Hi Terry,
Been there, done that. It takes a huge commitment and a change in the way you view food, the world around you, and yourself.
I have tried a few different things, and had great luck initially with the Atkins diet... this is an extremely restrictive diet (especially in the first 2 weeks) that plays with your insulin response. At my high weight (260 lbs), it worked wonders, letting me lose 35 lbs in just over 6 weeks. Not a healthy, sustainable rate (granted), but a huge boost in the early days. Long term I'm wary of this diet, as it can affect your kidneys somewhat by the much higher protein content but short term it can have major effects quickly.
A second stint on this diet got me to about 210. After that, it seemed to be much less effective for me. On an Atkins diet, expect to have headaches and feel lethargic around days 3-4 (as your blood sugar level crashes); after that, I never noticed reduced energy as reported by some. A big tip if you're at all interested in this type of program is to get most/all of your daily carb allowance in salads and other veggies (trust me, this is a very good idea in terms of your digestive tract), and not to go all out on the butter, bacon and fats like some suggest you can.
I have recently begun a more sustainable and no doubt healthier plan of eating healthier foods, keeping a food journal and counting calories (restricting them a little, but not severely... about 1800-2000 per day) and increasing my aerobic exercise program and weight training. Specifically, I've been following the advice in The Fighter's Body
http://www.amazon.com/Fighters-Body...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215560721&sr=8-1 which has some great tips, is a good read, and seems like a sustainable lifestyle change (preventing the weight rebound that happens with many diets). So far, I've dropped from 206 to 193; I'm heading for about 185 to get to what I think would be my ideal weight and hopefully reveal those ripped abs that are under there somewhere.
Good luck in your quest. I highly recommend it; you'll feel so much better as you slim down, and you'll be a lot faster on your feet, too.