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Retired Professor's Dramatic Weight Loss Lands Him In People Magazine

(CBS) -- Are you already struggling with that New Year's resolution to take off some weight? CBS 2's Vince Gerasole has some inspiration for you.

It's the story of this man's dramatic weight loss shedding nearly 200 pounds, a journey that landed him in the pages of People Magazine.

Vince spent the evening with Gregory Singleton looking at pictures of his former self.

Starting in 2005 he gained nearly 185 pounds. It seems when the history professor retired in 2005 he fell into depression.

"I think that the urges to eat were really looking for some sort of comfort," he said.

Singleton soon ballooned to 360 pounds.

"Very good pizza was on my menu," he said. "Great gobs of very good pizza."

But now he's a trim 175 pounds. He spends 80 minutes on a stationary bike each day, he's become a vegetarian with plenty of chopped up peppers and greens in the fridge and makes a breakfast of eggs and some cheese his biggest meal of the day.

"The first two months were absolute hell, but I started eating differently, and after two months I started craving what it was I should eat, because that's what I had been eating," Singleton said.

The determination that saw him dropping 185 pounds over three years landed Singleton in People Magazine's annual weight loss issue.

"I was using my age as a reason why I couldn't possible do anything about it and that turned out to be nonsense," Singleton said.

Don't think dieting has Singleton eating small cups of yogurt at home. Each morning you can find him at the over easy breakfast restaurant near Lincoln Square enjoying his tomato and cheese omelet, hold the potatoes.

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