My Weight Loss Journey & Workout Motivation for all ages

January 1, 2012 begins my weight loss journey. A little about myself; I'm almost 35 (now 39) years old and have struggled with my weight since I can remember. I was always a bigger "boned" guy and one of my nicknames was "ox" growing up. I use to be fairly athletic in high school and for a few years afterward. I participated in such things as triathlons, martial arts, baseball, and the big one was weight lifting. In grade 10 I was going to the gym twice a day to work out and already had 16 inch arms and the stretch marks were starting to form on my arms. I never took any type of steroid but loved to "pump iron". Even in high school when I was most athletic, I never had abs that you could see. Looking back, I wasn't over weight, I was just a bulkier guy even though I wanted a six pack in the worst way. In my 20's I worked out less, ate more, and just stopped trying. There was a time in my early 20's when I got on a kick and started eating ultra low fat, high protein and medium carbs, and would hit the gym regularly. I even started taking a personal trainer course via correspondence because I was into working out again. I could tell you anything you wanted to know about working out and weight loss, building muscle and getting shredded, but once again I never got "shredded".
Fast forward 4 years, I'm 250lbs, working on the railroad, and decided to try the Atkins diet. In 3 months I lost 50 pounds and was bouncing around between 200 and 210. I met my wife to be, started getting lazy and sick of ultra low carbs (especially bread) and eventually went back to my regular diet of whatever I felt like eating, I ate.
Jump ahead another 7 years and I am right around 300lbs and we try a program called the Innate Lifestyle which wasn't about weight loss as much as it was about eating healthy and organic, the way the "cavemen" supposedly did. It was a good program but got really expensive and hard to stick to the strict workout regimen, so once again, I stopped it. Now about a year later, still around the 300lb mark, ultra unhealthy and out of shape, it's time to try again!
This time I am cutting out all unnecessary sugars, only going to get the fructose kind that comes in fruit, and whatever is in our packaged food, but no more chocolate bars, candies, sugar in my coffee, etc. I will be starting cardio training on our elliptical machine and move up from there. My portions will be smaller and I will be staying away from the fast food joints. When I would go to A&W for lunch it would generally consist of a large onion rings, mama burger with cheese, double teen burger and a large coke. The same type of thing at McDonald's and all the rest of them. I love food, and I love eating it, so this will be the hardest part of my journey, planning meals and eating right.
I know I will never have that six pack I always dreamed of, and even if I could get it the stretch marks that look like I got in a fight with a bear, and the huge amount of extra flesh I will have around my waste from being so obese will make them not so appealing. But frankly I am sick of not being able to fit clothes properly, having my gut hanging out, not being able to climb stairs without losing my breath, and all the other day to day activities we take for granted. I am a heart attack waiting to happen and plan on reversing that! So thanks for your support and I look forward to sharing my progress with you!