Man shares his weight loss tips

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - A man from Gloucester Point who lost about 150 pounds in one year is sharing how he lost the weight through better eating and exercising. He also shared the top five myths for men and weight loss.

For Paul Eaton, a few lunges after breakfast and a sprint across a bridge is no problem.

10 On Your Side caught up with him at the Noland Trail in Newport News, and he even produced a few push-ups without breaking a sweat. He said it wasn't always that way though.

"When I started my weight loss journey, I stepped up on the scale and saw 330 pounds," Eaton said.

At 330 pounds, a size 54 waist, he says he didn't have many options.

"This is the only pair of pants that I ever really wore when I was overweight, other than sweatpants because this is all that I could find," said Eaton. "My whole diet consisted of fast food."

Eaton said he would eat double the calories for a day in one sitting, two times a day.

Myth #1 - "Guys especially think they can skate by based solely on exercise, which is actually one of the major myths about men and weight loss, is that men can lose weight solely by exercising," said Eaton.

Although Eaton wasn't exercising before October 2008, he wasn't doing himself any favors by what he was eating.

"Guys can stop and think, well I exercised today and have more good," Eaton said.

Myths #2 and #3 go together.

Myth #2 - "You have to give up alcohol in order to lose weight," Eaton said is the myth. "The key to drinking alcohol while losing weight is moderation and I think that's a pretty good tenet to follow just in general."

Myth #3 -  "There's another myth about red meat, where you have to give up red meat in order to lose weight. That's not true because red meat has a lot of nutrients. It has a lot of iron, it has a lot of protein, it just depends on how you cook it, and how it is prepared."

Myth #4 - "Men and women lose weight at the same rate - that's not necessarily true, because men and women have different metabolisms," Eaton said.

Myth #5 - "Low carb and low fat automatically means health," Eaton said, "That's not necessarily the case because you have different kinds of fats and carbs that can actually have a nutritional benefit."

Busting myths helped Eaton move toward a goal, from couch potato to marathon runner, a dramatic change he took one step at a time.

"It's like waking up to a new body," Eaton said. "I feel 100 percent better. It's a 180. It's fantastic."

Eaton is a healthy 184 pounds now, and he's sharing his message as a Weight Watchers team leader, helping to motivate others to lose weight.