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[GentleGiant]

Some people have given what I consider good advice regarding methods of weight loss.
The key thing to remember, especially if you want the apnea to stay away, is that a diet isn't the answer.
I'm just going to quickly say that something like Atkins should be so obviously bad that I don't know why people do it, even for the short term effect.
Okay, as several people has said, the basics are exercise and nutrition.
What you need to do is to change your whole way of life. Yes, it sounds lige a huge change, but bear with me here. You need to make new patterns for yourself, new habits to replace the old ones.
I'll quickly sketch up what is a good and healthy way of living (loosing the unwanted fat and making sure it stays off):

• Nutrition:
  Strive to eat 5-6 small meals a day, evenly spaced out. Don't skip breakfast! Each meal should contain a roughly 40/40/20 energy ratio of protein/carbs/fat. Eat low-fat protein sources (lean meat e.g. chicken or turkey, red meat is fine, just keep off the fat - egg whites - cottage cheese), low glycemic and fiber rich carbs (the glycemic value is an indicator of how fast the sugars in the food enter your bloodstream and thus how fast it causes insulin to be activated, low glycemic numbers are better) and healthy fats (e.g. fatty fish, olive oil etc.). Try to get vegetables with at least two meals of the day. And no need to count calories (how boring is that!), a meal more or less consists of a portion of protein and a portion of carbs, each the size of your fist or your palm.
• Exercise:
  Start doing both weight lifting and cardio exercises. A good plan is to alternate the days on which you do lifting and cardio. For instance: Monday-weights, Tuesday, cardio, Wednesday-weights etc. Take one day off during the week, e.g. Sunday, where you don't do any exercise and where you eat like you want to (no reason to binge just because you can). The most effective form of cardio, especially when it comes to fat loss, is interval training. Do some searches for High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT - a very basic example could be: warm-up, 30 seconds of sprint, 30 seconds of slow jogging (or walking if you're just starting out), 30 seconds of sprint, 30 seconds of slow jogging, rinse and repeat). Interval training speeds up your metabolism for up to 48 hours after your workout.
• Water:
  Make sure you drink plenty of water. Drink at least two full glasses with every meal.

It's really that simple. No hokus pokus with weird diets.
If you want more specific advice and a "stricter" framework, try checking out e.g. the book Body-for-LIFE by Bill Phillips (you can also check out the http://www.bodyforlife.com website).

Good luck