Well, just a typical dude in his 40's that put on about 1-2 lbs a year for the last 20 since basic training. Started in April 2010 restricting calorie intake to average 1200-1300 and daily brisk walking.

Took me about 100 days to drop 40 pounds and now I am right where I wanna be in the mid 170's .....

My methods were simple, track everything on Fatsecret, never cheat (no taking a little of this or that without recording) and at the end of the day make sure I had not gone over calories. Using diet and exercise maintain a 1000-1500 cal. deficit. ( 2-3 lb loss a week)

Of course I found that eating really good foods and staying away from any junk was the best way to get the most out of the calories I allotted myself for the day. No sugar beverages, no cakes, cookies, candies etc while on weight loss regimen.

Now I maintain -- Gym 6 days a week ( 30 min cardio -- 10 min weights )
Got to a low of about 160 pounds at one time but too many friends and family comments were telling me I was looking too thin ( I am 6ft 2in tall ) so I put back on about 15 lbs of muscle and I agree, looks better and I feel healthier in the 170's