without adding fat this time.

I spent a week and a bit in Hawaii soon after Xmas. Lazing about in beach bars drinking excessively and eating large amounts of fresh fruits and baked treats and rice did a number. By the time I came back I had put on 5 pounds or so. Now (10 days later) I'm pretty much back to where I was before I left.

I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing (working out a bit and eating protein, the good sort of veggies, little fat and few carbs) and try and lose another 10 pounds in the next few months (let's set a target date for fun and say by June). That would take me back to my high school weight (from decades past).