I started my weight loss about 7 years ago when I got tired of weighing 170+ pounds and my size 16's were getting too tight. I started simply by cutting out my "bedtime snack", which usually consisted of either a pint of ice cream or a huge bowl of buttered popcorn while watching the evening news. When I adjusted to that change I then omitted the 4 slices of buttered toast I was eating for breakfast every morning and switched to Carnation Instant Breakfast. I didn't have a scale, but could tell I was slowly losing weight. I also started morning walks, and then jogging, caving twice a week, and then I joined a gym.

To me it wasn't starting a diet, but weeding out bad eating habits and incorporating some good exercise habits. I got my weight down to about 125, but in 1999 a vacation to London and France and all the ale and good food I consumed started a weight creep back up to around 140 or so. I was still going to the gym, but the twice a week caving research project came to an end, so I ended up with less exercise.

I started low carb eating 2 years ago at around 143 pounds. That summer I approached it as a diet (changed everything at once), lost down to 127, figured I was done, and went back to eating carbs. Last May, back up to 143 and too-tight clothes, I went back on incuction. When the school year started and I knew I would not be able to get as much exercise I found my maintenance level of carbs, and have been maintaining my current weight (around 131) since fall. The last few weeks of school I have been gradually reducing my level of carbs, in preparation for getting rid of the last few pounds and daily gym attendance.

So to make a long story short, and answer your question, I have found that the gradual change is better for me, especially since I view this as changing my eating habits and not a "diet". You can't learn something well overnight. You have to have repeated exposure to really reinforce the concept. So a radical change in eating habits doesn't teach anything and sets one up for failure. In my opinion.

Joan