Chefs' Weight Loss Secrets | Rachael Ray Show

Publish date: 2024-05-30

Imagine spending your entire day surrounded by tempting treats and indulgent meals while trying to lose weight. That's exactly what these three chefs were faced with -- and yet they still lost a combined total of 161 pounds. They share their strategies and offer tips for how you can have satisfying meals while cutting the calories. **Jeremy Emmerson, private chef, lost 62 pounds.** When he decided to lose weight, Jeremy slashed his personal menus and changed his attitude. "I stay away from the old habits ... I have a saying that it's easier to say no to the first beer than the fifth," Jeremy jokes, and explains he replaced his prior favorites with healthier fare. "Greek yogurt is my best friend. You can have it for breakfast -- maybe put a touch of honey in it and some granola and some fresh fruit, or use it as dessert at nighttime." And the low-fat version of this yogurt is a versatile ingredient to help dress up meals. "At dinnertime you can put it in a baked potato or use it as a sauce. [Add] a little bit of mustard, some lemon zest and it works beautifully with a piece of fish." **Alex Guarnaschelli, executive chef at Butter in New York, lost 49 pounds.** For this chef, calorie counting became her meal planner each day. "I just simply modify what I eat," she says. Alex found a way to replace junk food and still feel satisfied at snack time: "I go to the cracker aisle .... I go in and I pick like five different kinds of flatbread and bring them home," she says. "I just like the variety, and I feel like when food has different textures you don't feel deprived. You can close your eyes and turn a flatbread into a cheese doodle if you will it to be so. You can do it!" **Deborah Snyder, pastry chef at Alto and L'impero in New York, lost 50 pounds.** Deborah says she gained weight tasting her creations at work. "I didn't know how to have one bite, I only knew how to have one cookie or one cake," Deborah says. She went cold turkey and stopped tasting entirely when her diet began, and started to make fruit pops at home to get a sweet fix. "It makes you feel like you're having a little dessert." As the weight began to drop off she brought some real treats back into her life, and thinks moderation goes a long way in a diet. "Eat what you like, try to eat less of it, or eat it on weekends," Deborah suggests, and thinks the calories in fat free treats are not worth it if you're really craving chocolate cake. "Nothing can substitute for butter."

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