Weight-loss success: Lisa and Steve Liebman, Greenlawn

THEIR STORY After a lifetime of fluctuating weight, Lisa and Steve Liebman realized they had become a low priority in their own lives.

"It was work, home and then family," Lisa says. The two would come home from long days at the office, then order takeout.

"We were eating at 9 or 9:30 at night and eating the most unhealthy food imaginable," she says. "I just got to the point that I didn't want to live like that anymore. I was very physically uncomfortable and not confident at all."

Steve says they also weren't social and only did what they had to do, such as attend their son's activities. "We were in a rut."

It was Lisa who made changes first. "I had some awful events happen in my life -- house burned down, mom took ill and dog died -- during a four- to six-month period," Lisa says. "I decided that if my world was going to crumble around me, I wasn't going to crumble with it."

So she changed the way she ate. "I only eat fish and vegetables now, and stay away from carbs." She also started running, then boxing.

Steve lagged well behind Lisa in his resolve. "It took about two years and her getting disgusted with me to push me to make changes," Steve says. Plus some words from his doctor: "You don't see that many old fat men." He went on a doctor-supervised low-carb diet.

DIET Within an hour of waking up, Steve has a high-protein, low-carb shake. Two hours later he has coffee and yogurt. Lunch is a salad with a protein. His afternoon snack is sugarless gelatin, almonds or a diet soda. Dinner is equal parts protein and vegetables.

Lisa skips breakfast. She has seafood and a salad for both lunch and dinner, and avoids snacking.

EXERCISE While Steve doesn't exercise much, Lisa boxes three times a week, does calisthenics and uses exercise equipment at home.

ADVICE "We should have done it a long, long time ago," Lisa says. "We both feel amazing and feel much younger than we actually are. It would have been great to feel younger when we were younger."