At first, I just cut back on food. I Lost 25lb. FAST. Then got stuck at like 250lb. So I cut back harder and was still stuck. I couldn't understand how I could be eating so little and still be fat and stuck at the same weight. So I bought some diet books, the first one being The Metabolic Diet, the more "precise" one being BODYOPUS by Dan Duchaine. Anyway, as for my diet, I started counting calories and cut my carbs way back. This was the secrete in weight loss I had been looking for. I now had more energy and strength yet started RAPIDLY losing weight. I lost from 5 to 7 pounds per week. I didn't get stuck again until I hit 12% B.F. (205lb.) So I then switched to a no carb diet (Bodyopus) and within 10 days I was at 10% body fat. In another week I hit 8%. I did very little aerobics the whole time. I imagine if I had done more aerobics I would have gotten leaner even faster. Anyway, I would say the BODYOPUS diet is awesome. I found I had less of an appetite on it than any other diet. There are some down sides to a no carb diet though. For one, the lower your carb intake is, the more crabby you will become. The BODYOPUS diet being a NO carb diet, so you can imagine. Also I noticed I am slightly more prone to getting sick while on such a carb restricted diet. So another book that is along the same lines is The Metabolic Diet. It preaches a low carb intake and says some people require more carbohydrates than other. Also, this book has a great chart with all sorts of foods showing each one's fat, calories, carbs, and protein level. Here is something you will like: Both books recommend basically pigging out on the weekends to speed the metabolism back up. With Bodyopus, you get to load up on carbs to a greater extent because you have restricted intake more during the week and the body has a temporary souped-up ability to process carbs at this time. Most of the time after this "carbing up" on the week ends, on Monday I was leaner than ever! Plus it's nice to get the "sweet tooth" cravings out of your system once a week. Believe me, by Monday you will be sick of eating and actually looking forward to getting back on the diet.