Hi Flowox,

Welcome. I agree with Rosebud -- look over the plans and pick something you can live with. I also started out on my own, just cutting back carbs, but after a month or two I bought the Atkins book and I have found having the structure of the plan to be very helpful. If you want a higher carb approach than Atkins, one of the other plans might interest you, but I think that the folks on Atkins generally lose the fastest. I think that 175 grams of carbs a day is high if you want to lose weight.

Whatever plan you choose, you don't have to lose all 50 pounds to start realizing the health benefits. The 50 pounds is not going to disappear overnight, but you should start feeling better after you lose 10 or 20, and will continue to feel better as you lose each additional pound. I think you are better off mentally preparing yourself for it to take a while, rather than deciding that you have to lose the weight immediately. I've noticed that the people who set stringent goals for themselves -- who decide that they have to lose this a certain amount of weight immediately -- are the ones who are least likely to hang in there and actually get to their goal.