What started out almost 2 1/2 years ago after a severe ACL,MCL, an meniscus knee injury turned into a life style change. Going into the first doc. appt. I stepped on the scale and saw 439.2 pounds and though damn….enough glazers and snickers big boy. 
From there I began the long journey of changing many things in life eating, exercise, and the damn beer consumption. I can officially say I am down 203.7 pounds as of noon today. Had a few setbacks after thinking my knee was 100% last year again and playing softball causing injury #2 but kept up the program during rehab #2 with the knee. 2 weeks ago I FINALLY broke 200 pounds but told myself no accepting it until I kept it off for another 2 weeks and that I did.
The reason I type this is simply I have had a few people ask me over PM’s after the Freeze Your Butt tournament how and what I did. I had zero surgeries done and it was done all naturally throughout the whole process. 
Best way to break it down is I eat, and I eat A LOT, sounds weird I know but if you can break down 3 meals into 5 you are on the right path. The best diet I have found to follow is the p90x diet with is a lot more protein, fiber type of diet and less carbs. The carbs it includes though are those that your body needs daily for energy (brown rice, whole grains, veggies, and fruits) Meats I cut back on fried foods a lot more obviously and ate a lot more broiled and baked fish, chicken breasts and LEAN steak. Not the most flavorful compared to a big steak or friend chicken ,but there are ways to make it taste just fine.
Now it is not all “boring” with that diet either. A minimum if not 2 times, double a workout, take yourself out for a fun meal. My choice bdubs, Chinese buffet, and Pizza! 
You will quickly learn how to go about these ways when you can eat/drink something and what you need to do work it off and keep it off down the road.
You will find times you struggle to cut weight and be stuck not able do a thing it feels. That is when you switch it up. Take a few weeks and do more weight than cardio or other way around. The one key I will say is DO NOT get in a rut of doing the same routine day after day after day you will struggle then with cutting weight. Best advise find people to challenge or join in the workout to help make it more enjoyable and/or competitive even for a week or 2 challenges. Tons of ideas out there though whether you wanna loose 5 or 105 pounds. It is all mental then it is a matter of the physical of doing it!
Like I said figured this is the easiest way to answer everyone’s questions!
