[andyhnj]

Nice write-up. My experience is quite similar to the author's. I've gone from 230 to 170 over the last year or so. (Oh, and I'm also from NJ!) I wasn't involved in any study or organized plan though; I just stumbled through it on my own. I tracked calories with an iPhone app. I stuck to a plan that, theoretically, would allow me to lose one pound per week. That actually worked out pretty well. I never bothered tracking anything other than calories. I just tried to be sensible about fat, carbs, and sugar, but I didn't explicitly track them or set goals related to them. And I'm curious about the National Weight Control Registry now. I'm going to have to follow up on that, after I've maintained the weight loss for a bit longer.