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Chrissy Metz’s weight loss has got people talking. The actress who plays Kate Pearsons in the show This Is Us is a true role model for women. Irrespective of ages and sizes, Chrissy Metz’s weight loss story has been an inspiration for many. Moreover, the show’s creator, Dan Fogelman, has also supported her in her weight loss journey. She lost the weight at her own pace, got the big dollars, and got eventually showered with Emmy nominations! Read on to know how Chrissy Metz started losing weight and what keeps her going. Her story can surely inspire you to great health and fitness.
In This Article
Childhood Weight Loss Struggles – The Beginning
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Like many of us, Chrissy Metz struggled with obesity from an early age. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Chrissy said, “I was born chubby, and as I got older, at different times in my life I was thinner or more active or playing sports, but I was definitely always a chubbier kid. My friends could eat whatever they wanted to, but I knew that as a kid if I ate certain things I would totally gain weight. I had to be really cognizant of what I ate.”
She also opened up about the reality she faced as a kid. Even though her mother loved her, Chrissy always felt that her mother loved shopping and trying on clothes with her two younger and slimmer sisters. That must have been heartbreaking. And this is why she identifies with the character Kate Pearsons. She said, “I remember going to Weight Watchers when I was like 11. I was the youngest person in the damned room and it was awkward. My mom was trying to figure it out, but it’s a process. Kate wants her mom to be happy with her… [and] Rebecca (her on-screen mom played by Mandy Moore) just wants her daughter to be happy, and, of course, not be made fun of and just live a normal life. No matter what, somebody is going to pick on you for something. It’s a complicated dynamic and it is heartbreaking.”
Related: Rachael Ray’s Weight Loss Secrets – How Did The Celeb Chef Lose 40 Pounds?
Acting Happened By Chance – What Will Play A Crucial Role In Her Weight Loss
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Before her acting career began, Chrissy Metz was a preschool teacher. She told Marie Claire magazine that she took her sister to an audition and ran into an old teacher who encouraged her to audition as well. She said, “In my heart, I was like, ‘Yes, I would love to,’ but I was too afraid of my own shadow.” However, she took the plunge and got a call next day. And within a year, she headed to Los Angeles to audition for a pilot season. According to her mom, Metz said, “Mom, I’m going to live my dream.”
Related: How Did Rebel Wilson Lose Weight? Top Secrets Revealed!
Career And Weight Struggles
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After coming to LA and going on numerous auditions, Chrissy Metz started working as her agent’s assistant! It sure paid her bills but she told Marie Claire mag, “I was like, ‘This isn’t fair, I didn’t come here for that.” But sadly, she had to work as an agent for a while. In a candid interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Metz admitted it was more than painful to schedule auditions for other actresses. She said, “Scheduling auditions for the talent was like watching your boyfriend take out another woman every single day.”
Before landing her famous role in This Is Us, in her then agent’s advice, she lost a whopping 50 pounds only to put 100 pounds back on. According to Chrissy, she was suffering from depression and she felt like she was “eating my feelings”, meaning that she was chained by emotional eating. Which led to a lot of weight gain. On her 30th birthday, she had a panic attack and had to be rushed to the hospital. And this is when Chrissy Metz took a step back and had to rethink her weight loss strategy.
Stylecraze Says According to a study conducted on 424 University students, negative emotional eating is more prevalent among women than men (1). Related: Candace Cameron Bure’s Weight Loss Diet And Exercise Plan
How Chrissy Metz Lost 100 Pounds
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After the incident, she started taking things more seriously and more responsibly. All she did was go on a 2000 calorie diet. She started avoiding most of the unhealthy foods and started walking 20 minutes every day. And this made a huge difference to her physical and mental health. She lost 100 pounds in 5 months. Of course, this time she took time to lose the weight, but she was in a much better place mentally than before.
Stylecraze Says It is true that mental health improves with weight reduction. According to a study, people with obesity experienced reductions in symptoms of depression when they started losing weight (2).
Soon after, she landed a role in American Horror Story where she has to wear a fat suit. And this was the second eye-opener for her. Metz said, “It was sobering… I thought, ‘What if I become that heavy and can’t walk around or get stuck in the doorframe?’ I was like, ‘I don’t want this for me.’”
