Sorry about that - wasn't real clear about when I lost the weight - it was about 4 years ago - I was down to about 195 (the weight at which I met my husband).
To make a long story short - I listening to various people telling me that the diet was unhealthy (including a doctor - sad to say ). I started eating carbs again & needless to say I gained back 70 pds. I tried to stick with the low fat low cal advice and as I mentioned above the results were losing about 30 lbs in 1yr 2 months. That was with exercising at least 5 days a week (many weeks more than that)!
I was fed up & talking to a friend whose doctor actually advised a low-carb diet to lose weight - miracle of miracles! I remembered back to how good & healthy I felt on this WOE and started reading a lot about low carb - seems to be all over the place & lots of the doctors & "weight loss experts" seem to be changing their tune. I think carrying around 85 extra pounds is probably a lot less healthy than cutting out carbs. I actually think people have been so indoctrinated with the low fat diet that they just assume low carb higher fat is unhealthy. I totally disagree - obviously.
So I am back at it & feeling great!
Thanks for all of the wonderful responses!