I was up around 300 pounds when I stopped drinking. Obvisously I had neglected myself for some time. I immediately lost about 30 pounds. Mainly from the added calories of the alcohol. Fortunetly, I've been able to stay sober, however i still neglected myself - smoking and major overweight. At about 11 years sober I had a cerebral hemorage. I remmeber asking my doc what caused it. He smiled, and said 20+ years of alcoholism and 25+ years of heavy smoking and obesity. Thanks doc. I started an excercise program, stopped smoking, and now feel better than I ever have in my life. I'm telling everyone all of this because in my experience at least, stopping drinking was the most important part of all of this. If I was still drinking, there is NO WAY I would be going out for a daily run, etc. Stopping is the main thing, but not the only thing.