[Toossehew]

Here's the deal. I'm a 53-year-old 5'10" man. My freshman year in college I weighed 155 lbs. I currently weigh 251 lbs. I want to get back to my college weight, i.e. I have to lose 96 lbs.

My daughter's Wedding is coming up in late January. I would like to be at least down to 220 lbs. by then, if not 200 lbs.

At the beginning of this month (September) I weighed 260 lbs. I've spent most of the month doing Atkins, although the first week I didn't realize you can't have cottage cheese or nuts on induction, and I completely splurged during a friend's 5- day visit.

So, I've lost 8-9 pounds so far this month.

Can someone please tell me: is that good? What do I need to do to accelerate the weight loss?

Please don't tell me to cut back on coffee or stevia. I can tell you right now that's not going to happen. Seems like the best I can do on induction is to get carbs down to about 30 a day. 20 a day seems unattainable for me, even though I eat no bread or high-carb food at all.

Is it realistic for a man my age to lose 10-15 pounds a month on this diet? If not, then why don't I find a less restricted diet, because I once lost 10-15 pounds a month just by counting calories?

Finally, please allow me to vent for a moment: I have to admit being somewhat frustrated with Atkins, because the more you get into it, the more you realize it's not all it's cracked up to be. For example, the literature says on induction you can have "unlimited quantities" of meat and high-protein items such as chicken and fish. Yet, on this board and elsewhere, the Atkins moonies start adding all this additional information like "you have to count calories" and "don't eat the Atkins bars," etc. etc. etc.

Well, if you can't eat the Atkins bars, why does Atkins distribute them? It makes the whole thing sound like another diet scam.

I know this is a lot to talk about all at once, but I'm serious about losing weight and need to cut through all the BS, and as I'm sure you serious weight-losers know, there's a whole lot of that out there.

Thank you in advance for your advice.