Whoa .... thanks!! I think I'm going to print off that reply. Thanks.

I've heard that my caloric intake (1300 - 1500) is too low, but I vowed from the start not to be hungry on this regime, and that I would eat if I needed to. I've not yet felt weak, or hungry. I'm doing push ups and core work as well as the biking to help with the muscle building, and because my upper body strength is pathetic. I have either put on muscle in my legs, or lost enough fat to show that muscle better, as there is a definite difference in tone / amount.

Generally, I think I eat OK, but here's a sample day for your scrutiny as you obviously know WAY more about this than me.

Breakfast - 1 cup (cooked) organic whole oats with 1/4 cup organic skim milk, tablespoon organic honey and some raspberries or dried cranberries. 1 mug of tea sweetened with honey. If I'm still hungry after this, I will eat a banana.

Lunch - usually a sandwich made from two slices of whole grain / seed bread. (230 cal, 10 g fat, 11 g protein, 30 g carbs). For filler it's often 1 table spoon of peanut butter, sometimes mustard and egg whites, sometimes cheese, tomato and sprouts. Piece of some sort of fruit, and if I'm at home, 2 cups of spinach with a tablespoon of some sort of light dressing.

Dinner - whole grain pasta and tomato sauce (1 cup cooked), or a tofu based stir fry, or soup, or on days when I can't bring myself to cook I'll microwave a cup of corn or peas or broccoli (or all three), add some chick peas, tofu if I've got it and eat that with more salad or more bread, or both. Another cup of tea with honey.

Snacks - leaving out the snacks is the biggest change I've made. I'll snack on fruit, those single serving yogurt cups, egg whites, plain popcorn (microwaved 'smart pop' or on the stove with some sea salt) ... that's about it if I'm being good. I do sneak the occasional cookie.

I have managed to eliminate most refined sugar, a lot of extraneous salt, and just about all junk food from my diet with amazing results. I've also kicked coffee other than the odd espresso and feel A LOT better. Won't give up my black and green tea though. I don't drink much alcohol, and when I do, it's usually red wine. I try to drink 2L of water every day, and other than my two cups (breakfast and lunch) of black tea a day, I stick to green tea and herbal tea for beverages. Very little fruit juice, and zero soda (which I gave up years ago).

I understand as I start to ride outdoors again I'm going to need to eat more (I did last summer), but is this really a restrictive diet??? If it is, I'll try to make the changes you suggest, but I feel fine. I'm self employed, so I don't have commute to work, which makes all of this easier to deal with.

And really, despite the ascetic list of "things-I-don't-eat", I am actually a lot of fun. At least I think so.

... and yes, I do take a multi vitamin geared toward a vegetarian diet (heavy on the B vitamins).

BTW - I've been at this since last August with 35lbs dropped so far, and my goal is 50lbs within a year or so. I think that's reasonable. Next goal is to stay at that weight! (that's just a titch over a pound a week, I think).

And of course I eat the occasional cookie, and can't say no to the whipped cram on my mocha at starbucks etc. Generally though, I've been pretty good at retraining my taste buds .... most sweets / refined sugar products don't taste all that good to me anymore, and I need less sweets to feel satisfied.