In 1997, "Leave It to Beaver" star Jerry Mathers got the news from his doctor: Unless he changed his lifestyle, he could die in three to five years.
He did, and he's now 55 pounds lighter.
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"I was living the good life," he told Fox News. "I had side businesses and one of them was a catering business. And I was doing a lot of motion picture and television catering for crews, which is for about 100 to 200 people. It's like setting up a whole restaurant."
He continued, "I was around food all the time and I was a very good cook. Of course, that entailed sitting down with people so I was sometimes eating five to six full meals a day. … I was making a lot of money, everything was going great, and everyone around me was at least as fat as I was."
The former child star was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and bad cholesterol. Almost instantly, he made changes.
"I sold the catering company and went on a very strict diet. I've been controlling my weight with diet and exercise ever since. I walk every day about six to eight miles," he said. "And I am now pre-diabetic because of that. … Dying from diabetes is a terrible way to go. It's really a horrible death."
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Jerry, now 69, is happy with the results, but they haven't come easily.
"It's really tough, especially when I go out to eat. But I think, 'I can have this, but do I want to run further to get the weight off? Could I even get it off?' It's a daily struggle. I'm not cured," he told Fox. "This is something I have to deal with all the time. And I'm hoping that by going out to educate people on diabetes, I can save my fans."
These days, you can find a much slimmer Jerry traveling the country doing lectures about the dangers of Type 2 diabetes.