NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Anthony Ward literally hits the road every morning doing push-ups on the curb. It’s been his routine since he got a rude awakening last summer.

“I woke up and I was 330 pounds, my health was so, so bad — I mean, so bad,” he told WAVY.

Ward couldn’t even walk two blocks when he hooked up with Physician Assistant Nick Chuck from Riverside Health System.

“Obesity is the umbrella and everything else falls under it: diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease,” Chuck said.

Chuck sees men like Ward almost every day. The weight sneaks up on them.

“I just started eating and eating. I was feeling a little depressed, stressed out,” Ward said.

Those other health conditions often follow, silently wreaking havoc on the person’s inside.

“On the surface, you can look like a Porsche but under the hood, the engine could be pittering, pattering, clunking out,” Chuck said.

Chuck recommends men get themselves checked out by a doctor once a year, just like an annual car inspection. Head to toe with a full set of blood work.

“We can make the corrective courses, the corrective adjustments to stop the progression,” Chuck said.

He helped Ward adjust his diet, and along with regular exercise, he’s down 40 pounds and cut his prescription medications from 12 pills a day to just three.

Ward has had a few setbacks but as Chuck says, that’s life. Just get back up and drive yourself to make a change. Ward is doing just that.

“I’m nowhere near finished yet. I’m just getting started,” he said.