Me: 36 yo computer person 6' 1", really skinny in high-school, filled
out in college, got overweight gradually 1990-> 2000 (moving from ~170
-> 200), got borderline obese working in the bay area 2000 - 2002 (200
-> 235).

In 2002 I finally stopped the gain but didn't tackle the loss until
just last month. This is my first-ever "diet", where I actually
regiment myself strictly on what I eat/drink and not eat/drink.

My plan is basically based on what I read from John Walker's Hacker's
Diet, which overall makes a lot of sense, plus cutting out all the
unnutritious crap (goodbye Mountain Dew, In&Out, KFC, & Wendy's), plus
a mish-mash of Atkins, The Zone, and South Beach.

I haven't read the books but the basic idea is to just drop
2lbs/month, at least until I hit my non-overweight goal of under 25
BMI, ~188 pounds.

I'm cutting out sugar & starch where I can, not avoiding fat
especially if it is unsaturated, shooting for a 875 kcal/day deficit,
and if possible not minding drops into ketosis, if it doesn't pull off
muscle.

My regimen is roughly:

Breakfast: a cup or more of Special K or other reasonably unsweetened
cereal, normal quantity of 1% "organic" cow milk (I tried Rice Milk,
but the carbs are the same, and I like the protein I get with the
milk). ~250 kcals.

Snacks: tomatoes, up to 1 serving of hickory almonds (~28 pieces), or
slice of cheese to nibble on, or some other food with a good
protein/fat low-sucrose balance (any suggestions?). 200 kcals.

Water. Lots of big (24oz) glasses of water. I make sure I go through
half of my one gallon jugs every day. I don't pace this as well as I
could (eg. drink more 8oz glasses, tend to get dehydrated by morning).

Dinner: something normal, but half portions of what I'd normally eat,
chased with a multivitamin. 800-1000 kcals.

Exercise: weekly 2-3hr bike rides in the hills. I need to start
upper-body muscle building work I think. Any suggestions short of
getting a gym membership (I've had 3 in the past I just never go)?

Progress has been excellent so far (which is not unexpected since I've
probably got a lot of "water" to lose in my heretofore rather
unmolested fat deposits).

Mid February (start): 230
March 1: 224.5 (3lbs/week)
March 8: 225.5 (2lbs/week)
March 15: 220.5 (2lbs/week)

I hit a plateau at 221 (stuck 5 days at 221-220.5), but this morning
the scale said 217.0. It's gotten warmer, so I suspect this is water
loss from sweating more.

I have not felt "starved" at all on this diet, no shooting hunger
pangs, just a mild "distressed" feeling of "hey bud, we'd really like
some more food sometime". I've had no cravings for high-calorie food
though. High-calorie isn't off limits, but I'm just interested on how
fast I can lose weight by sticking to the plan.

Questions:

1) How should I "carb up" before my weekly 2-3hr bike rides ("bonking"
sucks). Last time I ate a banana immediately before starting out,
drank 4 x 16oz Propel (some short of sugar in that), and a
cheese/turkey burrito at the halfway point. No bonk, and since I'm
bike riding more for fitness than weight loss I think that level of
intake is about right.

2) Anything I'm doing wrong?