Hello, I am new to this website and this type of diet.  I have completed the Adkins diet (twice) and both times lost more than 60+ pounds, regretfully within the first year or so, I gained it all back and then some.  I am 6’3” and now back up to 251 pounds.  I know the Adkins diet is NOT healthy and was just a quick fix and ultimately didn’t work.  After the first go around with the Adkins, when I gained my weight back not only did I put back on the 60 pounds that I lost, I gained another 30 on top of it.  I am only 36 years old and currently on high blood pressure and cholesterol medication,,, at this point, enough is enough.

I am now trying to lower my calorie intake and go to the gym on a regular basis.  My question is this, looking at the HC meals along with the other brands out there like Smart Ones; the calorie levels are so low.  I have been working at the gym and am now up to walking close to 5 miles a day which is around 800 calories burned per day.  When I do the calculations, if I eat a bowl of Cheerios in the morning, eat a HC meal for both lunch and dinner along with adding a salad, and then include a jello and/or grapes once or twice a day, my calorie intake is around 800-1100 calories per day depending on which HC meal I decide to eat that day.  My BMR is 2337 and when you include in the exercise it comes out to approximately 3137 calories burned per day.  This leaves me with approximately a 2000 calorie per day deficit.   Is this too much?  I did this yesterday, and was completely full from eating so much throughout the day.

I am curious if anyone else out there has done or is doing the same thing, and if so, I would love to hear a success story!

Thanks!

Alan