How Chrissy Landed The Job On This Is Us
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After American Horror Story, there was no looking back for Chrissy. She knew she would have to go on auditioning and she continued doing that. She told Glamour, “I kept auditioning, with no savings and no money, credit card debt gaining interest…I went on unemployment. I bought ramen noodles at dollar stores. I never had to — God forbid — live on the streets; I moved in with a roommate who told me, ‘Stay with me until you can afford rent. Don’t give up.’ People who supported me were like, ‘If you don’t have money for food, I’ll cook you dinner. You don’t have money for acting class? Let’s get together and read lines.’” it’s evident that there were good people around her who supported her when she needed it the most. In fact, she admitted in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that she had only 81 cents in her bank account and just enough fuel in her car to get to the audition of This Is Us. Also, when it came down to her and one other actress who auditioned for Kate’s role, she was sure they would not select her, as the other actress was slimmer! But Dan Fogelman’s sister was also struggling with weight loss and he knew that Chrissy would be best for Kate’s role.
Also, Chrissy was going through the same issues as Kate and therefore playing her was more relatable. Metz said, “She was a real woman who was really struggling, and all I could think was, ‘Oh my God, I’m Kate.’”
Chrissy told the Deadline, “The script was incredible from the moment I started it; it felt different. I desperately wanted an audition and begged my agent for the opportunity to read for casting. This was a role that finally broke down the real issues behind weight: inadequacy, codependent relationships and living in the shadows.”
Thankfully, the show was a hit and Chrissy was finally able to open up about her real struggles and also pay her bills! But is she bound by a contract to lose weight? Find out in the next section.
Is Weight Loss Mandatory In Chrissy’s Contract?
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Many speculated that Chrissy Metz has signed a contract where she is required to lose a certain amount of weight. However, that’s not the case. She told People that her contract does not require her to lose weight. But, she is definitely going to start living healthy as it is both Chrissy and Kate’s journey toward a better and healthier life. She told, “In our contract, it did state that that would be a part of it, to lose the weight in the trajectory of the character as she comes to find herself.”
She also said, “Why not have a motivation beyond me to get to a healthy weight? Every actor does that. We’re chameleons. We change, we grow as an actor… you lose weight, you gain weight, you change your hair or whatever.” Chrissy also stated on the Ellen DeGeneres Show that, “Like most actors, we are chameleons so we play different roles; like Christian Bale lost all that weight for The Machinist,’” That makes sense, right?
Why This Is Us Is Important For Chrissy Metz To Lose Weight?
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This Is Us happened at the right time for Chrissy. She said, “The show is educating people that people who are overweight don’t just sit in a corner eating themselves into oblivion. The food is the symptom, it’s not the issue. When you put the food down, the issues come up. And that’s what we need to be talking about.” And that’s why, she said, “We create art and movies and television…because someone somewhere needs to know that they’re not alone.”
Through the journey of Kate, Chrissy is losing weight and gaining confidence. And that’s what she wants for all of you who are struggling. And the best part is, many women can relate to her. She told Glamour, “I’ve had women — average women, older women, teenagers — who say to me, ‘Your role and this show has changed my life.’ That makes all the struggle, all the ramen noodles, all the times when I couldn’t pay my bills, all the times where I was like, ‘I can’t do this,’ worth it.”
Infographic: Things To Learn From Chrissy Metz’s Weight Loss Story
Chrissy Metz’s weight loss story strikes a chord with most of us. It is so relatable and makes a lot of us feel heard and seen. There’s a lot that we can take away from it and be more aware of our own bodies. Scroll down to check out the infographic for some valuable lessons from Chrissy Metz’s weight loss story.
Chrissy Metz’s weight loss can inspire millions of women as her journey to a fitter and healthier self has seen her face and overcome many challenges. She has not only faced bullying and struggled with self-confidence issues, but also battled depression and anxiety to get to where she has. A crash diet helped her lose 50 pounds, however, the weight bounced back and she gained a hundred. As an emotional eater, it was challenging for her to go on a diet again, but then she started the 2000 calorie diet and within 5 months, lost the 100 pounds she had put on. Many women can take inspiration and motivation from her to become fitter and healthier by making stronger and better choices.
