Hey, good on you, mate! Your life definitelly doesn't terminate here, just move on. Go to get some books on alternative lifestyle, natural diet, etc. Your body can cure itself as logn as it's alive. That's a natural feature of each cell. It's just natural. You've done the first step the right way: stopped lying yourself. Crossin' my fingers for you!

tom

(From Alex: Bear in mind the only reason I was lying to myself was that I didn't know, but all the circumstansial evidence seemed to indicate something to my definitely amateur eye.)

From what I've read, getting enough water to drink can be very helpful in losing weight. I don't know where you live, but where I am in the northern hemisphere, it's a very hot summer and it's quite easy to be underhydrated without knowing it. Getting lots to drink will marginally increase your weight at first, since you're putting water in your body, but in the longer term will actually decrease your weight. Something about fat retention if I remember correctly.

Getting enough water also cools you down in the summer, gives you more energy, reduces your risk of cancer, and even makes your skin have better tone and fewer wrinkles. It's kind of like a miracle drug (lose weight, cure cancer, and get healthier skin all with this one amazing product!), but free.

In any case, good luck and get healthy!

Be careful. Don't lose weight just to lose weight, because some statistics say you should (read the other statistics, saying that everything's still green, if you prefer). If you feel good with those 20-30 lbs "too much", fine. If you don't feel good, ensure that it's (also) because of the lbs, before you start with something which can itself make you feeling bad. Finally, if you really think loosing the lbs would help, do it - only then.
Good luck, however you'll decide.