yeah, according to the BMI calculation (which can be off depending how
much muscle you have) you are at a 25.1 BMI, which is just a touch
"overweight". 25.0 is considered on the high end of OK.

But 25.1 for me was a "touch" overweight too, 5% over slender/skinny.

155 for you is equivalent to a 23 BMI. I think it is harder move from
25.1 -> 23, and I also think you need to be careful about not losing
more muscle than fat if you try to diet it off.

Atkins and other drastic measures are certainly not necessary. If
you're not in a hurry just shoot for a nice even ~1-2lb/month decline
until you reach what you want.

Each pound of fat has 3500 calories, so roughly speaking you should be
shooting to burn 1000 calories a week more than you take in. That
works out to just 150 calories/day.

If you drink sugary soft drinks, stop. Water is free in restuarants
and if you don't have healthy tap water is 58c/gallon at WallMart.
Drink at least one half gallon per day.

Also add at least 150 calories of additional exercise per day (about
half an hour). Exercise makes you hungrier, but avoid feeding this
hunger with empty calories. Feed it with healthier unsaturated fats,
protein, and complex carbohydrates in balance. Almonds are a great
food to snack on to power yourself with protein and unsaturated fats
instead of sugar.

Monitor your weight at least weekly (I see nothing wrong with doing it
daily), but remember that we are ~60% water so water intake variations
can account for large (3-4 lb) weight variations, so it is really
important to regulate your hydration (ie drink more water than you
think you need) and weight yourself first thing in the morning.

Muscle mass raises your resting metabolism (the amount your body burns
just doing nothing), so look into working out your upper body and
especially legs (the legs are 40% of your muscles).

Finally, take heart. Right now you're basically where most of us
overweight people want to be again. You're very smart for stopping the
gain now, and just taking the fix slow is relatively easy and
painless.

Hi,

5' 9" and 170 pounds isn't so bad.  You BMI is 25.1 putting you just a
tad overweight. Have you gained any inches around your waist? If so,
that's a bad sign.  You should be able to lose weight by becoming more
active - do you get one hour of exercise daily?  If your motivated
enough it'd be a good idea to start better eating habits.  You know,
no junk food - fried chicken, big macs, french fries, candy, soda,
etc. Please read up on good nutrition here:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/

I've never paid too much attention to the other material on their site<g>.
I personally try to keep my protein/carb/fat ration around 40/40/20.  Most
newer diets recommend more protein and I find it easier to lose weight if I
cut back on the carbs and make sure the carbs I eat are whole grains, fruits
and vegetables.  IMHO I see no reason to severely restrict carbs as long as
you choose the healthy ones - unless you're one of those who are sensitive
to carbs.

Here's another site used by the group.  It's geared toward women but has
excellent info on exercise and diet.  Krista doesn't post to this group too
often but she has been known to pop in occasionally.
http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html

Walking is a great exercsie and one that's easy to work into your everyday
lifestyle.  Think of all the times you could take the stairs instead of the
elevator, park the car at the far side of the parking lot, etc.  They may
seem like little things but they soon add up.

Beverly