I have been eating low carb with no cheats or departures since July 28th, 2002. I reached my goal on October 8ths, 2003 and have been maintaining ever since... again without any cheats or departures from this way of eating.

My main 3 meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) are still almost always composed of natural whole foods - meat, eggs, veggies, and oil/fat to serve and cook with. Low carb products are occassional additions and do not predominate my daily menus. They were almost non-existent while I was working on losing.

I spread my carb intake out throughout the day. I never have more than a net 15 carbs at any meal. I may have 3 meals and 3 snacks in a day... all with that net 15 carbs - but no more than that per eating and about 3 hours of time elapsed between each "eating". By doing this I am now able to eat much higher carb levels and am actually losing at the moment eating about a net 65 carbs on average.

I have a 3 pound buffer zone that I allow myself to maintain in (above and below my goal weight) and if I reach the limit of 3 pounds either way... I take action by modifying my eating. So far I have only had to do this once and it was only 1 day of eating very simply to drop some water weight that had kicked on with TOM since reaching my goal. I have been very comfortably in my zone.

When cravings kick in or I was stalled out... I always went back to basics and the world was set right. For me that mean't KISSing for a few days to get back on track and moving things along. I am a firm believer in this. Here is a link if you are interested in this. http://www.geocities.com/lajenner/KISS.html

I prepare ahead of time. I cook up large batches of roasted chicken thighs, tubs of meat salad (tuna or chicken with mayo and diced onions/celery), boil eggs, and I always keep a fresh and bountiful supply of good low carb veggies ready. I plan my menu for the following day and I almost always pack my lunch/snacks for work - making it easy to stay on track.

Those are probably the most important elements of what has helped me to be successful. That and that I consider this the way I eat now... not a diet per se.