Chaz Bono lost 43 lbs in three months, wants to shed 37 more lbs

TV personality Chaz Bono has lost 43 pounds in three months, thanks to a strict low-carb diet, and wants to lose an additional 37 pounds over the next few months.

"I've been sticking to a really strict diet," Bono, 43 told People. "It's not any type of starvation thing. I'm just cutting out a lot of stuff and eating primarily protein and vegetables and fruit."

The 5-foot-6 Chaz slimmed down from 250 pounds to 207, and wants to reach his goal weight of 170 pounds within the next few months. Bono, who began his diet in November 2012, says the weight came off fairly quickly in the beginning, and making the transition to healthy eating was easier than expected.

"When you're a guy and you've got a lot of weight to lose, the initial stuff comes off pretty easily," says Bono. "You start to see results and you want to keep going. It's not to say you don't have cravings sometimes, but I'm very happy with how I'm looking and feeling, especially when I'm traveling or I have to go out to eat, it's actually easier than I thought to [eat healthy], so that's been good."

Chaz, the only child of singer Cher and the late Sonny Bono, says the weight loss has slowed down a bit now that he has hit a plateau.

"It's getting harder," says Bono, who's also exercising regularly. "I'm just kind of at a little plateau right now, which I think is pretty normal, according to my doctor. The weight was falling off at first, and now it's just coming off slower. The smaller you are, the harder it is to lose weight.

"The last 10 or 20 pounds are really hard to get off. I would like to lose more than that. I'm still dropping, but I'm just not dropping like I was in the beginning, which was about four pounds a week."

Despite the plateau, Bono is motivated to continue his journey because he's encouraged by how much better he looks and feels.

"There haven't really been any bad parts to this so far, except certain stuff that I miss eating," he says. "But ultimately, I would much rather look and feel better than eat those things. Everything else has been really great. I feel better and when I look in the mirror, I like what I see better."

Chaz, who underwent female-to-male gender transition from 2008 to 2010, says he decided to overhaul his diet because he got sick of being fat and unhealthy.

"I've struggled with weight my whole life," he says. "For me, it was finally getting to a place where I was willing to do whatever it took to deal with this. When you get to that point, then whatever way you choose to do it, it's going to work.

"I'm willing to never eat the things I like again. Never say never, and I know it happens a lot, but I really want to do everything I can to avoid gaining it back. I'm too old to [f**k] around with that. I need to keep my weight down, moving forward, in order to be healthy."

Update: Chaz Bono lost an additional 22 lbs; now weighs 185 lbs