( CNN ) -- Kay and Mike Alexander 's journey to obesity is a familiar road for many married couples . Neither was overweight when they met on a coffee break at work . Nor were they obese when they cut their wedding cake , iced with an image of Star Trek 's USS Enterprise . But over time , working and raising foster children in Kalamazoo , Michigan , the pounds added up . `` I put on about five to 10 pounds per year for 20 years , '' Kay Alexander says . At age 55 , she says she was `` one blood test away from being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes , '' when she started having chest pains . Remembering that her father died of a heart attack when he was only 55 , she went to the hospital . There , a doctor told her she too had had a heart attack -- one that , without medical attention , would have left her with only hours to live . `` That was the big trigger , '' she says . At 5 feet , 4 inches tall , she was closing in on 300 pounds . She knew she had to lose weight , but also knew from experience that dieting was n't the answer . Her husband , whose body mass index had increased from 23 to 34 since graduating college , agreed . So instead of cutting their portion sizes down to starvation rations , the Alexanders decided to rely on their training as chemical engineers . They began tinkering with recipes to see if they could reduce the calorie counts of their favorite foods . `` We put our food on a diet , '' says Kay Alexander . `` Dilution is the solution to pollution . That ( theory ) does n't work for environmental engineering in the long run , but does work for food . '' The Alexanders ' strategy is a powerful one , says Rachel Berman , director of nutrition for Caloriecount.com , a site Kay Alexander used to calculate calorie totals for her new recipes . Berman , also a registered dietician , uses the Alexanders ' approach in counseling and has seen patients experiment with it in their homes . `` Deprivation does not work in the long run , '' she says . `` And Kay and Mike are a great example of how to turn this into a lifestyle change . '' It took four or five months of experimenting to re-engineer some of their favorite recipes and start losing weight , according to Mike Alexander . The key to the new recipes , says his wife , was minimizing the amount of carbohydrates and maximizing the amount of vegetables . `` A lot of what we did was kind of tricking the mind and stomach , '' she says . `` For every food we took out , I tried to put one new one in . '' They reinvented many of their favorite dishes , such as mashed potatoes , substituting cauliflower for the potatoes . They traded the white rice in chicken stir-fry for high-fiber pita wraps . They even replaced the pasta in baked spaghetti with a self-invented broccoli slaw . Over the next year and a half , Kay Alexander lost more than 130 pounds . Mike Alexander lost 65 . `` We 're still trying to do cookies and treats that are low-calorie , '' he says . `` She has a meringue cookie that 's 4 or 5 calories . We believe food companies should engineer their foods to be low-calorie , like we 've done . '' By using a scientific approach , the couple turned weight loss into a project they could work on together . Before they started experimenting with recipes , Mike Alexander did most of the cooking from boxed foods . Now they collaborate on recipes ; she does most of the cooking and he handles the cleanup . `` It was part intellectual and part doing it , '' he says . `` It was really good for our marriage . '' In addition to counting calories , Kay Alexander exercised more . She started out wearing a pedometer . Over time , her steps increased from 3,500 per day to about 17,000 . `` ( The amount I now walk ) almost makes me like an Amish person , '' she jokes . Exercise significantly increased Kay Alexander 's energy level , says Taylor Rose , 19 , who calls the Alexanders her grandparents . She describes her grandmother as a health nut , and says she enjoys going shopping with her now because the older woman does n't have to stop every few minutes to catch her breath . `` We can share clothes now , '' she says . `` I love that . '' Kay Alexander is retired ; her husband will join her in about six years . He 's glad he chose to drop the weight slowly because it is more indicative of a successful lifestyle change than a diet . He knows retirement will expose him to more chances to eat poorly and excessively . `` I 'm trying to develop how I 'm going to keep ( the weight ) off , '' he says . Have you lost weight ? Share your story on iReport .
The Alexanders became obese over a 20-year period . In the early 1980s, they began to notice that their children were getting chubbier and heavier. The couple have lost almost 200 pounds combined .