Thanks for the replies!

After reading so many warnings about losing muscle and how exercise would prevent that, it didn't occur to me that I might lose muscle anyways due to being so overweight. I hadn't thought about it before but keeping track of BF as well as weight sounds like the thing to do. I intend to follow the program from Body for Life once the holidays are over.

These forums and those of you who post here have been a great source of information; without you I probably wouldn't have thought of low carb as a viable alternative.