At age 14, Taylor LeBaron weighed over 300 pounds. Thanks to a diet he devised influenced by video games, he has lost 150 pounds, or half of what he weighed before. Speaking with the Today Show, LeBaron explained how he managed to lose all the weight. He tackled the problem as if he were confronting a series of enemies in a video game — enemies being things like inactivity, eating, and stress. The teen gave himself a “currency,” much like you would find in a game, in the form of calories.

“It has the same aspects of a video game,” LeBaron told Today. “You have enemies, you have allies, and you have money. You have to play smart; otherwise, you run out of your money. Your score needs to be high at the end of the day.”

“If you say, ‘I’m going to lose 100 pounds in the next three months,’ well that’s not going to happen,” he said. “You have to set it in bite sizes that are achievable. Then when you can achieve that, you feel great; you’ve met a goal.”