Gary Turner, 39, of Marietta lost 98 pounds

Current weight: 193 pounds

Pounds lost: 98 pounds

Height: 6 feet

Age: 39 years

How long he's kept it off: He started in January and reached his current weight in September.

Personal life: "I live in Marietta with my beautiful wife, Christy, and our four cats: Darth Vader, Han Solo, Padme and Yoda," says Turner. "I am a customer experience manager."

Turning point: "I had tried in 2006 to lose weight, and lost 50 pounds but only kept it off for a year," he says. "My doctor sat me down in January 2014 during a physical and gave me a wake-up call as to what I could expect if I continued as I was at my age and weight. It was a rude awakening and made an impression … I'm very metrics driven, so I bought a Fitbit to track my steps, stairs, calories and began using the MyFitnessPal application to track everything I ate. I set a goal of walking 10,000 steps a day."

Diet plan: "I designed my own diet based on the number of calories I should consume. I started targeting 1,600 calories, and have gradually increased this to 2,500," he says. Breakfast is a breakfast sandwich and coffee. Snacks are fruit and string cheese. Lunch is Egg Beaters and turkey sausage. Mid-afternoon he has yogurt, carrots and fruit. Dinner is fish or chicken with vegetables.

Exercise routine: "I have a TV set up in front of my treadmill in our basement and I try to walk a minimum of two miles on it every day," he says. "I do my walking first thing in the morning before work so it is out of the way and I remove the excuse of being too tired after work."

Biggest challenge: "My biggest challenge was finding foods that I would eat which fit into my plan, and having back-up options available. I don't always have the ability to stop and heat a meal up or get to a fridge for yogurt, so I made sure to have dry stock snacks that I could use in a pinch at my desk at work."

How life has changed: "I am on my fourth wardrobe since the start of the year. It is amazing to not have to look through the very limited options of 3XL T-shirts when now I can fit into a large," he says. "I have a lot more energy and confidence, and feel more comfortable every day. Flying is no longer a daunting task … Exercise has become as much a part of my day as eating breakfast – it is automatic … I plan to go skydiving this fall now that I am under the weight restrictions …"