I have been living in the Philippines since June of 2007, and in this time I have lost a great deal of weight and have undergone a nearly complete transformation of my body's composition. Just to give you an idea, in 2006 I reached my all time high weight of 230 pounds at just over 5'10". Suffice to say, I was fat and for the first time in my life I could have been considered "obese". I was round everywhere but the weight gain was mostly evident in my face and belly, the latter being equal or larger than that of my then 8-month pregnant sister. My energy was low all day long and I had hardly any energy or motivation to go out with my friends not to mention exercising which seemed out of the question at that time. I did manage to lose some weight after getting a job which required me to be on my feet and moving around all day. I had gotten down to a weight of around 210 pounds which was actually quite a bit less than my heaviest weight while in the Army of 221 pounds. Doesn't that strike you as odd that I weighed that much while doing Army physical training twice a day, each consisting of one-hour sessions? It certainly did for me, especially when I was truly, sincerely trying to lose weight and not merely "half-assing" it. Finally, in late May of '07, it was time for me to be re-united with my long time, long distance girlfriend in the Philippines, only this time it was to be for a much longer stay. Once in the Philippines I immediately began to lose weight almost magically. I figured that it was the extreme tropical heat of Manila that was causing this weight loss. Within the first 6 months, I had lost about 10 pounds, bringing me to around 200. While this may not seem like much, you should know that I did almost no physical activity as my days consisted of mostly internet research and watching television. In early January, we moved across the highway to a much less expensive, and consequently less convenient, part of Manila. It was here where I lost even more weight going all the way down to around 185, a weight that I haven't seen since I was 23…. over 7 years ago. I did a lot more walking in the hot midday sun and often the elevator was not in service forcing me to walk the stairs, The weight loss was certainly inspirational and I soon began working out at the gym and running stairs at my apartment building. This went on for a month or so, ending when other distractions started coming into play. Of these was the monthly financial burden of living in the city that we still hadn't been able to overcome. In early June '08, we decided that we were moving to Baguio, a beautiful provincial city in the mountains. The difference between the capital city of Manila and Baguio is like night and day. You would be hard-pressed to find as much as a tree in Manila and here in Baguio I am completely surrounded by nature. After having only been here in Baguio for 1 month, I had lost an additional 11 pounds bringing me to a weight of 174 pounds by early July. My activity level was increased and walking for an hour or more was done on a semi regular basis. Most of my food shopping is now done at the city market, rather than the supermarket, which consists of acres and acres of food stands with produce, meat, rice, etc. from local farms. My diet now is quite healthy but far from what could traditionally be considered "ideal". I still eat fried chicken, beef, pork, snack foods, etc., but I also eat a lot of brown and red rice, fish, fruit, and lots of vegetables. Aside from the meat part, my diet is not much different than the vegetarian foods I was eating while living at my parents house from October 2005 through late May 2007. While living there, I was almost completely vegetarian, only eating meat once or twice a week. Oddly though, I failed to lose any weight during that time aside from the weight loss that occurred from my increased activity level at my job. I have been thinking about all of this for quite some time now and I couldn't make much of it, it just doesn't make sense. I am no longer in the blazing tropical heat of Manila, (Baguio averages 75 degrees during the day with very little humidity) and haven't changed my diet and yet I am still losing weight. If fact, as I write this, my weight averages between 165 and 169, never going above 170. My face is no longer round, my abdominal muscles are showing but not yet fully sculpted and defined and my love handles are gone. I have some loose skin under my chin that used to be my "double chin". This seems to be the most difficult thing for me to lose but I am confident that I will not be plagued by this superficial skin for much longer. In a nutshell, I now look good and am proud to walk around without a shirt on. Oddly though, my girlfriend Melody does not share this same miraculous weight loss, of course she doesn't have as much to lose from the start anyway but it still is strange that I have lost 45 pounds and she has only lost about 3 or 4. Aside from the fact that I had MUCH more to lose is the fact that she has been living in the Philippines her whole life and I have lived in America for 29 years and just recently moved out to her neck of the woods.  