Over 1/3 to my goal.... must admit it has been sort of easy outside of a few minor temptations..one thing I must say though is that I personally have been able to cheat with a few beers occasionally ( only Miller Lite though.not my favorite Pabst ) and continue to lose weight at a rate of .625 lbs. per day. I have quit cold turkey all my pain meds that I needed in the past for severe back pain... not that I don't still have pain but I just deal with it differently now. I own a small cafe and staff and customers are starting to notice the " transformation" if you will of the Big-Bobber ! I don't consider myself to be a vain individual but I must admit I do get excited about being able to fit into clothes that I once wrote off as "things I used to wear". When people ask me how much I want to lose they think I'm nuts..260/230/180.. but truthfully my goal from the beginning was to lose an 80 lb. " bag of water softner salt ", the kind that my salt delivery person sometimes leaves at my front door when no-one is home and I have to carry down to the basement myself. After carrying down 1 or 2 of those downstairs you start to realize that in essence I am carrying that amount of weight everyday ! So now I just keep plugging away, working in lots of 5 lbs as my new challenge. On Monday I go for my yearly complete physical and it will be interesting to note the cholesterol figures, blood pressure, and the like after this phase of my challenge... because that's what this is you know, a challenge to myself that I can do this and once I have done it ( and I guarantee you I will ) the next challenge will be to maintain it. But, unlike in the past when I have lost weight and shortly there after put it right back on like a "freaking goof "... I will have a new and for me basically easy way to keep it off... LOW CARB ! So.. I will probably post again at the 2/3 mark.. and let everyone know how it is going for the " Big-Bobber " ! By the way.. I guess I am posting this thread not to brag or anything.. but because when I started this campaign I came to this site for some sort of comfort and received it with all the great posts from so many of you that have had success with low carb.. especially DANKAR because as you will see when I do reach my goal and post my before and afters that I in fact was much like him. I even printed out his afters... not that I am a " switch hitter " or anything... not that there is anything wrong with being one... just that I used his story as incentive for myself and still do ! Enough already... I am going to hit the hay..
Later....
- Robert - Alias... The Big-Bobber

Robert, congratulations on your great progress. Karen and I can't wait to see your before and afters when you are ready to post. We'll be looking for them. Keep up the good work. Good night and dream about those last two numbers in your stats matching. This is one dream that WILL come true. dankar