Graham Elliott, 'MasterChef' Judge, Loses 56 Lbs., Feels 'Amazing'
Graham Elliot knows good food. In addition to being an award-winning chef, he currently serves as a judge on Fox's "MasterChef." Elliot recently underwent surgery for a sleeve gastrectomy and has since lost 56 pounds. It's a new start for the father of three, who says he's never felt better.
"I started [weighing] 396 and I'm now at 340. That's even better than expected," Elliot told People magazine. "I feel amazing. I have a lot more energy. I'm able to play tag with my 6-year-old son, Mylo. He said, 'You're way faster than you were.' He's so excited."
Elliot decided to have the procedure in order to keep up with his three young kids, Mylo, 6, Conrad, 2-and-a-half, and Jedediah, 10 months. The three boys keep him quite active, as does his work on "MasterChef" and running his three restaurants in Chicago.
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"My biggest goal is to start running," Elliot said. "I'm super excited to run miles on a treadmill. I get inspiration from both these guys," he said of co-stars Gordon Ramsay and Joe Bastianich. "On the set, I've got them both talking about how they run marathons. They tell me, 'You've got to lose weight and change your life.'"
However, Elliot admitted that it hasn't been easy going from gourmet meals to eating very little.
"The hardest part is relearning how to eat. And temptation is still hard for me. If friends are eating fast food or baking fresh chocolate chip cookies, it's difficult not to grab even a tiny piece. Mentally, I've got to start thinking of that stuff as the enemy. We did a party the other night at one of my restaurants that was soul food – fried chicken and all these great things – and I didn't have one piece because I knew it wouldn't be worth it," Elliot said.
He now has a new goal in life: to complete the Chicago Marathon. He won't be doing it alone.
"'MasterChef' co-judge Joe Bastianich says he'll join me," Elliot said. "Maybe we'll get Gordon Ramsay out here as well."
"MasterChef" airs Wednesday nights on Fox.