I just recently read a book by the title of "The Weight Loss Cure THEY Don't Want You To Know About" by Kevin Trudeau. If you haven't heard of him, he is an award winning author of several natural healing books that expose the corruption of the food, drug, and diet industries in America. As an insider, he has first hand accounts of the extreme corruption of these greedy, evil corporations. Basically, these industries work together in making Americans fat and sick, beginning the endless cycle that nearly 80 percent of Americans continue to suffer through day in and day out. These 80 percent are those that are considered to be "overweight". Sorry people but the synonyms fluffy, chunky, big-boned, pleasantly plump, etc., are not accurate, you, in fact, are fat….sorry! Some health professionals will say that it's not your fault and some will say that it is your fault. In general, it's the former and not the latter that are correct. We are poisoned daily by hormones and antibiotics in our meat, pesticides and herbicides in our genetically altered "hybrid" produce, and are exposed to thousands of dangerous chemicals in all of the foods that we eat, the worst being prepackaged foods which contain MSG, artificial sweeteners, and preservatives, all designed to make you addicted, fat, and sick. The food industry sells this nutritionally void, chemically contaminated and addictive food to you, making you fat which leads you to turn to the diet industry, an industry that sells nothing but a bunch of worthless crap, all of which never solve the root problem of your "disease". It is no secret that fat people are not healthy and get sick often which, in turn, increases the medical and pharmaceutical industries' profits. These industries and corporations are designed for one thing, profit, and could care less about your health. They want you to remain as a lifelong consumer of their products and have crafted this diabolically deceptive system to ensure that their profits continue to increase. The truth is that it's not the fat, cholesterol, protein, carbs, etc. that are making you fat, it's the man-made chemicals in your "American" food that are making you fat- I SHIT YOU NOT! You do not have to be a vegetarian to lose weight and in some cases it's actually worse to be one. Prepackaged veggie burgers are much worse than eating 100 percent organic beef burgers (which aren't bad at all), no where near as tasty, and are swimming in man-made chemicals, most of which are not required to appear on the label. I believe that human beings are omnivorous and living a vegetarian lifestyle may have repercussions not yet seen. If you eat a 100 percent organic vegan diet, more power to you, I however disagree with the philosophy of vegetarianism for health. If you are vegetarian for purely spiritual reasons, "eating a living creature for any reason is wrong", well, I respect that greatly. However, if you are vegetarian out of a concern for the environment, that is also admirable but ill conceived. You see, the rainforest is being destroyed for raising cattle, not organically raised cattle mind you, but for the "mass produced" cattle to be used for huge multinational fast food giants like McDonalds. Organic beef comes from naturally raised cows on small farms which would mostly otherwise have been put out of business by the commercial farms if it weren't for them finding a "niche" audience with organic foods. This niche audience should not be a niche at all; everyone should be eating this way. This will not only support the "small guys" but will reverse our adverse health conditions and will give the message to the food, drug, healthcare, diet, and pharmaceutical industries, as well as the government, that we are not going to believe their lies any longer. We have been eating an omnivorous diet for thousands of years with no apparent health issues. It has only been in the last 40 or so years that the obesity epidemic has surfaced and the dangers of toxic meat have been an issue. Vegetables from the supermarket are equally as bad and all food, unless certified 100 percent organic, is toxic and WILL make you sick. The food I eat here in the Philippines is organic and contains all of the nutrients that you would expect each food to contain in nature. There are no genetically altered vegetables and no hormones or antibiotics in meats. Farmers here cannot afford the pricey chemicals used on American farms and only use what they have access to, natural fertilizers like manure and compost. Nearly all foods here are as nature designed them to be, delicious and nutritious. My weight loss was not incurred by tropical heat or long walks, although those do help, it was because the food I eat is free of toxins and my body is finally "clean". I love America but am constantly disgusted and outraged by the things that go on behind closed doors. America is not a country, it's a corporation designed to make money at the expense of the average, unknowing citizen. This is just one example of how our government and all major industries deceive us, making our loyalty, trust, and patriotism a BIG FUCKING JOKE. They are laughing at us all the way to the bank and there isn't a damn think that we are going to do about it aside from educating others of these grave injustices through the only free, uncorrupted medium left at our disposal, the world wide web. I encourage all of you who have just read this to do your part to re-educate yourself and others and break free of the oppressive control of all areas of life. Society will crumble but humanity will live on. Those with the knowledge are those who will be prepared and survive the collapse. Peace, Love, Unity, Respect!  *UPDATE*- As of December 2008 my weight is now down to 154 pounds, the same amount that I weighed as an 8th grader, 17 years ago. If you know me well and know what I used to look like in recent years you would probably assume that I look anorexic or something. Well, you could not be further from the truth. I have completely rid myself of that superficial skin under my chin and am nicely toned overall. I have begun lifting weights again and should, with time, get back much of the muscle that I had when I was 23 and working out everyday (I was a pretty big boy then at 190 with 16 inch arms and a 45 inch chest). So yes, I am a little smaller but when the muscle returns I will be pretty ripped as I have gone from around 27% bodyfat to just under 10% bodyfat currently and still losing.