I'll join the chorus recommending a backplate and wing with a simple webbing harness. It's the only option that will allow you to use the same gear now, and when you've lost 100 pounds.
As far as further training goes, what will suit you best depends on what kind of diving you want to do, and right now, the best thing you can do is dive. Get out, preferably with an experienced mentor (SB is a great place to find someone like that, in your regional forum!) and get some experience. Play with your weighting -- There are a ton of threads here about how to do a proper weight check, and about distributing your weights in trim pockets or camband pouches to allow you effortless horizontal trim. Buoyancy control only comes with practice (and is easier when you're trimmed out properly).
If you decide you want to use a full Hogarthian setup, and want the skills that Fundies offers, it's a superb class. Another option, that would mean a little travel for you, would be a cavern class. There may also be someone local (or closer than the caves, anyway) who is teaching some kind of AOW class that would introduce some of the ideas of Fundies. And it may also be that you decide the diving you most enjoy leads you in some other direction. I would highly, highly recommend taking a Rescue class at some point. I think every active diver should.
If you are heavy, and diving in cold water, you are likely carrying a fair bit of ballast. If you put it all on your waist, you are going to be very leg-heavy. The answer isn't weight integration -- it's weight distribution. As spectrum mentioned, you can move the tank up higher, you can put weights on the cambands or around the neck of the tank. You can go to steel tanks, and the backplate will move weight up onto your back, too. All of those options will distribute ballast and aid in maintaining a horizontal position.
As far as the purge mask is concerned, I'd say a better option is to figure out how to get your mask to seal. I know at least a couple of mean with moustaches who dive (my husband is one of them) and they've figured out either ways to trim the moustache or things to use (like Vaseline) to get a better seal.
As far as further training goes, what will suit you best depends on what kind of diving you want to do, and right now, the best thing you can do is dive. Get out, preferably with an experienced mentor (SB is a great place to find someone like that, in your regional forum!) and get some experience. Play with your weighting -- There are a ton of threads here about how to do a proper weight check, and about distributing your weights in trim pockets or camband pouches to allow you effortless horizontal trim. Buoyancy control only comes with practice (and is easier when you're trimmed out properly).
If you decide you want to use a full Hogarthian setup, and want the skills that Fundies offers, it's a superb class. Another option, that would mean a little travel for you, would be a cavern class. There may also be someone local (or closer than the caves, anyway) who is teaching some kind of AOW class that would introduce some of the ideas of Fundies. And it may also be that you decide the diving you most enjoy leads you in some other direction. I would highly, highly recommend taking a Rescue class at some point. I think every active diver should.
If you are heavy, and diving in cold water, you are likely carrying a fair bit of ballast. If you put it all on your waist, you are going to be very leg-heavy. The answer isn't weight integration -- it's weight distribution. As spectrum mentioned, you can move the tank up higher, you can put weights on the cambands or around the neck of the tank. You can go to steel tanks, and the backplate will move weight up onto your back, too. All of those options will distribute ballast and aid in maintaining a horizontal position.
As far as the purge mask is concerned, I'd say a better option is to figure out how to get your mask to seal. I know at least a couple of mean with moustaches who dive (my husband is one of them) and they've figured out either ways to trim the moustache or things to use (like Vaseline) to get a better seal.