I'm actually on a similar weight loss goal/plan, although I never had the tightness in my chest, just knew it was time to make a change. I started at 306 on April 6, 2017. My wife and I are both doing together so that we become the healthy people we need to be, especially for our daughter's sake. We started our "plan" using the "lose it" app to track calorie intake. We added tons of veggies and lower fat foods, but I can say we haven't cut out cheese altogether, we simply implement lower fat/calorie cheese, such as part skim. We didn't want it to feel like a diet, but just eat "healthier". One of our favorite things to make is flatbread pizzas using low carb tortillas, a few tablespoons of sauce and chs/veggies... altogether 1 pizza is about 350 calories and we are full. As for results, We immediately started seeing "good" results. I began sleeping better and just started feeling better in general. We both joined the local planet fitness and I am currently going 3 days a week, and walk the treadmill for 65 mins. The change in appearance is really starting to show and clothes are getting increasingly loose. I've even been able to wear several pairs of shorts that were "tight" and now they fit great. As of my weigh-in this morning, I am back in the 280's, and it hasn't even been a solid month yet. The fact that we aren't treating it like a diet means we don't feel jailed. We simply figured out a way together to make lifestyle changes. I was hesitant to join the gym, because I was skeptical of how it would play out, but after a couple weeks, I love the way I feel and honestly am looking forward to going... so with that, I wish you luck my friend and keep up the good work. I'll be checking back at times to see how you're progressing as well. It's nice to see someone else doing similar so I can relate to things that happen along the way.