I'm no diet guru by any stretch - not everything works for everyone. However, I have had great success over the last year and a half dumping my "middle aged spread"... All 87lbs of it... I now weigh less than I did 20-years ago, (though I had a lot of muscle mass back then). If it helps anyone - great - if not, good luck and keep at it. I don't preach, but here's what I did:
First I stopped dieting. Diets are destined to fail, as they restrict you from a lot of pleasurable foods. What I did do was adopt a system of eating healthy and rewarding myself for good behavior, (Sundays were a "free-day").
Second, I stopped making excuses. "I don't want to give up Snickers", "I don't want to stop eating chips". "I'll just wait until Monday". "My back hurts, I can't exercise". On and on and on...
Third, I moved my body. When I stood on the scale a year and a half ago and saw '311' on the dial, I nearly passed out...I was 313 when I played football and I was all muscle. At 6'4", I carried it well and no one but me knew, but I knew. I started walking the dog that night - nothing major, just walking. First a mile, then two, then three. Then I started doing intervals: I would jog, (I mean jog) for 3-seconds, then walk for 30-seconds for the duration of my walk - whether it be 1/2 hour or 3-hours. I looked like an idiot, but guess what? It worked. This morning was my traditional 'Saturday Run' - it's an 11-mile circuit through the roads and woodland trails of the mountains where I live. I used to think runners were idiots...Now I'm an idiot...
It didn't stop there - I joined a gym. Not a 'muscle head and beauty queen meat market' - a real gym. The YMCA kind of gym. No nonsense, no juice bar, no tanning booths. I started off with cardio and lost as much weight as I possibly could. When I peaked out, I began to throw in Nautilus, weight training and aerobics. Now I do CrossFit and I teach a spin class twice a week.... Any of you looking to melt weight, take a spin class - a good one and get back to me...
I follow an Ayurvedic diet as closely as I can. It's on the 45/45/10 principle: On your plate their should be: 45% lean meat, 45% veggies and 10% carbs. DO NOT ELIMINATE CARBS.... I also keep a bag of unsalted almonds on me wherever I go. In the event I indulge, I follow everything up with plenty of H20 and a hand full of almonds, (protein). If I go to McDonalds, I get a cheeseburger, small fries and a small Coke and I eat it slowly. It tastes exactly the same as the Quarter Pounder with Cheese I used to get and is stunningly lower in fat.... What's most amazing is that I now LOVE to eat healthy. I used to scoff at salads - snarl at fruit. Now, I find great pleasure in them. I stopped processed sugar and now use Sugar In The Raw. I eat whole grains and stopped bleached flour. The one thing I absolutely refuse to do is put any artificial sweetners in my body. The chemical equations for those things would stun you. I also still love my Coca Cola, but only once in a great while, (I used to drink at least 24 cans a week). What's amazing is that when I treat myself to a Snickers and a Coke, how wonderful it tastes! I used to just wolf them down and never really enjoyed them. Now, they are a true joy to consume...
Lastly, I stopped trying to lose weight for anyone but me....Perhaps at my age, I just stopped giving a shit what others thought about my body image and started giving a shit about me...It seems to have worked...
That's awesome....I find myself looking at many things in the "bondage context"... I stand in the hardware section at Walmart forever... 
