MasterChef's Gregg Wallace opens up about his amazing four stone weight loss
We love tuning in to Celebrity Masterchef to watch presenting duo Gregg Wallace and John Torode whittle down the competition to find a talented star cook. The pair have worked on the show for 17 years now and there's something about their down-to-earth banter that has us hooked.
As well as filming the hit programme, Gregg has also been busy launching his new website Showme.fit, which focuses on exercise, healthy eating and creating a balanced lifestyle to make permanent life changes.
Following his own amazing four-stone weight loss, the star decided to use his own experience to help others and has assembled a team of experts offering recipes, exercises, nutritional and motivational advice for just £7 a month.
HELLO! caught up with Gregg on Zoom to chat, fitness, diets and staying motivated!
Gregg has transformed his physique with exercise and healthy eating
Hi Gregg, tell us about your new website…
"You know how non-smokers can get really evangelical about smoking? Well, I got really like that with health and fitness. I'm 55 years old and I'm the fittest I've ever been.
"Very often we sit down to do interviews, and I get asked a lot about my weight loss journey and my fitness, so it was obvious to me that there was a lot of interest and I always dreamed about moving into fitness."
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Gregg with MasterChef co-host John Torode
You've lost a huge four stone. How did you feel before you started your weight loss journey?
"I was scared because my doctor told me that if I didn't change things I was going to die because my cholesterol was so high."
"So, it started there, and then there were a couple of motivating factors along the way. Meeting my beautiful, lovely wife [Anne] who's a lot younger than me. I thought, well she's obviously alright having an old boyfriend, or now an old husband - but there's no reason why she should have to have an old fat husband is there! Honestly, I wanted to be fit and well, I'm 22 years older than her.
"The other one was meeting my PT Danny Rai, who's written the exercise programmes on my website. He really got my mind into a good place. I said to him, 'Listen I'm in my 50s now' and he said, 'You can have the body you want at any age'. I can have a laugh with him, and he never ever gave me any of that scientific stuff - he just made me feel more responsible for myself."
What does your wife Anna think of your transformation?
"I'm actually very lucky because she likes me, and she doesn't mind one way or another. In fact, she's warned me not to get too muscly because she doesn't like the veins. She said: 'I don't mind what you are as long as you're not unhealthy.'"
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Gregg and wife Anna
What are your motivational tips for weight loss?
"We all start a fitness and health journey with as much motivation as we need - the fact that we're starting it is enough motivation.
"What's more important is the psychological tools you need to not give up when it goes wrong - because let me tell you, it's going to go wrong. There's no way any of us can live like we're living in a convent for a month, two months, three months.
"We're going to go out, drink too much, have a kebab, have a takeaway curry, have an even bigger slice of our mate's birthday cake. It's going to happen - you need the psychology for what to do when that happens, so you don't give in."
"Gregg Wallace's four-stone journey from A to B was not a straight line, it went around a couple of McDonald's drive-ins, it stopped at a few kebab shops and it hit more pubs than it was supposed to have done, but it got there. What I've learned from the psychologist on my website, Dr. Kevin Dutton, is that being good most of the time is good enough."
"We've got to live right - there's no way I'm going to the rugby and not having a pint of beer. It would be like washing my feet with my socks on. It just isn't going to happen."
Gregg exercising at home during lockdown
How often do you exercise?
"In the last three years, I've been exercising five days a week. Monday to Friday is serious and Saturday and Sunday are just fun – I like to go for a swim but it's still exercising.
"When I'm filming MasterChef out of lockdown, I go to my PT is near the studio. Otherwise, he gives me a routine and changes it three or four times a year. On the website, there are six 30-minute exercises and none of them require any equipment at all.
"Not only are the gyms not open but maybe people don't feel leotard comfy. Maybe they're not ready yet. When I went into a gym a bit tubby I was self-conscious."
Who does the cooking at home?
"During lockdown, I've been making lunch for the family every day. Anne is - and I'm including MasterChef winners here - Anne is one of the best amateur cooks I've ever met in my life. Her food and cooking is incredible."
Will Anna be joining you on a cooking show in the future?
"Well, she was on Loose Women with me and I had to hold her hand throughout it. She hates the limelight and doesn't want anything to do with it. She'll do it if it helps me but she really doesn't want to do it."
Sid helping dad in the kitchen
Is your one-year-old son Sid taking an interest in cooking?
"Let me tell you, Sid is in the kitchen a lot - and he's already up stirring things in pans. When he finishes his food in the high chair he likes to now sit on my lap or on his grandfather's lap with a grown-up fork and he starts eating our food."
"You've got to be careful because there's too much salt in our food for him, but he polished off quite a few forkfuls of tuna pasta.
"There is no way that boy is not going to be a cook! It's going to happen, he has such a massive interest in food."
Log on to Gregg Wallace's Showme.fit, a weight loss and fitness subscription website costing £7 per month with exercises, recipes and healthy living advice.
