Celebrity weight loss transformations are no easy feat.
Simply put, for the vast majority of people, celebrities included, losing weight is just
plain hard.
But over the last decade, there have been a handful of famous folks who made a big change,
and displayed gorgeous transformations.
Celebrity chef Graham Elliot, by virtue of his profession, is constantly around food,
which likely made any kind of celebrity weight loss transformation difficult.
To that end, at the beginning of the decade, Elliot's weight was hovering just around the
400-pound mark, something he decided had to change after visiting his son Milo's kindergarten
class.
He recalled in an interview with WTTW News:
"A fellow student put a soccer ball under his shirt and said, 'Look at me, look!
I'm Milo's dad.
Look how fat I am.'
That's when it was clear to me that not only was it, you know, my health I had to worry
about...but also, he was going to be embarrassed [of me]."
So Elliot made the decision to get weight loss surgery.
Years later, Elliot is still rocking his new bod, having dropped well over 100 pounds,
according to a post on his Instagram page.
And unsurprisingly, he feels amazing.
When Jonah Hill broke into the film industry in the teen comedy Superbad, he was definitely
not a small dude.
But as the next decade began, Hill, who's just one of the men who've been body-shamed
by Hollywood, decided that he was ready to make the changes needed to shed unwanted pounds,
without weight-loss surgery.
He revealed in an interview with ABC News:
"I went to just a nutritionist.
He really helped me understand...nutrition."
And that put vegetables on the menu for Hill for perhaps the first time in his adult life,
something he truly enjoys now, especially in Japanese food.
Hill's weight has fluctuated here and there in the last ten years, but, as a whole, he
has maintained the majority of his weight loss.
He shared in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show:
"I'm under construction, like we all are.
We're all just trying to figure it out."
Hill also released a free zine in 2018 as a compliment to his film Mid90s, with the
goal of helping people learn to love themselves as he has, according to a post on his Instagram
page.
Talk about wholesome.
If you're obsessed with Scandal or Grey's Anatomy, you have creator Shonda Rhimes to
thank for that.
The writer and producer is responsible for some of the best television shows out there.
Rhimes also decided to take charge of her health in the last decade, dropping a significant
amount of weight and undergoing a celebrity weight loss transformation, for a very good
reason.
"I realized that I work really hard in every other area of my life.
Why wouldn't I throw myself into being healthy and losing weight?"
She clarified in a newsletter sent to Shondaland subscribers:
"I did not do it because I thought I would become beautiful like in the movies.
I did it because I could not walk up a short flight up stairs without stopping to take
a break and wiping sweat from my brow.
I did it because my body was physically rebelling against the brain that had been ignoring it
for so long."
However, Rhimes was rightly horrified by the way people treated her after her weight loss,
which was dramatically different than before.
"After I lost weight, I discovered that people found me valuable.
Worthy of conversation...What the hell did they see me as before?
How invisible was I to them?"
Easily one of the most successful directors in Hollywood, Jay and Silent Bob's Kevin Smith
was living the good life, eating whatever he wanted whenever he craved it.
Then one day in 2018, he had a heart attack.
Fortunately, Smith beat the odds and survived, coming away from the life-threatening experience
with a whole new perspective.
He told Men's Health:
"I ate the way I wanted to for 47 years.
I will try the way I'm supposed to for one year and see what happens."
Well, it's been working, as the vegan and low-sugar diet that Smith adopted helped him
drop to under 200 pounds.
Since then, Smith has kept the lessons he learned from the experience in the back of
his mind at all times.
"Two months ago you're nearly dead.
This morning, you look fantastic."
"I feel great.
Honestly, the heart attack is the best thing that's ever happened to me."
Comedian Zach Galifianakis admits that he enjoyed drinking alcohol for a long time,
something that can easily contribute to weight gain.
So when he decided to quit imbibing in 2013, Galifianakis began to lose weight, which he
discussed on an episode of Conan.
"I stopped drinking, and I just kind of put the weight off."
But after that, Galiafianakis also made some changes to his diet that helped him shed even
more unwanted pounds.
"Fast food you can't do, you have to eat whole foods, whole grains, and that kind of stuff,
and you have to cut out whipped cream pizzas."
While Galiafianakis has maintained that slimmer build ever since, it looks like the beard
is here to stay.
The incredible actress Gabourey Sidibe made her film debut in Precious back in 2009, which
earned her an Academy Award nomination, and quickly cemented her as one of Hollywood's
newest talents.
But after being diagnosed with type II diabetes, she had bariatric surgery in 2016, and, after
that, she began to lose weight.
Sidibe feels that her celebrity weight loss transformation is a personal journey.
She explained in a 2017 interview:
"What had been happening is, since I've been losing weight over the past year, people have
been saying, 'Congratulations on your weight loss.'
