WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- With increasing demands on our lives, many are struggling to maintain a healthy lifestyle. As a result, thousands are added to the lengthy list of obese Americans each day.

Michael Crawford has an exhausting schedule.

“I do consulting, I have a recording studio, I'm over music ministry at our church,” Crawford explained.

Yet every day the 24-year-old entrepreneur finds time to workout.

“I wake up at 5, 5:30 go run three miles, go back home and do some more body weight exercise and then when I get off my first job, I go to the gym,” he said.

Crawford admits it's a struggle, but one he committed to four years ago during his first year at N.C. A&T. “I would get back to my dorm and I would be winded."

After years of being the target of numerous fat jokes and nearly 300 pounds, Crawford realized it was time for a change. He turned to personal trainer Hamilton Cuthrell.

“Americans, we start out innocently enough, but we tend to attach emotions to food,” Cuthrell said. “When you're happy we've been taught we eat, when you're mourning or in a funeral setting, we eat."

But before he could help him shed the weight, he had to give Crawford's mind a workout.

Cuthrell continued, “It's a lifestyle. What too many people do is they try to work out outside of their lifestyle. You have to incorporate working out and a healthy lifestyle into your lifestyle."

Doctors say that is the key. There's no secret formula or magic number of repetitions. In order to change the outside, you must first look within.

“The best way to prevent weight gain is to remain active,” explained Dr. John Spangler, a Professor in the Department of Family & Community Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. “That is to add physical activity above and beyond what you're already doing. And the best way to lose weight is to do the same thing, increase movement, as well as make healthy choices in what you are eating."

Also, keep in mind that one size does not fit all.

“Another misconception is ‘I have to work out in a gym setting’, ‘I must be on a piece of equipment’, ‘I must be in an aerobics class,’” Cuthrell said. “Whatever you do that you can get moving, do that."

What worked for Crawford? He adopted new eating habits and exercise. "I went from 285 lbs. to 185."

Being overweight can cause a host of health problems including high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.