Weight Loss, Diet and Fitness Program

Blast from the past: Oh, how she suffers for her art.

Actress Renee Zellweger gained and then lost a reported 30 pounds, twice over, to play Bridget Jones, the pudgy and romantically challenged London thirty-something. For her reprisal of the frustrated singleton in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the 35-year-old went from a size 6 to a size 14 on a diet of hamburgers, doughnuts, protein shakes and sugar-laden desserts. Months later, she was back down to her trim and thin self.

But, with all that self-imposed suffering, even for her art, Zellweger’s plan is not a good example of balanced living, say health and wellness experts. And, worse yet, they say the actress may be doing long-term and hidden harm to her body.
“It’s really not healthy mentally, psychologically or physically to go trough extreme changes in body weight,” says Dr. David Lau, professor of medicine at the University of Calgary and founding president of Obesity Canada.

Yo-Yoing Is Bad For Your Health
“On the health front, even short-term weight gain can increase the risk of sugar diabetes, lead to high blood fat and cholesterol and high blood pressure,” says Lau. Those consequences, in turn, can lead to increased risk of hearth attack and stroke, he says. The weight cycling, the up and down over time, can also be associated with increased health risks, says Lau, citing population studies.

For the 2001 movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” the five-foot-five-inch actress gained an estimated 15 to 20 pounds. For the sequel, she reportedly gained up to 40 pounds. Her weight, how much she gained and lost, is a matter of speculation because the Oscar winner has never publicly revealed what the scale said at her most plump and most lean moments.

But the fact she has managed to pull of the stunt twice may endear her to women and millions of impressionable teenage girls, who look at Zellweger as a role model for weight loss.
Lau cautions against that mentality. Many stars and models are actually under-weight, whit unhealthy body mass indexes, he says.