I used to be right on the verge of being a pure fatass. At one time I weighed 185, and I'm 5'9". I just cut down on the amount of crap I ate, and dropping regular sodas knocked off 15 of that right off the bat. I also took to walking around the property I work at instead of loading up my truck and driving my sprayer and tools from building to building. I got down to 135 at one point just from cutting back on fast food and such, but that was way too skinny so I starting eating a bit more and now I hover around 150-155. I don't eat stuff like cracklins and fatback (I just don't like really greasy stuff, or big hunks of fat), but I will bust out some pork rinds occasionally. I mainly drink diet sodas, as regular sodas are just way too sweet to me now (although every now and then a mexican coke or pepsi with real sugar is pretty awesome), but I do drink sweet tea when I go out to eat. It's mostly just eating smaller meals, and trying to balance out what I consider "bad stuff" with "good stuff," like having a couple loaded slices of pizza at lunch and then having a grilled chicken sandwich or some soup for dinner. A delivery pizza can last me up to three days. Keep in mind that I do have somewhat of a manual labor job, too, otherwise I'd probably be bloatin'. I mean, I'm not cut up like an athlete or anything, just whatever muscles I've developed from 17 years of painting, but I do manage to maintain a pretty normal weight just from trying to keep a relatively decent balance in what I eat.
