‘Price is Right’ host Drew Carey reveals secret behind losing 1,000 pounds over his lifetime

“Price Is Right” host Drew Carey‘s weight has fluctuated, but it wasn’t until his doctor told him that his lifespan was going to be cut short that he made a major change.

In 2010, Carey’s doctor informed him that his “life’s going to be shorter” if he continued on the path he was on. He explained that he’s lost “1,000 pounds over my whole life,” but since the wake-up call, he’s 80 lbs lighter “more or less.”

In an interview with People magazine, Carey, 65, broke down his old post-game show ritual, which included medicating with food. “I would go out to Swingers diner after ‘The Price is Right’ my first year, get a plate of pasta, a cupcake and iced tea with a bunch of lemons,” he told the outlet. “Then I’d go home, have Doritos and several Pepsis, and take an Ambien to go to sleep.

“It was miserable to live like that.”

At the time, Carey paid a visit to his doctor, who told him, “‘If you don’t do something, your life’s going to be shorter, and you’ll have these bad things to look forward to.’”

He took his doctor seriously and cut out carbs and implanted a 45-minute cardio work-out multiple times a week, he told the magazine.

The game show host also shared that he no longer has type 2 diabetes.

“It’s better being like this and having my blood sugar at these levels, and I love myself enough now to want that for myself and desire that for myself,” Carey said. “It’s a whole kind of change of mindset that you have to have about your whole life … but once you do, it’s so freeing.”

Fourteen years later, Carey still mostly cuts out carbs, but he allows himself to indulge from time-to-time.

“I’ll have cake and stuff every once in a while,” he said. “I’m not a maniac, but I won’t eat the whole cake like I did before.”

Carey explained that losing the weight has benefited his life greatly, and he no longer is upset when he looks in the mirror or goes shopping for clothes and can’t find anything that fits him.

He added, “I like the energy I have now, I like how I feel, and I like the lucidity I have in my thoughts.”

“It’s just a better attitude all the way around,” Carey said. “That’s part of my happiness now, is being able to look in the mirror and go, ‘Oh, I like my haircut, I like my face, I like the way I’m dressed, and I look good in this. I don’t have to sit in a corner or apologize to myself in my head when I’m talking to somebody, you know what I mean? All these things you do when you’re overweight or you think something’s wrong with you.”

Carey explained that the hardest part in his weight-loss journey was convincing himself he was “worth it.”

“The idea of loving yourself is the hardest part of it when anybody wants to lose weight,” he explained. “The first thing you have to do is realize you’re worth it.”