Awesome stories. I've started going to the CrossFit Gym here in town along with changing my diet. Biggest things I've done that have helped alot are quit drinking alcohol and soda (I'll still have one every once in a while but I went from Oct to Feb 13 only having two beers).
I've also quite going back for seconds and cut my original portion sizes down too and when I go to dinner I make wiser choices and immediatly ask for a "to-go" box and split my meal in half.