• Former weight: 220 pounds

• Current weight: 160 pounds

Family photo (ENLARGE)

BEFORE: Grant weighed 220 pounds.

Family photo (ENLARGE)

AFTER: Grant, 36, weighs 160 pounds.

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: 60

• Height: 5 feet 9 inches

• How long he's kept it off: since 1996, 12 years.

• Personal life: Grant is employed as a global vendor relationship manager for ING in Zurich, Switzerland. His job was transferred from Atlanta in 2006 to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and then to Switzerland in 2007. He has been married for 15 years to Becky, and they have a cocker spaniel, Brandy.

• Turning point: Grant's grandmother-in-law, a soft-spoken woman, pulled him aside during a visit and mentioned concern about his weight. "She certainly jolted me," he says. "I got tired of looking in the mirror every morning and seeing a man that looked unhealthy and 20 years older."

• Diet plan: To kick-start his weight loss, Grant used shakes and supplements. He maintains it by eating five to six small meals a day, making sure that each includes a portion of carbohydrates and protein, plus plenty of fruits and vegetables. "I reached lasting success once I quit thinking of my nutrition approach as a diet," he says.

• Exercise routine: Grant started slowly to avoid injury. He started alternating weight training and aerobic activity. Then he started running for 20 minutes at varying intensity intervals, which helped to speed up the weight loss significantly. "Once I became passionate about making the change and found an event to challenge myself to complete, it wasn't that hard to stick to the training. But it didn't seem like exercise as much as an adventure, and I think that's key."

• Biggest challenge: Eating healthy foods when going out with friends or family. "I'll allow myself to indulge in unhealthy foods in moderation, but only as a reward for a big workout or race."

• How life has changed: "For the first few years after making the change, I was participating in some serious athletic events like Ironman and marathons but still didn't see myself as an athlete. It's amazing how long it took for my mental image to catch up with the physical change," he says. Now Grant competes in ultra-endurance events around the world. Recently he competed in the 2008 Marathon des Sables, a 150-mile ultramarathon across the Moroccan Sahara Desert (Jeff's blog: mds2008jeff.blogspot.com).

"With the lifestyle change, I grew closer to my wife and we began to see some of the most beautiful places in the world under our own power. This includes hiking and cycling the Rockies, running marathons together and even climbing Kilimanjaro."