But when you’re talking about weight, that’s not such a bad thing.

Lucas was featured in a story last May as the male winner in the Cary Family YMCA’s Biggest Loser contest, based on the popular weight-loss TV show.

Lucas, 42, a science teacher at Ligon Middle School, had joined the program with wife Beth because they both were overweight and wanted to feel better.

Nearly a year after they started the contest, the Lucases get an A-plus for both effort and results.

They’ve both lost about 60 pounds and have managed to keep the weight off through sensible eating and regular trips to the gym. “It’s been a pretty big change,” Paul Lucas said. “It’s been a more permanent change than anything else we’ve done.”

The couple has a little ways to go before they reach their individual weight goals, and Paul thinks they’ve hit a plateau. So they plan to step it up a notch in the new year, working with a YMCA trainer.

Regardless, “We both feel about a thousand times better,” Paul said. “... I’ve got more energy at the top of the stairs than I did at the start.”