"I'm trying for 100 pounds if I can. If I can. It will be hard," said Max.
Armed with a dietitian and personal trainer, Max's mom says the time for him to win his war against weight is now.
"We have tried everything. Fresh diet, exercise, his own diet. Everything. But he needs to stay motivated with someone," said Meredith Luchs.
That someone is Jerrod Libonati, a nutrition expert who can provide Max with the tools he needs - including tough love.
"We label thin and we label beautiful, but how come we don't label fat?" asked Libonati. "Labeling motivates people. It's a little bit of a slang, and it hurts, but we don't use it enough."
As it turns out, this "F" word got Max moving.
"Actually, his grandfather told him he was fat," said Meredith. "No one has ever told him that before."
"I'm unhealthy and I'm unfit, and I'm trying to work with Jerrod," said Max.
Like many, Max started his quest the first of the year. He eats five small, healthy meals daily, has no after dinner snacks, and works out six days a week with trainer and physical therapist Jeremiah Eden.
"All I have to do with Max is focus on having him enjoy himself -- not pushing him so hard he's going to throw up," said Eden.
That's good advice for anyone getting back into fitness -- even more so for those who are overweight.
"When somebody is overweight, often times they do too much, too fast," said Eden. "If you're going to work out for a really long time, you've got to get your body prepared for the work it is going to do."
With a dietitian to watch his food and a trainer to provide workouts, it would seem Max has it made. But both experts say to take it off and keep it off, you have to have a mental game.
"I believe it's 75 percent upstairs. Absolutely," said Libonati. "You have to constantly go to work. Just like we get dressed everyday and go to work to make money. This is forever.
"Stop waiting for motivation. You've got to come in and you've got to do it like anything in life," said Eden.
"Slow and steady. There's no magic," said Libonati.
