Kirstie Alley Interview with Oprah

Kirstie Alley: Interview with Oprah

The interview with Oprah Winfrey began after Kirstie strutted her new more toned body in a maroon bikini suit. The actress says that she now realizes that her biggest mistake was that of just letting herself go but that only makes the change more pleasant. 'I had a holiday mentality. I ate with wild abandon. I was eating six, seven, eight thousand calories a day', Kirstie told Oprah, adding that she only became aware of what had happened with her when she asked herself a simple question: 'I'm old, I'm fat. What am I worth?

The one good thing that came out of all the ordeal she's been through, she said, was that she is now more confident and more aware that people are never their bodies. 'I think women - I don't think we ever feel like we're good enough. We don't feel like we're thin enough or pretty enough or smart enough or work hard enough. And we are good enough. The bikini thing is neither here nor there, other than the fact, you know, I am 55 years old. So I thought - come on, we are all good enough. And we look good enough. And we are not our bodies.', she said after the bikini bit.

Nevertheless, the fact that she's changed so much over the past months is indeed a thing to be proud of, no matter how hard she had and will have to work for it: her diet is very strict, she has a personal trainer, does exercise and dances to keep fit and she quit smoking. 'We can decide to change anything – at any age. What I hope for all women is they feel good about themselves – they look the way they want to look', Kirstie's conclusion was.

Oprah: What did you used to binge on?

Kirstie: I wasn't a binger. I was just a massive eater.

Oprah: You ate volumes of food?

Kirstie: Volumes. You know, I've always worked out my whole life. I was an athlete. And when you are an athlete, that's probably the good thing. The best news about what's happening to me now is that my body is going back fairly easily…because of all my training.

Oprah: So do you still feel challenged? Do you only eat Jenny Craig food?

Kirstie: No, no, no, no, no. You eat fresh fruits and fresh vegetables and you drink lots of water. The great thing about the Jenny Craig food is…I'm just not going to not have cakes in my life at all. I'm not. So every day, if I go, "Ooh, I want something sweet"—I have this great little lemon cake or a chocolate cake or you can have carrot cake—you just get something so you don't plunge down into…that place of scarcity where, "Oh, I can't have anything," you know? And if I go out to eat, I order off of a menu. I have a lot of dinners and things that I go out to. But they've taught me how to do that. You know, I don't go berserk anymore.

Kirstie says the diet and exercise program has not only helped her to lose weight but to regain energy.

"When I was here in November, do you know at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon I would lay down and watch TV all tired and no energy. And now I have boundless energy. I don't go to bed 'til midnight and I get up at, like, 6:30 in the morning."