Not rocket science: Scott Lewis reveals 'secret' to 126-pound weight loss
By KIP BURKE,

Julie Lewis can wrap her arms all the way around her newly skinny husband Scott. (Right) The old Scott with his family one year and 126 pounds ago.

Washington's Scott Lewis is ready to reveal the big secret behind his recent

126-pound weight loss.

"Everybody asks me, so I'll tell you. The secret is…now I eat less and exercise

more. It's not rocket science.

I was fat because I ate

too much."

Since late June last year, in a little over seven months, the State Farm Insurance

agent went from 330

pounds on his 6-foot frame to

his present 204. He's gone from wearing extra-extraextra large to just plain old

large, his pants size has

gone from 46 to 36, and

they're getting baggy.

His health has improved. He no longer has sleep apnea, and no longer snores to wake the dead. His cholesterol has been cut in half, and he is blood pressure is down to healthy levels. "I know I've added years to my life," he said.

After he hit his all-time high of 344 this time last year, he knew he had to do something. "I've known for years that I was heading down the road to a heart attack."

Julie, Scott's wife of eight years, said, "I was scared he wouldn't be around to raise our boys (Ryan, 12, and Lance, 6) and I couldn't do it alone. But I didn't nag."

He even investigated gastric bypass surgery, but the insurance company insisted that he do one year on a physician supervised weight loss plan.

As an alternative, he looked into NutriSystem weight loss plan. "I'd seen the ads a thousand times, and I figured it couldn't get worse," he said. Over the years he'd tried many other pills, plans,

and weight loss fads, but and weight loss fads, but nothing worked for long. This was different.

He ordered the NutriSystem food shipment at the end of June last year, and immediately liked how easy it was to prepare and eat the prepackaged meals, and the fact that the program has shown him what a normal portion size really looks like.

The program provides three meals and two snacks a day, plus fruit, vegetable, and protein add-ins that allow the dieter to eat every three hours or so and still lose weight. "I eat all day long," he said. "But it's nutritionally the right stuff, in the right portions. That's the key."

The plan also encourages exercise and drinking water to help take weight off.

At first, Scott said, he was losing 12 pounds a week, and now, as he approaches his goal weight, he's only losing two or three pounds a week.

The exact portion sizes on the NutriSystem plan also showed Scott how badly he'd been overeating for years. "Julie always commented that I didn't seem to eat that much, but she didn't see all I ate. It was common for me to get a couple of sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits for breakfast, then get fried fish, French fries and hush puppies for lunch in Thomson, and then go home and have another lunch. I'd have a milk shake in the afternoon, then for dinner we'd go to the all-you-can-eat buffet and I'd have eight pieces of pizza plus dessert."

He shakes his head. "It was an incredible amount of food. I couldn't eat a fraction of that now."

The diet plan has taught him to make good choices and eat proper portions, he said, even when he's eating regular food. "I still have lunch at McDonalds - I just eat the right things in the right amounts. A Happy Meal with apple dippers and a side salad is lunch now, with a fruit and yogurt parfait for an afternoon snack. They know my order by heart at McDonalds, and always have it ready for me."

He and Julie, their boys still eat out often. "We even do the Tuesday night buffet at Pizza Hut, but I start with a salad. I know now that a kids' meal at a restaurant is the proper portion for an adult, and that's all I eat."

So how does his family - especially Julie - feel about the new, skinnier Scott? "He's an all-new man," she said. "I've never known him this size, and it's wonderful to be able to put my arms all the way around him. He so much more active with the boys now, playing and doing more things as a family. And he doesn't snore at all anymore, so we both get to sleep."

Scott's weight loss has paid off in another way for Julie. Since she's been walking with him every morning, and taking note of proper portion sizes, she's lost 25 pounds herself.

The only downside to Scott's losing 126 pounds? "I've had to spend a lot of money on new clothes," Scott said. The NutriSystem food costs about $300 a month, which makes it prohibitive for some people, he said. "But you can easily spent ten bucks a day on fast food. I used to."

But buying clothes brought some memorable moments, too. "As I lost weight, I bought cheap clothes because I knew I wouldn't be in that size for long. So I was buying a pair of jeans at the Tractor Supply Store when I realized that a 36 waist fit me. I was so excited I called Julie from the dressing room."

Now, as Scott is within a few pounds of his goal of 200, he says he may take it down another few pounds to 190 or so. He's spread his secret of weight loss to at least 10 other people who are using NutriSystem to lose weight now, and is willing to speak to civic groups about how he did it.

Being an all new man still provides some great entertainment for Scott. Many of his insurance clients only see him once or twice a year, and many don't recognize him now. "I still have people come in and ask me if Scott is in," he said. "One guy handed me some papers and asked me to give them to 'my dad, Scott.' I said, 'This is me - just the new skinny me."

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