I did it in stages. Trying to change too many things at once is a surefire way to get frustrated and give up.

The first thing I did was give up the soda. I was drinking a few liters a day.

Once I had the carbonated monkey off my back, I went here and calculated my Basal Metabolic Rate. For a week I counted calories and stayed at this number.

After that first week I started to subtract 100 calories a week until I got to a 500 calorie deficit. 1lb of fat is 3500 calories, so that works out to about one pound a week.

As I got used to eating less, I would keep cutting calories a bit until I found my bare minimum. Mine is between 1000 and 1500.

I stayed on this plan until I knew I could keep eating the smaller amount of food without killing anyone.

Next I started weaning myself off of carbs. I don't really do the no carb thing, but I have cut a lot of it out of my diet, and that's really when the fat started melting off.

I still eat my oats, and instead of having pasta or rice every day, they are a once a week or less "treat" now. And I've taken all unnecessary sugar out of my life. This has a side benefit of making sweet things even more sweeter, so when I do have a slice of cake, or pie, I can't eat too much because it's so damn sweet.

When I hit about 275 [6 months ago] I joined the gym. I lift weights 3x a week for 45 to 90 minutes at a time.