First of all, welcome to the community!!!

I would suggest you are putting the cart before the horse with this question. Why does getting started lead you to ZC/VLC? If you are eating neolithic garbage (i.e. "regular eating" as you called it), this is at best correlated with macronutrient consumption.

My definition of Paleo comes from the Archevore school of avoiding Neolithic Agents of Disease as the underlying principle. The tweaking of macronutrients, supplementation, etc are all secondary to the elimination of modern toxins and the inclusion of whole foods that are consistent with our evolutionary metabolic milieu (to quote KGH).

Please see attached - http://www.archevore.com/get-started/

At a minimum -

• Avoid gluten grains
• Avoid excess Omega 6
• Avoid excess Fructose

Other things like dairy, etc are secondary refinements. My advice - work your way down the Archevore list as far as you can based on your specific individual situation.

I really struggle with the perservation on macronutrients in this community. If you are coming from a place of significant metabolic derangement, then perhaps LC/VLC/ZC will be a further refinement required. I'm not sure if this applies to you, and if so, how you came to this conclusion.

When I am painting a wall, I first paint the main part of the wall and then cut in the corners last. To each their own, but that's how I roll. Good luck!

EDIT - My answer was before the edit to the question. I think the answer still stands but just wanted to clarify :-)

I have kicked sugar and currently working on artificial sweeteners (5 days now diet soda free!). This was/is with a moderate to high carb Paleo/Archevore compliant diet. YMMV. I started 2011 probably 25-30 lbs over my goal weight (so overweight but not obese, perhaps like you). I've dropped 18 or so lbs with my moderate/high carb diet. The key for me was/is the elimination of gluten grains - eat a bowl of pasta or several pieces of pizza, and throw in some beer...the next thing you know I was like a crack addict in a crack house and the resulting sugar binge. In general alcohol consumption, even Paleo friendly spirits and wine, tend to lead to the neolithic train wreck of debauchery...and "walk of shame" the next morning into the kitchen, looking into the sink shaking my head and asking myself WTF??? Last comment, if you are kicking the sugar, also kick the artificial sweeteners. Otherwise the sweet reward/stimulation is still there.

Em, I've been eating VLC/ZC for a little over four years now (two years VLC, and the most recent two years ZC). VLC helped a lot with sugar cravings, but I still used artificial sweeteners, and occasionally fell off the wagon. ZC -- all animal products, no plant matter except for spices, herbs, and coffee -- made an enormous difference for me. No more craving for sweets and starches, no more cake dreams, no more falling off the wagon. And for me, the health benefits were enormous -- disproportionate, really, to the amount of carbohydrate reduction. That part is still a mystery to me; I seem to be very sensitive to plant matter.

If you decide to try VLC/ZC, I recommend a couple of things (actually, I recommend these things to everyone, no matter what their plan is): Within your restrictions, eat as broadly as possible. Eat shellfish, seafood, and organ meats. Don't use artificial sweeteners; they'll just sustain your sweet tooth and make a failure more likely. Eat lots of fat -- fat is your friend. In the beginning, especially, choose fatty cuts of meat. Add butter if dairy's not an issue for you. This makes the trip into keto-adaptation much more bearable.

For more VLC/ZC advice, see Dr. Eades's two posts on starting/re-starting LC.

Not sure about you, but if I referred to the way I previously ate as anything like "regular eating," this Paleo thing would've been doomed to fail.

So depending on in what way or ways that you fell off the wagon, ZC and VLC may not be necessary. I mean, there is no harm in trying, but why deny yourself so many decent foods based on an uncontrolled experiment?

You would really be helping yourself, and others here, out if you went into more detail about how you have been eating. Let us know why you thought you had to let it go for a while. Chances are, the experienced folks on here will be able to help you get through the same life events but in better health.

If the way you eat depends on absolutely no interruptions, it is going nowhere fast.

Everyone is unique and can respond differently to various ways of eating 'paleo'. As for myself I have never bothered to track or measure my ratios and I have been VLC to ZC consistently for years, it is just natural for me and works for me. My blood work is great, did lose some weight at the beginning, always have high energy, sleep well and rarely, if ever, even have the inclination to indulge in unhealthy food anymore. Once the body & mind heal they will instinctively know what they need, we just have to learn how to listen.

I've gone from reducing carbs to eliminating them. Primarily this is a digestive concern. That said, it's not dogma for me. I've found that sugar/carbs/fiber are basically bad for my digestion, but not all carbs have this effect. In the absence of fiber I can get away with eating limited carbs. So here's my plan, at present:

a.m.: 4 ounces yogurt

late morning/afternoon: coffee w/heavy cream (about 3 oz.)

p.m.: meat and wine, as much as necessary to fill me up (e.g., 12 ounce ribeye, 4 chicken legs, and a piece of fish poached in coconut oil); I'll also have a bit of parmesan or cheddar cheese if the meat fails to do the trick. So this is not zero carb, but it's probably in the range of 10 grams per day. The wine adds to the carb count but these particular carbs--like the traces of carbs in yogurt--don't affect me.

I eat no vegetables or fruit per se, but I do use spices. Also herbs like basil (love it with coconut milk in a curry).

I grill or broil most everything. I find that slow cooking messes up my digestion. Would love to know why.

Hopefully this is helpful.