How I lost 50 pounds but kept my giant breasts
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In late 2012, Wendy Williams got some disturbing news when she stepped on the scale at her doctor’s office: She weighed 195 pounds.
Years of overeating and dodging the gym had packed the pounds onto the talk show host’s statuesque, 5-foot-11 frame. She was in her late 40s at the time, and, with her 50th birthday looming not too far in the distance, she decided it was time to take action.
“It’s just not good if you don’t take ahold of it,” says Williams, now 51. “When you turn 50, it’s different than it was at 40 … Your metabolism starts to slow down, you lose muscle, and your face starts to fall.”
Williams hit the gym with a trainer, cut dairy from her diet, and started eating smaller portions and making smart substitutions, like swapping lettuce wraps for hard-shell tortillas on Taco Tuesdays.
After three years of steady work, she lost 50 pounds. She unveiled a newly slim silhouette late last year, and she’s intent on keeping the weight off — especially after it was announced in January that her show has been renewed through 2020.
“I will never be 195 pounds again,” declares Williams, who is now a trim 145 pounds — a number the self-described “fat kid from Jersey” says she hasn’t seen since the sixth grade.
And though she has admitted to going under the knife in the past — she had liposuction and got breast implants in 1994 — she insists it’s all natural this time around.
“People know I have a harebrained scheme for everything, but the way I lost this weight, and the way I am keeping it off, is not a harebrained scheme,” she says. Still, her ample breast implants will remain.
“They’re [not] going anywhere,” she says. “I love the [proportion]. It’s like a cartoon.”
To maintain the tiny waist of her cartoonish new figure, Wendy gave up meat last summer. While she likes to avoid labels, she now primarily eats vegan and vegetarian dishes, along with the occasional piece of fish.
Williams’ family — her 44-year-old manager-husband Kevin Hunter and 15-year-old son, also named Kevin — has been instrumental to her healthy transformation.
“Believe you me, they both embrace it,” she says. “That’s the only way you can do it. It has to be a family thing.”
The family enjoys cooking healthy meals together in their New Jersey home, where they recently tore out the microwave because, she says, it strips food of its nutrients. They also love trying out new vegan restaurants.
“It’s a family-bonding thing. We all survey the menu individually before, and the whole ride there we say, ‘I’m going to get this, and get this and this,’ and we take doggy bags,” she says. “My husband and I both grew up a little fleshy. We don’t want that for our boy.”
And while she’s stricter with her diet than she used to be — in 2010, she told The Post that her favorite lunch was a roast-beef-and-Swiss cheese sandwich wrap dunked in Miracle Whip — Williams still does occasionally indulge.
She’ll sometimes snack on Jolly Ranchers and Now & Later candies, and she typically has a cheat day once a week.
“I’ll eat a whole box of water crackers with Daiya [vegan] cheese melted on. You put that in the toaster [oven] with garlic, tomatoes and onions on top. And I eat it with a whole handle of Tropicana [juice],” she says.
“I go cow on it on Sundays around 2 o’clock in the afternoon and then I go to sleep. There’s crumbs in the bed,” she admits with a laugh.
Cheat days notwithstanding, Williams is intent on keeping the “mess off.” She’s got a closet stuffed with new size 2 and 4 clothes that she wants to keep wearing, though there’s one particular pair of “absurdly expensive” Louis Vuitton leather short-shorts that she could do without.
“I have no idea why I bought them,” she says. “I’ve worn them twice, and I need five more wears to make up for cost per wear, and then I’m going to give them to a 16-year-old. I have 40-inch legs, I put on heels, the shorts are way up to here. Obscene.”
Leather short-shorts aside, Williams loves her new body. “I’m 51, and I feel as though I look damn good,” she says. “Better than I ever looked in my life.”
Recipe: Portobellos with balsamic vinegar
Williams loves this vegan dish from Butter chef and Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, toss 6 large garlic cloves, unpeeled, with a little olive oil and salt. Wrap the garlic cloves in tinfoil and place in a tray in the center of the oven. Cook until tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool. Leave oven on.
In a medium bowl, whisk together ¹/₃ cup balsamic vinegar with ¾ cup olive oil and 1 tablespoon smooth (Dijon) mustard. “Squeeze” the roasted garlic cloves out from their skins and whisk them vigorously into the dressing.
In another bowl, toss 4 large portobello mushrooms, wiped of any dirt, washed and quickly dried, with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt. Place them, stem side up, in a grill pan or cast-iron skillet over high heat. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes; you may see liquid starting to emerge from the stem area. Turn on their other side and roast for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer them to a tray and place in the center of the oven. Roast for an additional 12 to 15 minutes, until they are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife. Pour the balsamic mixture over them and roast for an additional 2 to 3 minutes.
Arrange mushrooms on a serving platter and top with dressing remains from the baking sheet. Serve immediately. Serves 4 to 6.
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