My name is Ryan Moore, I'm a 53-year-old father of two, and I've lost a lot of weight. Recently, I discovered that I have high blood pressure, and that I was headed for an early grave. I needed to lose some weight, in a serious way.

I've always been a hard working guy. I always seem to find something to do. I can't help it, that's just my nature. My job, however, was not a very physical one. I'm a detective, and I've been on the force for 30 years. Being a detective doesn't involve much running around and chasing bad guys, but there is a lot of stress and a lot of sitting down and typing. I never had much time to watch my diet. There was always doughnuts around at work. I know what you're thinking... cops and doughnuts, but it was true where I was working. I just didn't watch what I ate, and it eventually caught up with me. I didn't get enough exercise because by the time I got home all I wanted to do was rest. I started putting on weight in my 30s, and it stayed on for many years. It didn't affect my job, or my life really, but little did I know it was really affecting my health. About a year ago I was diagnosed with hypertension, and it was getting serious. I needed to slim down and cut out the stress or I was in big trouble.

My wife, Rhonda, was understandably very concerned. She's a nurse, and she knows a thing or two about taking proper care of your body. She's more concerned now than ever, in our 50s, that we take care of ourselves and eachother. We're not 20-year-olds anymore, and our bodies can't bounce back the way they used to. Rhonda had never been happy about my diet, and she's always told me to smarten up, but I didn't really listen. I was too busy to bother. But I had to listen now, there was no way out of it. She helped me to understand what kinds of simple meals I could put together if I wanted to get healthy. I was not impressed, I like big substantial meals, that's the way I was raised. But I was willing to try anything. At first I found it hard to deal with a healthier diet, and it even made me grumpy a lot of the time. To tell the truth, I've never gotten used to it. I would give anything to chow down on a juicy steak every night. But I have to be really careful these days. I eat a lot of fibre and fruits and vegetables now. I've never been a fan of those things, but I've discovered what I like and don't like to eat, and I can get by. I miss having eggs and bacon for breakfast, but I've found ways around it. Cereal or toast aren't half bad. The thing I miss most is big helpings of red meat... but I can't do that anymore. That's about the worst thing I can eat. So I eat a lot of pasta and chicken and things like that.

Exercise was not as difficult as it seemed. I was in the process of retiring when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, and that's the thing that kept me going. With all the free time I have now, I can really make sure that I get in good physical activity. My wife and I have started walking together, every night after dinner. Walking has done wonders, and it doesn't even feel like exercise. It feels like I'm spending time with my wife. On the side, I've been doing some biking and at home I do some of the exercises I used to do when I was training to become a police officer. I can't be as hard on myself as I was back then though, I take it pretty easy. But that's really all I've needed. In just a year's time, I've lost 57 pounds. I started at 220 and now I'm at 163. The doctor says I've done remarkably well, and my blood pressure seems to be in check, with a combination of healthy living and medication. Things look good!