MasterChef star Graham Elliot showed off his incredible 150-pound weight loss just eight months after undergoing gastric-sleeve surgery. The 6-foot-1 Elliot has slimmed down from 405 pounds to 255 pounds.
Graham shared his stunning before-and-after photo on Instagram March 7, writing, "Weight Loss Update: down 150 lbs, currently at 255."
Elliot said he no longer binge-eats because he's no longer physically able to consume as much food as he used to. Graham also works out every other day and runs regularly.
“In the past I would get stressed and ask craft services for cookies and candy,” Graham told People. “But now I know my stomach is the size of a banana and I need to have food that just gives me energy. So I can either have a moment of sweetness but feel really bad or I can order something delicious and light like sashimi.”
Graham underwent a sleeve gastrectomy (or gastric-sleeve surgery) in July 2013 and couldn't be happier with his dramatic weight loss. Elliot said he's surprised how quickly he shed the weight, because he thought it would take two to three years to lose 150 pounds.
In the gastric-sleeve surgery, three-quarters of the stomach is removed to create a small sleeve-shaped stomach, about the size of a banana. In 2012, comedian Lisa Lampanelli lost 106 pounds after undergoing the gastric-sleeve procedure. And Rosie O'Donnell recently lost 40 pounds just seven months after gastric sleeve.
Bariatric surgery has skyrocketed in popularity, as more medical experts embrace the procedure for producing dramatic weight loss and for reversing diabetes and heart disease. To learn more about whether bariatric surgery is right for you, check out Weight Loss Surgery For Dummies.
Elliott loves how much better he looks, but said getting healthy was his main priority. "It wasn't about just how I looked," he said. "Being healthy for my family was the trigger."
Elliott is so excited about his new-found energy that he wants to run the 2014 Chicago Marathon with fellow MasterChef judges Joe Bastianich and Gordon Ramsay.
