I started low-carb about 6 months ago. I am 40 years old, male, 6 feet 3 inches. I weighed 260 lbs in Nov 2003 and was a 42inch waist.

I am now 195 pounds and wear a 34 inch waist.

I have 3 main suggestions for newbies:

1) Other than the first few weeks of your new low-carb lifestyle, do not worry about the exact amount of carbs you are eating. Most of us ate 100's of carbs per day before our new way of eating. From my experience, counting every single carb is silly. If you eat 50g of carbs per day, vs 45g, relative to the way we used to eat, it is irrelevent. What is important is a general understanding that too many carbs, especailly processed food with lots of grams of sugar is bad. An extra carb or two is not going to make any real difference as long as you are sticking to the general principals of a low-carb lifestyle.

2) Eat enough food each day. There is a general misconception that starvation causes weight loss. This is totally false. I have found that when I ate more during the day, I lost more weight. You need to eat enough calories to keep your matabolism from slowing down too much. For me, it's at least 1500-1800 calories per day. Even eating 2000-2500 calories per day normally does not increase my weight. If you feel like you are hungry, that's when you should eat.

3) Exercise!!!!!! I run 2 miles EVERY day, rain or shine. In addition, I do 100 crunches and 25 pushups every day. I do not think that substantial weight loss can be achieved without exercise. It is not easy to get started, but once you do, it will make you feel much better after your workout.


Good luck to all. I made it to the maintenance stage in half the time I thought it would take me. This is possible to anyone with the willpower and perserverance to make it thru the first few weeks. Once you are over that hump, it becomes much easier.


Regards,


Ken