Congrats on the weight loss
Mind if I ask what you were before starting to lose?
I've been going through a similar experience myself, trying to get healthier and in to better shape.
The way I see it, if you want to loose fat the process is simple: Burn more calories then you consume.
I was nearly 300lb in 2009. I was working at Walmart at the time assembling bikes/furnitures. Then moved to truck unloading which involved spending 2-3 hours picking up and placing 1500-2000 boxes on a conveyor belt that easily weigh up to 100lbs. A month after starting that I decided to cut back on sweets and nearly eliminated soda in favor of plain water, two things which I practically lived off of (and am still paying the price for). Got down to 215 by 2010. Didn't change any other eating habits, still avoid most vegies and still eat a ton of meat products. Basically was just the increased physical activity and reduced calorie intake. Left walmart and started working at an Amazon.com shipping warehouse 4 years ago. More physical activity, more exercise, had to walk 15-20 miles in a 10 hour shift. Lowest I've reached was 195, but most of the time I sit between 200 and 210. My weight loss has pretty much stopped, being replaced with muscle building instead. Over last summer I had to get new pants and shorts because my old clothing was getting too loose. Gave up cigs last sept, so will have to see how that plays out this year.
Now, weight loss can come with side effects.
I was doing fine for a few years, then in 2012 I started having groin pains. Eventually got so bad it was effecting my ability to work so went to the doctor. I had a hernia on the right side of my groin. Explained the weight loss and he told me
the rapid weight loss could have resulted in the hernia. Looking online, it seems like a common cause of hernias. You loose the layer of fat and now more stress is being placed on the abdominal muscles, which may not be up to the somewhat sudden task of holding everything in. Got it fixed, then 2 months later had a hernia on the left side of my groin. Possibly fixing the one caused the other, the right side was weaker so happened first. Just something to watch out for.
Another side effect (which could be good or bad) is the increased energy resulting from the weight loss. MY ADHD and hyper activity results in me being energetic. Lost weight, lost fat, became more energetic. More energetic meant not being able to get as much sleep some days. It actually got to the point that I couldn't sleep well unless I worked my ass off to use up that excess energy. I still have issues with sleeping, but not nearly as much as I used to.
Last year I tried to get back into bicycling to further the weight loss, but failed.
Will be trying it again this year, hopefully will work out better with the lack of smoking.