It was the lowest point in Kyle Ellison's life. At 31 years of age the doctor's scale read 380 pounds.

“I just basically got sick of it,” he said. “I was depressed. My ankles hurt. At the doctor they always claimed the scale was broken and it just clicked in my head and I got mad at myself and I said, ‘I'm going to do it.’”

He got advice from a dietician, but was impatient and didn't want to lose weight over a period of years. He decided to go on that sandwich diet that he had seen Jared do in the commercials - no breakfast and a lean meat and vegetable sandwich on whole wheat with no condiments for lunch and for dinner.

“It was ruining me,” he recalled. It was definitely ruining me. I couldn't work; I couldn't do well on my job. I'd run out of breath going from the living room to the kitchen. I figured that nobody else eats three large pizzas for dinner on a Friday night.”

Kyle knew he needed a distraction from the powerful food cravings produced by chemicals in the brain and body.

He began woodworking in his garage, making plaques for his family and friends for Christmas, which took his mind off of food.

Twenty-two pounds came off the first week. By four months he had lost 110 pounds and now weighed 270. That's when he felt ready to start exercising.

Five-pound dumbbells soon became 300-pound weights on the bench press. By the end of seven months, he weighed only 190 pounds. Not only had he lost fat but gained solid lean muscle.

“I started thinking, you know, what I may be giving up 45 minutes of my day to do this but the other 23 hours and 15 minutes are great. I mean they're great. I sleep better. I get circulation in my hands back again they don't go numb.

So every morning at 6:15 he hits the mini gym he built in his garage. Now at 37, the weight has stayed off for six years, a rare accomplishment that some doctors say is hard because those fat cells you create during weight gain shrink and never go away totally.

“To lose that much weight and keep it off for a length of time is really a Herculean task,” said Dr. Henri Roca of the LSU Health Sciences Center. It really flies in the face of a lot of what we know. Once you are large you have to continually work against that.”

“You think it's Weight Loss Wednesday for just eating,” said Fitness Expert Mackie Shilstone. “He's got the same diet but is the real trick here the exercise.”

Mackie says it might be hard for some to follow Kyle's new meal plan. He now eats only lean protein like chicken - and vegetables - at every single meal, including breakfast, which he no longer skips and makes his biggest meal.

Mentally food is only fuel and not something he uses for taste or pleasure. But the experts say Kyle now needs treatment for low back pain that started when he was obese so he can start doing lower body weight lifting and aerobic exercise that are crucial to keep his weight down and his body moving for the many decades to come.  As for his occasional cigarette, doctors say even one is harmful to the body, but it is impressive that Kyle is defying the odds.  He's happy and no longer a homebody. He has added a weekend party disc jockey gig to his weekday office job and his role as a husband and father have changed as well.