BREWER – “Not all cops like doughnuts.”

That’s what Lt. Perry Antone says. The 44-year-old Brewer police officer has worked in law enforcement for nearly 23 years.

In his line of work, he has skipped many breakfasts and wolfed down Quarter Pounders with cheese, jumbo-sized fries and Diet Cokes in between rushing from traffic stops to crime scenes and then back to the office to file paperwork.

This high-stress lifestyle and fast-food diet took its toll on the Brewer police lieutenant, resulting in high blood pressure and cholesterol, constant dieting and binge eating. His weight – 315 pounds – waved a big red flag at him.

“It was harder to do my job,” Antone recently said. “When you’re carrying a lot of weight, you tire more quickly because you’re working harder. It took more effort to do things.”

In January 2003, Antone realized he would have to make some serious lifestyle changes in order to continue rising in the ranks of the Brewer Police Department. By that time, he had managed to shed 30 pounds and weighed 285, but it was not enough.

His short-term goal was to qualify for the FBI National Academy, which provides training for police department leaders. With his weight pushing the 300-pound mark, he wouldn’t be accepted.

“There was no way I would be accepted until I did something,” Antone said. “To get there you have to be in a certain level of conditioning. That was a very important motivator for me.”

Antone’s professional goal moved him to re-examine his daily diet, radically change his eating habits, and make exercise a permanent part of his life.

He now weighs 215 pounds. Several weeks ago, the police officer learned he would be going to the FBI academy in 2005. Next January, he will join hundreds of police in Quantico, Va., for 11 weeks of rigorous schoolwork and physical training.

“I’ve had people who don’t even recognize me who have known me for years,” he said. “It’s really strange.”

His son Cooper, 9, who plays a variety of sports and likes to ride cross-country on his dirt bike, provided another motivation. Antone said he didn’t have the endurance to keep up with the youngster.

“He’s very athletic, and I found this issue with weight made it difficult to play with him,” Antone said. “It limited my quality of time with him.”

He went into law enforcement in 1981. He worked for Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department, spending years in the drug enforcement division.

Nowadays, he is a patrol lieutenant for Brewer but spends most of his time performing administrative duties.

As a lieutenant, Antone said he needs to keep ahead of and set an example for the department’s new recruits. That provided another incentive to lose weight.

“Because of the higher education [of the new hires], they have a higher expectation of the people who command them,” the lieutenant said.

To lose the 100 pounds, he read a weight-loss book, “The South Beach Diet.” Then he overhauled his eating and sedentary habits.

“It really was a change in philosophy of what I wanted and what I was trying to do,” he said. “This time I wanted to understand how things work and how carbs [carbohydrates] work.”

Antone learned there was an overabundance of carbohydrates such as pizza, pasta and potatoes in his diet. Those were being stored as fat in his body.

“I was a carb freak,” he said.

Now Antone tries to avoid starch and eats carbs only in the form of vegetables or fruits.

“Before, I never ate breakfast, and lunch would be your typical fast food – subs, pizza or McDonald’s,” he said. “I didn’t drink much water and drank diet sodas. Supper would vary from Chinese food to pizzas and meals with lots of bread, grains and potatoes.”

He now eats breakfast every day. On a typical morning, he grabs a low-carb breakfast bar or cereal for his first meal and usually packs his own lunch, which often consists of sandwich meats and cheeses that he can eat in the car if need be.

On other days, the lieutenant can be found in fast-food restaurants, but he orders salads, wraps or other low-carb items.

“By keeping food in your system, it keeps your body working,” he said. “Breakfast provides balance. It’s what the body needs to start the day.”

Dinner for the Antone family now consists of some kind of meat with two to three servings of vegetables, depending on their carbohydrate count.

Even with his new stricter diet, he reached a plateau with his weight loss and decided to hit the gym. To his surprise, he now is addicted.

“I never thought I could be,” he said. “I go six or seven times a week.”

Sometimes Antone reverts to his old eating habits, but his former food choices most often make him sick to his stomach.

“That helps to stay away,” he said. “Every now and then I sneak [a snack] for mental health.”

When he’s tempted, Antone just reminds himself of why he took on the challenge of losing weight: furthering his career and improving his quality of life.

He has never been a small person, but when he dropped below his high school weight of 240 pounds, he saw someone different looking back at him in the mirror.

“I have fought this for 30 years,” Antone said. “With the way I feel right now, I wish I had done this 20 years ago.”