What follows is an excerpt of an interview of Star Jones Reynolds on Larry King. I've just picked out the piece regarding her 150 lb. weight loss.
KING: You lost 150 pounds.
REYNOLDS: Yes.
KING: In how long a period of time?
REYNOLDS: Two and a half years. I've tracked it. You know I told you that I've been on "The View" now the show's been on nine seasons. I realized that in those nine seasons I started out at about 225 pounds and I felt, you know, full figured fabulous woman but in those seasons I gained 75 pounds up to over 300 pounds all in front of the nation.
KING: Look at that. Look at that picture.
REYNOLDS: Yes, I know and then in the same time period within those nine years I lost 150 pounds.
KING: Did you make a decision one day?
REYNOLDS: I had no choice, Larry. I was killing myself. You know, I said in the book and I had to say these words in order to make the change, I went from full figured to fat, from fat to obese and from obese to morbidly obese. I felt good full figured. Morbidly obese I was unhealthy and dying.
KING: Did you ever consider like surgery?
REYNOLDS: I considered it all and that's what -- I went to my doctors. That's sort of what started the process after one of my girlfriends confronted me with the weight. She wasn't intimidated by Star. She came and said "You got to do something."
I went to every doctor that I knew. I went to a gynecologist, an internist, an endocrinologist, a cardiologist, bariatrics, I went to everything I was supposed to and for the first time in my life I shut up and I listened and I had them tell me what I was supposed to do.
KING: And what did you do?
REYNOLDS: The whole world wants to know that now right?
KING: And why? You write a book that's open. You write about a physical, emotional and spiritual journey to finding love.
REYNOLDS: And I leave that out.
KING: Why?
REYNOLDS: Because, you know, well first of all I like people to know that what you see here is the end result of two and a half years of a lot of work.
KING: But you can help them attain it by telling them how you attained it.
REYNOLDS: Not really in all honesty because until you take control of your own health and go to your own doctor and have your own doctor tell you what's going to work for you. I found that nothing that anybody else said to me would work. Remember, it was a girlfriend who came and confronted me.
KING: Let me ask some questions then. Were pills involved?
REYNOLDS: Let's say this I needed the help of doctors in all aspects of my life. I needed the doctors to do everything for me, fair enough.
KING: What was the toughest part? That's fair enough. What's the toughest part?
REYNOLDS: The toughest part was doing it in front of the world and recognizing that you had gotten to a point where if you didn't do something you were going to die.
KING: Was like the first week the hardest?
REYNOLDS: No. The first week wasn't the hardest to be honest with you. It's sort of that hump period when you know you have to change your eating habits and you have to get off your behind and exercise because no matter what you do to jumpstart it, if I didn't exercise and if I didn't change my eating habits, I would not be this size.
KING: Are there days you want to eat the wrong things?
REYNOLDS: No.
KING: No? And you want to exercise all the time?
REYNOLDS: No, I don't want to exercise all the time. I still despise it, not at all. I mean that has not changed but I do it because I need to do it. Today was a prime example. I can get whatever I want to eat and when you, you know, you forget to eat you sometimes pick up fast food.
That was me before, double Whopper with cheese, extra ketchup, extra mayonnaise, but it in half but not cut it in half because I was going to eat half, cut it in half so I could eat it with the left hand and eat the French fries with the right. No, I don't do that anymore. Today I chose a half a piece of roast chicken with rosemary and broccoli for lunch and I chose it and I felt very proud of myself.
KING: And liked it?
REYNOLDS: Loved it, absolutely.
KING: You lost 150 pounds.
REYNOLDS: Yes.
KING: In how long a period of time?
REYNOLDS: Two and a half years. I've tracked it. You know I told you that I've been on "The View" now the show's been on nine seasons. I realized that in those nine seasons I started out at about 225 pounds and I felt, you know, full figured fabulous woman but in those seasons I gained 75 pounds up to over 300 pounds all in front of the nation.
KING: Look at that. Look at that picture.
REYNOLDS: Yes, I know and then in the same time period within those nine years I lost 150 pounds.
KING: Did you make a decision one day?
REYNOLDS: I had no choice, Larry. I was killing myself. You know, I said in the book and I had to say these words in order to make the change, I went from full figured to fat, from fat to obese and from obese to morbidly obese. I felt good full figured. Morbidly obese I was unhealthy and dying.
KING: Did you ever consider like surgery?
REYNOLDS: I considered it all and that's what -- I went to my doctors. That's sort of what started the process after one of my girlfriends confronted me with the weight. She wasn't intimidated by Star. She came and said "You got to do something."
I went to every doctor that I knew. I went to a gynecologist, an internist, an endocrinologist, a cardiologist, bariatrics, I went to everything I was supposed to and for the first time in my life I shut up and I listened and I had them tell me what I was supposed to do.
KING: And what did you do?
REYNOLDS: The whole world wants to know that now right?
KING: And why? You write a book that's open. You write about a physical, emotional and spiritual journey to finding love.
REYNOLDS: And I leave that out.
KING: Why?
REYNOLDS: Because, you know, well first of all I like people to know that what you see here is the end result of two and a half years of a lot of work.
KING: But you can help them attain it by telling them how you attained it.
REYNOLDS: Not really in all honesty because until you take control of your own health and go to your own doctor and have your own doctor tell you what's going to work for you. I found that nothing that anybody else said to me would work. Remember, it was a girlfriend who came and confronted me.
KING: Let me ask some questions then. Were pills involved?
REYNOLDS: Let's say this I needed the help of doctors in all aspects of my life. I needed the doctors to do everything for me, fair enough.
KING: What was the toughest part? That's fair enough. What's the toughest part?
REYNOLDS: The toughest part was doing it in front of the world and recognizing that you had gotten to a point where if you didn't do something you were going to die.
KING: Was like the first week the hardest?
REYNOLDS: No. The first week wasn't the hardest to be honest with you. It's sort of that hump period when you know you have to change your eating habits and you have to get off your behind and exercise because no matter what you do to jumpstart it, if I didn't exercise and if I didn't change my eating habits, I would not be this size.
KING: Are there days you want to eat the wrong things?
REYNOLDS: No.
KING: No? And you want to exercise all the time?
REYNOLDS: No, I don't want to exercise all the time. I still despise it, not at all. I mean that has not changed but I do it because I need to do it. Today was a prime example. I can get whatever I want to eat and when you, you know, you forget to eat you sometimes pick up fast food.
That was me before, double Whopper with cheese, extra ketchup, extra mayonnaise, but it in half but not cut it in half because I was going to eat half, cut it in half so I could eat it with the left hand and eat the French fries with the right. No, I don't do that anymore. Today I chose a half a piece of roast chicken with rosemary and broccoli for lunch and I chose it and I felt very proud of myself.
KING: And liked it?
REYNOLDS: Loved it, absolutely.