Just four months ago his hips ached, his blood pressure was dangerously high, and his breathing grew labored during mild exertion. His medications included drugs for cholesterol and diabetes.

At only 42 years old, Bill Anzik weighed 300 pounds — more than 110 pounds beyond what doctors said was an ideal weight. Poor eating habits and a sedentary desk job, he admits, were taking a toll on his health and happiness.

“I started getting fat in 1987 about two years after high school,” the computer programmer said this week during an afternoon workout. “My weight has kind of yo-yoed most of my life. I was overweight and I couldn’t get in the mindset to do things right.”

That’s when Anzik saw an ad for “The Lose to Win Challenge” at the Broadwater Athletic Club, where a cash prize of $1,700 was on the line.

Enticing as the money was, however, dropping weight in a safe and structured environment proved to be Anzik’s biggest motivator — that and a chance to wear his old suit again, to reclaim his swagger, and perhaps, he grinned, find a girlfriend.

“Nobody prodded me to get started,” he said. “I was just too young to be feeling the way I was.”

Anzik is one of thousands of Americans who will make weight loss their New Year’s goal. It may be one of the hardest goals to achieve, let alone keep, but those who have lost the weight and kept it off say success is possible, given the right mindset and commitment.

Anneliese Smith, who has worked in the fitness field for 17 years and spent the past 10 as a trainer, knows the struggle Anzik is facing. She coached the recent “Lose to Win Challenge” and helped the clients achieve varying levels of success.

“I think the secret to success is to live it, breathe it, and soon you become it,” Smith said this week after leading a midday aerobics class. “You have to make up your mind that you’ll see it through to the end. The people who quit just haven’t made up their mind yet.”

It may sound like pure pump coming from another aerobics instructor until you consider that Smith herself was once overweight. She lost 40 pounds some 15 years ago, and she knows the shame many overweight people feel.

“I had low self-esteem and depression,” she said. “I didn’t want to go out in public. I had health problems, too. I was desperate to figure out what I wanted to do in my life.”

That’s when a friend invited Smith to an aerobics class. It was a life-altering moment. Something clicked and her determination to change grew powerful, helping further shape her goals.

“You have to hit rock bottom, where it’s unacceptable to be where you’re at anymore,” Smith said. “You become what you say you’re going to become.”

In her three years as a personal trainer, Stephanie Younkin has also seen her share of people come and go. Most, she said, are looking to lose weight. Others want to get stronger, swim faster, or run farther.

“If you have a structured environment and a plan, you’ll get a lot more out of your workout,” said Younkin. “You have to work it into your daily schedule. It’s a lifestyle change, and it becomes part of a new routine.”

For Anzik, the timing was right to tackle one of his life’s biggest challenges, but it was difficult from the start.

In mid-September, he stepped on the scale during weigh-ins at 300 pounds. When they snapped his “before” photo for the contest, he felt ashamed by the result.

That photo still hangs on the wall of the downtown club. Next to it, his “after” photo shows his transformation from fat to fit. To meet him is to meet a man still facing his biggest challenge, while also relishing in his newfound success.

“A lot of people kept me going while I was doing it,” he said. “Anneliese was definitely an inspiration. She kept things going, kept pushing. She made it fun.”

Anzik worked hard in the gym, but losing weight involved a trial-and-error approach. He worked out morning and night, burning up to 800 calories a day on the gym’s aerobic equipment.

Yet halfway though the competition, and despite his best effort, Anzik hadn’t lost the weight he was hoping to. He scrutinized his diet and made adjustments. He counted calories in everything he ate, including cantaloupes and grapes.

That, he said, is when the weight began to peel off. In the end, he dropped 76 pounds and took home the lofty cash prize as the club’s “biggest loser.”

“I decided I had to burn everything I ate and let my resting metabolism burn the fat,” he said. “I didn’t always do it, but the goal was to end up with a negative calorie count at the end of the day.”

Anzik is walking a little taller these days. He wears sleeveless shirts around the gym and has set a New Year’s goal of growing stronger and trimmer. His old suit now fits, though it’s a little tight in the shoulders.

Still, he admits, his battle against weight gain continues. He put on 20 pounds after the contest — excessive celebration, he said — and is working to keep it under control.

“There’s no way I want to go back to where I was,” he said. “I’m off the medication. I feel a lot better. I’m more energetic. I’m just excited about working out and losing weight and entering the next competition.”

Reporter Martin Kidston: 447-4086 or mkidston@helenair.com