I'm Ted, I live in Vegas, and I've been struggling with a high weight for a number of years now. I'm 56 years old, and I've built up quite the gut. I guess I'm just at that age. Everything's changing, and sagging, and it's getting harder and harder to keep weight off. I haven't worried about my weight too much though. I mean, I'm married, my kids are out of the house, who's to care what I look like? But my wife sure changed that real quick.

She's noticed more than anyone how much weight I've been putting on. And it's not that she doesn't love me anymore, it's not that she finds me unattractive (though I'm sure that's part of it). It's just that she keeps bugging me about my health. She's really worried that carrying around this spare tire is going to have some effect on my health. She keeps telling me that I'm going to have back trouble, that I'm going to have a heart attack. I don't know if it's really that serious, but I really appreciate her concern. I know that she cares a lot about me, and I don't want her to worry.

I don't know exactly how I managed to gain all the weight. I didn't really change my life routine or anything. I never ate much junk food. I drink a beer here and there though, and I love anything with meat in it. My habits have remained the same, but my body hasn't. I find that I can't eat as much food anymore, because it really stays in me for a while. I put weight on a lot easier now too. I've cut back a little here and there, you know, drinking lite beer, and having smaller portions. But it just isn't doing much, and it's kind of a half-assed effort on my part.

My wife knows how I work though, and she knew I needed some help. She told me about a diet diet called Nutrisystem. She convinced me that it would be the thing that I needed to lose the weight. I wasn't opposed to it. I figured it couldn't hurt, and I've always had trouble controlling my appetite. So I decided to give it a try. I started on the program in January. Perfect time, it fit right with my New Year's resolution. I stayed with it for several months, with little results. I found that the program helped me out quite a bit with my appetite and cravings, but that just wasn't enough. My wife was always on me about exercising, and I figured that's probably the best option at that point.

Taking the program and cutting down on bad foods was the easy part, but going into the whole exercise was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I started simple with walking. I managed to keep it up for a few weeks, a record! But I slacked off really bad after that before I had a chance to see any results. I couldn't seem to keep with anything I started. I was really only hurting myself though. Around that time my doctor informed me that my cholesterol and blood pressure were up pretty high. I was really surprised to hear that after all I'd done. But I worked with my doctor on putting together a fitness routine as well as a diet that I could stick to to keep me healthier. It didn't go smoothly, I couldn't keep it up, once again. But after several months of on and off healthy living I just took a look at my life and realized that I have to dedicate myself to this completely if I want to see any results. From that point on (which was just a few months ago) I've been totally focused on my healthy new routine. Everytime I feel like I might give up, I just put everything into perspective and especially talk to my wife. So far, I've managed to lose 37 pounds, and I feel a lot better. I'm confident that I will be able to get down to a healthy weight in time, slow and steady.