I lost 100lbs in two years. I started with simple portion control, along with the daily weigh-in; I also stopped drinking beer, which was a) a lot of calories

I lost 100lbs in two years. I started with simple portion control, along with the daily weigh-in; I also stopped drinking beer, which was a) a lot of calories and b) mostly at night. I also got on a stationary bike for an hour at 20mph four times a week, and hit the big breakfast. This got me down about 40lbs in a year or so. No tricksy diets, or really any giant exertions of willpower; like many, I am an inveterate creature of habit, so once I switched habits, I generally stuck to them. At this point, I started YC, and stress played an important role in losing another 20lbs or so. Obviously not universally applicable. But the lack of exercise eventually had me hire a trainer and work out three times a week. This was fairly serious stuff, taking into account my poor baseline of fitness. Another 20lbs in about six months. The final push was moving to a daily 6am boot camp style workout, and a dedication to running. I'm now hovering between 185 and 195 and dying to get running again (I did by ITB, so no strenuous exercise involving my left leg until February). The biggest thing for me was walking up a staircase in IL3 and having a coworker comment on how hard I was breathing. She was Chinese and with characteristic bluntness said, "you're too fat". Hard to argue with that.