HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Drew Carey says his dramatic weight loss was a matter of life and death.
"I always thought I was going to die before I was 60," the 52-year-old star tells Parade magazine. "My father died of a heart attack in his 40s. I'm not an idiot. The writing was on the wall."
Carey has battled weight problems ever since he left the Marines in his 20s and launched his showbiz career. He appeared to be finally winning the battle about nine years ago, but then his mother became terminally ill and all his hard work went out the window.
The Price is Right host got serious again last November, thanks to fiancée Nicole Jaracz's 5-year-old son, Connor.
"I couldn't keep up with him," recalled Carey, who said a few minutes of play would leave him out of breath. "I'd be like, 'Connor, I can't,' and he'd say, 'C'mon, Dad!' That was a terrible feeling. I thought, I'm never going to see him graduate high school."
At the time, Carey was a size 44 and weighed 262 pounds, hardly a picture of health for someone with Type-2 diabetes. But thanks to a strict diet and a rigorous workout routine, the television star has dropped 77 pounds. His goal is to slim all the way down to 170 by the end of October.
"Working out and eating right isn't an extra thing I do," he explained. "I told myself, 'I'm going to make this part of my job.' "
Thanks to the dramatic weight loss, Carey is no longer suffering from Type-2 diabetes. He also has a new outlook on life.
"I look in the mirror and I feel like I'm in my 20s again," said Carey. "I feel like I have my whole life back. I could live to be 100 now."
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