It doesn't rock me.
It just annoys me because I'm just like, don't congratulate me on that."
She added that if you do, you may as well congratulate her for having any bodily function
at all.
"I'm really glad about the way I did it; I didn't tell too many people.
The thing about my body is that it's mine."
In 2014, magician Penn Jillette was in some seriously bad health.
He had high blood pressure and a 90 percent heart blockage, and he was taking six medications
a day.
"I understand a bunch.
I can eat a bunch of most anything.
Chicken wings, oysters, ham.
Usually when I'm eating, I want a bunch."
And then he decided to make a drastic change and undergo a stunning celebrity weight loss
transformation.
He shared in an interview with the Los Angeles Times:
"I want[ed] to lose a pound a day.
So I went for a radical change in diet, whole-food plant-based, hard-core vegan, vegetables,
no processed food, no sugar.
And I limited my eating to just an hour a day, so I'm always fasting 23 hours."
Those big changes helped Jillette lose a hundred pounds, which he has managed to keep off thanks
to his intense discipline, something he takes great pride in.
He explained his mindset, saying:
"When dieting was compared to something simple, I had no interest.
But when someone said, 'This is going to be as hard as getting your own theater in Vegas',
then I was interested.
That would be something I could be proud of."
It's been one heck of a decade for Melissa McCarthy, who launched her own production
company, got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and won an Emmy Award, to name just
a few accomplishments.
She also lost a significant amount of weight, something that's likely to ebb and flow, as
she tells it.
She told Refinery29:
"I have [lost weight], but I'll be back again.
I'll be up, I'll be down, probably for the rest of my life."
Even though McCarthy is an incredibly accomplished person, she's still asked about her weight
constantly, something that she honestly believes is much less exciting than people seem to
think.
"The thing is, if that is the most interesting thing about me, I need to go have a lavender
farm in Minnesota and give this up.
There has to be something more.
There are so many more intriguing things about women than their butt or their this or their
that."
Amen, Melissa!
From the very start of her career, Rebel Wilson knew that her size made her a unique asset
in Hollywood, as she's best known for her work in Bridesmaids and the Pitch Perfect
franchise.
She explained in an interview with Cosmopolitan:
"I wouldn't ever want to compete with what I call 'the glamours', the really gorgeous
people.
I'm about the brain, the heart and what's on the inside.
I feel really lucky to be the body type I am."
But despite the fact that Wilson is clearly focused on the right things, she did opt to
make some changes in order to get healthier once she moved to L.A. in 2010, and people
soon witnessed Rebel Wilson's stunning transformation.
She explained:
"Living in LA you learn a lot about health.
I now drink green juices and I'm trying to do gluten-free.
But I don't do it 100 percent, I'm not a maniac!"
John Goodman has never had a hard time getting cast in some of the best films and television
shows out there.
But he still decided to make some serious improvements on himself, starting with getting
sober in 2007, followed by a dramatic weight loss over the last decade.
So how did he do it?
He explained to AARP:
"It was basically just portion control, and 'I don't need it.'
I was just shoving everything into my mouth."
But Goodman is cautious about his success when it comes to his weight loss, and he isn't
looking to be anyone's role model.
He continued:
"I don't want to be an example to anybody when the weight comes thundering back on,
when I start eating Crisco out of the can with a spoon and a side of confectioner's
sugar."
Given that Goodman is still maintaining his weight loss, it's safe to say that he's still
putting in the work.
What a decade it's been for Adele, one of the most popular and talented singers in the
entire world.
She began her career by releasing her insanely successful album 21 in 2011, and she's just
kept on going.
Although Adele has yet to speak publicly about her weight loss transformation, which also
became evident in the last decade, she's acknowledged how much she's changed in recent years on
social media.
She wrote on Instagram:
"No matter how long we're here for life is constant and complicated at times.
I've changed drastically in the last couple years and I'm still changing and that's okay."
Additionally, Adele says she's in a great place in her life, thanks to manifesting self-acceptance.
She continued:
"Learning to REALLY truly love yourself is it, and I've only just realized that that
is more than enough."
The extraordinary actress Kathy Bates knew she had to lose weight when she realized she
was at risk of developing a serious disease.
She confessed in an interview with Extra:
"I was facing diabetes, it runs in my family, and I really didn't want to live with that."
The main tool in Bates' weight loss arsenal was portion control, which she was able to
rely on once she'd cultivated patience at the dinner table.
"After you eat for 20-30 minutes, you experience an involuntary sigh.
What I discovered is if you listen to that sigh and push that plate away for just five
minutes, you realize you're satisfied and you don't have to eat more."
That's a good way to reduce your caloric intake, for sure.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more List videos about your favorite celebs are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.