• Former weight: 300 pounds

• Current weight: 168 pounds

(ENLARGE)

Before

(ENLARGE)

After

PHOTOS: See other before and after pictures sent by users like you! ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR | FIVE | SIX | SEVEN | EIGHT | NINE | new TEN | Inspirations | Inspirations II | Readers photos Upload your own photos! Topic: Atlanta's weight loss resource Be an inspiration: Be an inspiration: If you've made positive changes in your diet and/or fitness routine and are happy with the results, please share your success with us. Include your email address, a daytime phone number and before and after photos (by mail or JPEG). Write: Success Stories, c/o Suzanne Van Atten, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sixth Floor, 72 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303; or e-mail ajcsuccessstories@gmail.com. More success stories [an error occurred while processing this directive] Back to Health

• Pounds lost: 132

• Height: 5 feet 8 inches

• How long he's kept it off: 4 months

• Personal life: Buckley works as an outside salesman for JPW, a wholesale supplier of engine parts. He lives in Lilburn with his wife of 34 years, Beth. They have two grown daughters, Erin and Julie, and two Pomeranian dogs, Tazzie and Bubba.

• Turning point: At 61, Buckley was 300 pounds, and both of his parents had died in their 60s. He had always been physically active with regular workouts, but his metabolism had started slowing down, making it harder to lose weight. "My inspiration was my daughter, Julie, who lost 70 pounds on Weight Watchers. My wife decided she wanted to lose about 30 pounds; she asked me if I would eat with her to support her," Buckley says. "I lost 23 pounds the first month, and I got excited."

• Diet plan: Buckley followed the points plan. "For breakfast every morning during the week, I eat french toast," he says. He uses Nature's Own Double Fiber bread, dips 5 slices into an egg substitute, cooks them with cooking spray and when browned, tops them with low-calorie spray margarine, cinnamon and Splenda and then cuts them all in half. "I eat small meals — I eat half a piece every half-hour. It works for me because I am in and out with customers." So rather than eating one large breakfast, he keeps his metabolism going all morning by breaking one meal into several small meals. Lunch is usually a ham and turkey sandwich, also on high-fiber bread, with low-fat chips. Midafternoon he has an apple, and dinner is a variety of things from fish to spaghetti. "I try to eat eight to 10 points at dinner and leave eight points for snacks throughout the day. I've learned to eat my points; if I don't, I won't lose weight or maintain my weight loss."

• Exercise routine: Six days a week, Buckley heads to the gym, where he rides the elliptical machine for 30 minutes. He also does free weights several times a week. At home, he does 300 crunches per day. "The Ab Lounge is great because it saves my back — I have lower-back issues."

• Biggest challenge: "In the very beginning, my biggest challenge was understanding how food worked," he says. "I've lost thousands of pounds through the years. In my 30s and 40s, I could think diet, and I'd lose 20 pounds. In my 50s it got to be very difficult. Once I understood to eat smaller meals, a lot of them, my metabolism started coming back. My wife says now I'm hyper like a little kid. I used to sleep eight hours and wake up tired and now I sleep six hours and I wake up with a lot of energy."

• Munchie antidote: Newman's Own spelt pretzels, Weight Watchers' carrot cake and Oreo cookie ice cream bar. "If we get real hungry in the evening, we toast two pieces of bread, add diet jam, spray butter and Splenda to make it extra sweet. It's filling and kills that desire for something naughty," he says.

• Secret to success: "You just have to have exercise, some form of walking or moving, to have any form of reasonable success," he says. "You've got to do activity — run, walk, swim, whatever you enjoy doing. If you're impaired with your knees, then find a place to go swimming. You do the food and then you do the exercise and you're going to be successful — you can't wish it off. Just cutting back [on food] is not the answer. It's learning how to eat. I finally learned how to eat at 61 years of age. It's never too late until they throw that first shovel full of dirt at you."

• How life has changed: "People don't recognize me anymore," he says. "I went from a 52-inch waist to a 33-inch waist. I feel wonderful. I'm off all my medications. I think I'm going to live a bit longer and I'm not tired. I have as much energy today as I did in my 40s. I don't know that I've ever felt any better."

• Quick dinner tip: "I go to Omaha Steaks and get [4-ounce sirloin] hamburgers there," he says. Buckley cooks the burgers on the grill or in a skillet and adds to them a high-fiber bun and fat-free trimmings. With the burgers, he and his wife enjoy baked french fries. "For people who don't think they can have a hamburger and fries, they are out of their mind," he says. "That is really one of my favorite meals — it's like going to McDonald's, but you're not getting all that fat."

— Michelle C. Brooks,

for the Journal-Constitution