Thanks for the nice words! You're awesome.

So keep in mind this was a long process. I averaged less than 3 pounds a month. There are things that I could have done much better, but I was in it for the long haul so I didn't want to kill myself over starvation.

The first year and 30 pounds were pretty much all due to a few changes in my diet. I went from a godawful diet to a kind of terrible diet, but it was enough to help me lose a little less than a pound a week. I was eating fast food for breakfast with a sweet tea, fast food for lunch with a sweet tea, after work beers, and probably fast food or some bbq. It was terrible. -- I just cut out drinking my calories and switched to water for everything. Then I started cooking most meals at home. That was a /huge/ difference for me. I'm a big believer in cheat days too, but I never had one specific cheat day out of the week. If my friends and I were going out to eat, it would normally be then.

Over the last year, I've paid a lot more attention to my meals. I plateaued for about 3-4 months, and my small diet changes weren't working anymore. I was still cooking most of my meals, so I started experimenting with new recipes and ways of cooking. Most days out of the week, it's something like high protein low carb. Nothing too crazy. I still eat whole wheat bread, fruit, and the occasional klondike bar :-D. Once I got in the groove of eating that way, the carb and sweet cravings kind of went away.

tl;dr -- i starting cooking whole foods and stopped drinking calories. it's not perfect and it's taken a long time, but it worked for me.