Photo: Carvalho/FilmMagic
Kirstie Alley, whodied from cancer at age 71on Monday, was not shy about publicly sharing her weight journey.
The actress embarked on a weight-loss journey after experiencing what she called “men tragedies” around age 53. She was often candid about her experience, empowering others on a similar journey.
During a2013 appearanceonThe Wendy Williams Show, Alley said she initially lost weight on Jenny Craig, which she was on from 2004 to 2007, but eventually gained it back. “I justwent south,” she told hostWendy Williamsat the time, adding that she was down again — this time 50 lbs.
In 2004, when she began losing weight, she said onTheOprah WinfreyShowthat the decision to take the first step came after she garnered media attention for her appearance. “Honestly, I didn’t know howfat I was,” she said.
Set on losing the weight, she signed on as a Jenny Craig spokesperson in 2004,losing 75 lbs.on the program.
One year later, she launched the seriesFat Actress. She used her weight as comedic inspiration and went into detail about it in the bookHow To Lose Your Ass and Regain Your Life: Reluctant Confessions of a Big-Butted Star, which she released that same year.
She touched on the impact of the program on her health during a2005 interviewwithOprah Winfrey.
“You know, I don’t usually say this, but [Jenny Craig] has been a godsend,” she said. “I needed a game. I’m one of those people that if you give me a sport or a game or make something really fun for me, then I’m on board. And I was just tired of the whole subject — weight loss, blah blah blah. And this has been so much fun because they have 8,000 things you can order [to eat], and you get your own consultant!”
After reaching her goal, she returned to theTheOprah WinfreyShowin 2006 to model a bikini.
Kirstie Alley.wenn
“I wasso introverted about my body,” she said. “When I looked back on my movies and things [I thought], ‘Wow, you had a really nice body.’ But, at the time, I was [feeling] not good enough.” She added that she was trapped in a cycle of binge eating that at one point had her weighing around 220 lbs.
Although she maintained her 145-lb. figure for three years, she left the company in 2007, and found that her discipline — and waistline — fluctuated back to her starting weight.
“I was at maximum eating load,” Alley recalled to PEOPLE ina 2011 interview. “I didn’t like the way I looked. I might have had fun times getting there, but there was nothing positive about being fat. My body had gotten really weak. I felt like I couldn’t move.”
When the opportunity came to joinDancing with the Stars, “every single person including my agent, manager and friends said don’t do it. They all thought that I’m a hotshot actress who should only act, but I was bored out of my mind,” said Alley, who also solicited advice fromDWTSalumsJennifer GreyandMarlee Matlin, who called the experience “excruciating” and “a killer.” Alley’s response? “Good, I need something killer.”
She joined the show and eventuallylost 100 lbs., going on to launch her own Organic Liaison weight-loss system.
She told PEOPLE of clearing the 100-lb. weight-loss hurdle. “When I hit that mark, I went, ‘That’s it,’ " she said. “I have more energy than I’ve ever had in my whole life.”
Afterending her run on the show, she tweeted, “NO surgery, NO flippin lasers, NO barfing, NO starving…Jeez…my products, organic food, dance.”
When she began to see her weight increase again in 2014, she made a return to Jenny Craig. “It’s like being an athlete. No athlete is going to do well without having a coach. We have to equate that to life. Without a coach helping us along the way, I don’t think someone can make it for the long haul,” she said.
She stressed that she was focusing on both her physical and mental health,telling PEOPLE, “I need to get myself to where I feel cocky again.”
She went into detail about her weight-loss journey in an April 2014interview withWoman’s Health.
“If someone’s attacking me for my weight, I go flourish and prosper somewhere else in the universe. I’m the master blaster of turning lemons into lemonade,” she said.
RELATED VIDEO: Kirstie Alley Says She Took Some ‘Bad Habits’ from the Set of ‘Cheers’ into Her Career
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By 2015, she lost 50 lbs. and switched her focus to maintaining her weight, instead of losing it.
Kirstie Alley.Instagram
“I’m on maintenance, so I have one Jenny Craig meal a day and then I’m on my own, but I also have my Jenny Craig consultant,” shetold PEOPLEin 2017. “So if I feel like I’m going awry, I just call her and she gives me some tips and a pep talk.”
“I love sugar cookies that are frosted with Santa’s faces and trees, so I didn’t order any and I didn’t have any. My friends were dismayed because I usually give them out as gifts,” she said.
source: people.com
