Gregg Wallace shares three foods he ditched to lose five stone in health kick
MasterChef star Gregg Wallace has revealed he had a ‘eureka moment’ which sparked his five-stone weight loss.
The 59-year-old is used to feasting on calorific meals as part of his day job on the telly, but behind the scenes, he admitted to leading a lifestyle “full of takeaways, fry-ups, snacks and boozing”.
This led Gregg’s weight to rise to nearly 17 stone, which given he is 5ft 8in put his BMI at a dangerously obese 36.1. While his cholesterol was ‘sky-high’ at nearly three times the health level. At one point he was in such bad health doctors warned he was at risk of diabetes and suffering a heart attack.
But despite all the health risks, Gregg says his wake-up moment came when marrying his fourth wife, Anne-Marie Sterpini, who is 21 years his junior. Her southern Italian heritage meant she ate a much healthier diet and this started influencing what Gregg ate too. The couple’s five-year-old son Sid, who is autistic and non-verbal, is also the main reason Gregg wants to live a healthier life so he can be around for as long as he can.
MasterChef star Gregg Wallace, 59, has dropped five stone in recent years (Instagram)
Gregg credits his fourth wife Anne-Marie and their son Sid for being the wake up call he needed (Instagram)In recent years, Gregg has wowed fans by shedding the pounds and is now a trim 12 stone, while his BMI and cholesterol levels have reached much safer levels. The TV star claims he has not been on any extreme diet or resorted to controversial weight loss injections to achieve his goals, like some celebs.
Jake Paul calls on John Fury to make retirement bet for fight with son Tommy
He says the secret has been changing his diet to avoid processed foods and eating as many homemade meals as possible. He claims cooking from scratch makes it easier for him to monitor what he’s putting in his body - and he can pile his plate high without fear of gaining weight back.
Explaining how he did it to the Daily Mail, Gregg shared: “I led a lifestyle full of takeaways, snacks and boozing and got more and more unhappy with how I looked. I’d be tasting food on MasterChef, going to the pub and drinking and then out for a meal at a restaurant. There’d be fry-ups with friends, fish and chips for lunch and a curry or Chinese takeaway at night on days I wasn’t filming.
“One day my doctor did a blood test and found my cholesterol was through the roof. He said I had to start making changes to the way I lived or I was heading for a major heart attack. That was scary – a proper wake-up call.”
After this, Gregg said he tried eating less, not having lunch and cutting out carbs - but nothing seemed to work. He enjoyed a bit of success with Weight Watchers initially, but said “They were paying me and when they stopped, my motivation went.”
Saying he was “just always hungry and frustrated”, it was meeting and marrying his fourth wife Anne-Marie and learning about calories and nutrition through his personal trainer Danny Rai that was the kick up the bum Gregg needed to drop the pounds.
He said: “Anna’s diet had lots of lean protein in it – grilled fish or simple meat dishes – with huge amounts of veg and fruit. The more of it I ate, the more I realised I could eat massive portions that were much lower in calories than my usual meals. I started cooking from home, making my lunches and breakfasts in advance, and eating fewer takeaways and fry-ups. I wasn’t left hungry and the weight just dropped off. It came from a desire not to be hungry and ended up being a kind of eureka moment.”
Gregg now shares his transformation journey on his lifestyle website, GreggWallace.health, offering weekly meal plans and hundreds of healthy recipes for those wanting to follow in his footsteps and lose weight. While he no longer eats ultra-processed foods and takeaways, he says no food is banned on his plan, but snacking is discouraged.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
