Gavin Posey graduated from college with a degree in exercise and sports science, so he seemed like the last person to be looking at a debilitating weight problem. But when he was laid off from his job, he grew depressed, and turned to food for comfort. When he was surprised to see himself in a photograph taken at a birthday party, he knew something had to change.G

THE TURNING POINT: I saw that picture, which is my before picture, and I just said, “It’s got to stop. It’s a matter of health, and if I end up looking better, so be it, but I need to get back to where I’m a healthy individual.” I went to the doctor and before he even said, We need to put you on blood pressure medication.” I said, “No, I’ll lose the weight,” because I knew that was the primary factor.

LOSING THE UNHEALTHY HABITS: Before I lost the weight, every morning I woke up and breakfast consisted of two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then I went and laid back down. Lunch, when I got around to it, was basically what I could grab out of the refrigerator that looked good and I knew would taste good. Dinner was probably what was ever in the refrigerator that looked and tastes good.

REDEFINING MEALS: I used my hand and I used a 20-ounce cereal bowl. It’s not one of these big bowls you see. So you can get one at the Pottery Barn or something like that where, you know, half the box goes in the bowl. And what I would do is I would put what I chose to eat in the bowl, not press it down, and I just made sure it didn’t go above the top so I knew I was staying within 15 to 20 ounces. And then what I put in the bowl was primarily protein so that was the palm of my hand, and then sugar and fat, basically a dollop right in the center of my palm. So that made up the food, but it was food. It wasn’t anything special. It could be chicken fingers, it could be pork chops, it could be roasted turkey. I mean it was stuff that I knew I’d enjoy and I wouldn’t have to go out of my way to make.

GETTING A MOVE ON: I decided to walk an hour a day. It wasn’t a matter of how far I walked or how fast I walked because being out of shape I could walk an hour a day, be it two miles one day. But as I got better, I lost the weight, got stronger, I could walk farther, I could walk faster, but my goal stayed to walk an hour a day. And then on top of that, was to drink a gallon of water a day. But if I drink anything else, I had to drink that much, 20 ounces of soda, another 20 ounces of water or twice that if there’s caffeine or sugar in it.

WORDS OF WISDOM: Making that commitment is the most important thing. Finding that hour a day was probably the hardest thing because you get into a rut and then the first thing you want to do when you get home is sit down. But you have to find that hour. You have to make a habit of drinking the water, the first thing I did.

THE BIG REWARD: My hands look like I took off the gloves that I was wearing. I mean it’s amazing. That’s probably the thing that I noticed the most.

KEYS TO MY SUCCESS: Walking an hour a day. A 20-ounce cereal bowl. Drinking a gallon of water a day. The book Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect.