[Ed Hubbard]

I go back & forth through about a 5 year cycle (driven mostly by work). I get back into shape by working out and eating right for a few years and then invariably I do something dumb like change jobs or start a company and my schedule is blown.

Every pound of living tissue (muscle) will burn roughly 30 calories a day just by being there. Add 10 lbs of muscle and your metabolisim will be more active to the tune of ~300 calories / day. Couple that with some sort of cardio and watching what you eat and you can hang in there for about 3 years before you start noticing the lbs coming back. To maintain 'fighting weight' you need to be more careful, but I find this cycle works for me.

Get a bike or treadmill for home and a gym membership. Set yourself up to make the exersice easy because that's the key to losing the weight. Cutting back on intake is only about 25% of the equation.

Good luck Tony!