Just answering in the order they were asked:
Dr. H - I did not have a nose job, eyelift, chin implant or any other form of surgical or non-surgical procedures. I'll take a pic and attempt to replicate the "smile" from the before picture if that helps. Also, my guess is that the minoxidil "bloat" has subsided (if it existed initially- tough to tell, as I was 40lbs overweight all over, much of it in my face).
Anarch - my diet plan is simple. On October 30th of last year, I'd finally had it with all the weight that had crept up on me thanks to a desk job, sitting on planes and a poor diet. I immediately began a revised "Atkins" diet. I also stopped drinking booze (esp. beer) completely and got my *** to the gym five days a week, mixing cardio with light weight training. I started at around 245-250 (I'm guessing it was more like 250 on my 6'3" frame) - tough to tell, as I immediately jumped off the scale as soon as the needle crept passed 245ish!). Nobody considered me fat, just a big dude. As of today, I weigh 199. Wednesday was my 14 week "anniversary" on this program. Since the gut is the most important thing we older dudes judge by, I went from a size 40 waist to a 34. I lost weight all over my body, obviously including my face.
I say "revised Atkins" program for the simple reason that I have been eating the exact same things in the exact same amounts every day since the end of October. I was on vacation for a week and indulged in a small bit of deviation, and as of the past month, I've introduced a drink or two of diet cola and bourbon on the weekends.
AM - two eggs scrambled with 1oz cheese and chopped onion and green pepper. Five strips of bacon or two sausage patties.
Lunch - lean angus beef burger patty sliced into a medium bowl of romaine with shredded cheddar and ranch dressing.
Dinner - seven medium/large chicken tenders dipped in egg, rolled in grated parma cheese and fried in a skillet with olive oil. A medium romaine salad with ranch dressing. Mayo/mustard and a little splenda mixed together for chicken dipping sauce. Sugar/carb free jello for dessert. On Saturdays, a home made no carb/low carb pizza with a egg/cream cheese/parma/mozz baked crust and all the toppings - pepperoni, sausage, etc.
Liquids - Four liters (at least) of water each day. Four diet rite colas (no carbs, caffeine, sugar or sodium). Three cups of decaf coffee with a packet of splenda per cup.
That's it - nothing more, nothing less - especially important is the H2O intake to flush the system and keep sodium moving through the body. I find the diet very easy to stick to - I'm never hungry. Sure I had to detox and had pretty bad withdrawals from lack of sugar, bad carbs, caffeine and the rest, but that subsided within the first two weeks. For those of you doing the math, that's more than 3 pounds lost per week. But remember, the weight loss slows a bit as you close in on your ideal weight (for me, 195 would be freshman year of college-type weight). I say over the past three weeks or so, I average a one pound loss per week.
Thanks to the rest of you guys for the positive comments -
unk: . I figured since my hair was responding reasonably well to a program, I owed it to myself to get the rest of my body back in order as well.
I'll post up more pictures later this evening without fail.
Edit - added pics: the first is "smiling" comparing May 08 to Feb 09. The second is when I was still heavy but growing hair - Sept. 08 to Feb 09.[attachment=1:3bgol0be]1.jpg[/attachment:3bgol0be]
