Halfway there :)

So, given that I am at the nominal halfway point in my long-term cut, I figure it's time to give back a bit to this community that has been quite helpful for me.

First, for you ADHD types, results:

I wore the same clothes in both sets of pics to make comparison as easy as possible. The left pictures of each pair are August 2013, and the right pics are last week.

Specs:
Height: 6 ft 1 in
Starting: 270 pounds
Current: 230 pounds, 25 %BF
Goal: 200 pounds, 12-13 %BF

The right side of the front shot is meant to show that these pants, which were previously super snug, are now falling off.




This pair shows the most obvious difference.




Next, a few lessons learned, which may or may not be applicable to anyone else:

* Food: Not many secrets here. Eating less actually works, and I now understand why most people can't just exercise their way to lower weight . . . It took me a while to figure out _how_ to eat less, but, ultimately, I think the one word description of how I did it is "consciousness". I don't mean that in the hippie sense, but in the most literal possible sense: I just pay much more attention to what and when I am eating. I don't do cheat days, but I do do cheat meals, maybe once or twice a week. Occasional fasting (skipping one meal per day, one-two days per week) makes me feel a little better overall, but I definitely can't do any more than that, or I just don't have enough energy.
* Sleep: All during my time in grad school, I slept an average of 4 hours a night. As little as a year ago, I was only sleeping 5-6 hours a night, which was better. However, after doing a bit of reading/research on the repercussions of too little sleep, I made a concerted attempt to get to the 7-8 hours per night range. And I must say, sleeping 7-8 hours per night makes me feel so much better, that I don't really know how I made it as long as I did with so little sleep.
* Physical training: I finally got a trainer to show me how to do deadlifts, and I f---ing love them. If it wasn't for my stupid knee (see below), I would be doing them much more often. Also, it seems that I can't do high weight-low rep. routines when I am at a caloric deficit, as I tend to get injured significantly more frequently. Finally, I figured out how to do cardio in ways that don't bore me to death (HIIT, vary activities often).
* Data and metrics: I really enjoy collecting, interpreting and using the data I collect, which is a fair bit. In particular, the interpretation part has forced me to think about what the numbers really mean, and how to use them in useful ways.


Finally, my halfway rewards:

* One of the best chocolate chip cookies on the planet: Specialty's Semi Sweet Chocolate Chunk. I will let you look up the nutritional information, but I warn you, it's not for the faint hearted . . .
* Recently started quarterly hydrostatic weighing.
* Taking the necessary time off of work to get a little maintenance/repair on my left knee.


So, there it is. Thanks to all of the people who have helped me, and those that maintain this site.

Next stop, 200 pounds and 12% BF . . .