Glad that you're making progress, Nitro.
My two cents:
If you've always been strong and fit, almost anything will get you back there. If the gym thing motivates you, knock yourself out, but if you're naturally big, you probably don't really need it.
I'm doing this:
http://www.hundredpushups.com/index.html
And the related squats, sit-ups and pull-ups.
Plus 3 hours of jogging a week and substituting cookies, etc. with fruit and junk food with lean meat.
Regarding Bale, he didn't necessarily juiced up; when you lose weight below "your" weight you recover it double quick. When I was playing football I had my wisdom teeth removed (which explains its share of things), it went wrong and I lost over 25 pounds in two months. I regained them almost as fast as I lost them and a short while later I was back in shape.
He cheats on his push-ups
And the Machinist is a great movie - American psycho I barely tolerated, don't let it turn you away.
Finally, for stomach fat, I hear that doubling your trading size works wonders

(j/k - spare me the one-lot piker flames and the my size is bigger than yours theme)