Lose inches

Probably diet and exercise

I've been losing inches over the past few months and enjoying the process: down from a 38 waist to a 34! Basically, I eat at maintenance, try not to eat outside of 6AM to 6PM, pick up and put down really heavy things for 30 minutes three times a week, do some steady sort of fat-burning activities three times a week, get up and walk at least a few hundred steps every hour at work, and get at least 7 hours of sleep per night.

Progressive overload -- that is, lifting heavier weights than you did the time before -- builds larger muscles that help recompose your body to look more toned. Eating at your maintenance level prevents additional fat gain. Fasting for 12 hours each day allows the body to enter a catabolic state to consume body fat, particularly dangerous "visceral fat" surrounding your organs. Doing some cardio work strengthens and increases the size of your heart; you're building muscle with cardio, but mostly your heart muscle. Not being sedentary at work reduces the enzymes that reduce fat-burning, helping ensure that your fat stores are burned for energy throughout the day instead of your protein and carbohydrate stores.

Body recomposition is very slow compared to rapid fat loss, but holds the most promise for pushing you into the magical land of "eat more and stay trim". At an active, healthy 220 pounds today, I eat much more food every day than I ever did at a very sedentary 250+ pounds, but I'm still losing inches. We'll see how much longer I can ride this gravy train :-)