The persistent visceral (internal) fat was really annoying me. Not only is it specifically the fat that causes all the health issues, it was the fat-holdout that was preventing my waist from reaching the desired girlish proportions.
I too, am astonished at the levels of disinformation/misinformation that are rampant throughout our society. I could write a book. But then, others have already done so, only to have theirs contradicted by someone else's. It's a mess.
Dr. Barry Sears' Zone Diet was a watershed (or fat shed) revelation to me. At 39 years of age, I went from 210 down to 175 in about 8 months. By understanding this simple nutritional concept, I've consistently kept the weight off for 20 years. In that time, I have never allowed myself to be hungry, and almost never go more than 4 hours between meals, apart from while asleep. I have never counted a calorie in my life. The trick is to properly balance internal catabolic/anabolic metabolic processes, and to shift to fatty acid metabolism as the rule, as opposed to predominant glucose/glycogen metabolism.
In the last couple of years, however, weight had crept on, as I had allowed certain habits to combine with a natural tendency in a 50+ individual to get fat. At 195 lbs. I was not looking or feeling like myself anymore, so I made a habits re-adjustment. I cut out the high density carbs (even the ostensibly healthy ones like potatoes, rice, etc.), and filled up on vegetables. I got to thinking that maybe a quarter cup of olive oil in every meal might have been a bit excessive, so I just stopped using it, and found I didn't miss it. I spent the summer on roller-skis, instead of waiting for winter again, to do cross-country skiing.
Using supplements to shift towards maintaining youthful levels of 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) has been a great help. I also suspect that 15,000 to 20,000 mg. of vitamin C per day for 15 months has made a huge difference. In order to do that, I make my own liposomal C. Liposomal C is 5x more available at a cellular level, and does not upset your intestines. (Anyone who has tried to exceed 5000 mg. non-liposomal vitamin C per day cannot necessarily stay too far away from a potty.) Bushels of fresh leafy greens pureed in the VitaMix have been a real boost.
So now, at 6 ft. tall, I have a 30" waist, 40" chest, and weigh about 162 pounds. That's the same as I was at 18 years old. I'll never feel like a giant of a man, and at some point stopped wanting to. I can now appreciate my boyish physique. In my private girlish moments, I can look pretty great in that direction too.