Losing a lot of weight on your own

By Amy McRee, NEWS 9

Most doctors will advise you seek help when you're talking about losing a lot of weight, but there is enough information out there on the Internet and in books that you can do it on your own. A dear colleague of ours did it once and now he's at it once again.

Jim Marlowe is a NEWS 9 Maintenance Technician. He dropped a whopping 95 pounds a few years ago by cutting out unhealthy fats, sugars and carbs and by exercising.

"The key this time is to get it off and keep it off," Marlowe said.

He ended up gaining it back after a family vacation got him off track. The same family, he said, is giving him motivation to try it again.

"We have 14 grandchildren and they are all fairly young and it just kind of struck me, I kind of would like to be around a while and watch them grow up a little bit," Marlowe said.

Dr. Kathy Lee Santangelo from the Midwest Regional Medical Center said knowing your body's percentage of fat, muscle & bone through a simple test is vital to healthy weight loss.

"He ought to be aiming for is a waist reduction to less than 40 inches because that has a whole lot more to do with your health risk for Hypertension, Cardio Vascular Disease, Type 2 Diabetes which is afflicting a lot of Americans these days," Dr. Santangelo said.

Marlowes hoping with a little self-control, he'll not only conquer his weight loss goals, but lower his high blood pressure and cholesterol levels too.

Dr. Santangelo said no matter what diet plan you're on or not, commit to eating breakfast, exercise 30 minutes a day, and reduce your daily overall calories. There are lots of tools on the Internet that will allow you to calculate yours.

Check out this story on thedailyplate.com