14 DAY TRIAL // When “Big Love” star Ginnifer Goodwin said she’s been on Weight Watchers since the tender age of 9, people immediately assumed she’s been suffering from an eating disorder all along. Far from it, she says in a recent interview with People magazine.
Upset that people assumed she was either sick or dieting for most of her life, Goodwin decided to speak up and address the issue before rumors truly got out of control.
As it happens, she says, she’s never been on a diet her entirely life – and that’s mostly thanks to the Weight Watchers program, which has helped her lose weight, stay healthy and keep that weight off.
She knows some actresses would do anything to be thin, including not having entire food groups for years in a row, but Goodwin doesn’t believe in dieting.
What she does believe in, though, is healthy eating, moderation and getting plenty of exercise, all of which are things she learned with Weight Watchers, when she enrolled in the children’s program aged 9.
“I was so shocked when it was this whole, ‘Ginny’s been on a diet since she was 9 years old! I was like ‘No!’ I’ve never had body issues, I’ve never had an eating disorder. I’ve never had to go on a diet and that’s because of Weight Watchers,” the actress explains.
Yet she did have an issue when she was young: she was considerably overweight, but, luckily, she realized she needed help just in the nick of time.
“I began to identify myself as fat. At 9 years old I weighed about 10 lbs. less than what my weight is at 32. I needed to get help,” she says.
She went to her mother to ask for help, and the both of them saw Ginnifer’s doctor, who recommended she enroll with Weight Watchers. It was a lifestyle change, not a diet, she stresses.
“You don’t have to go through that horrible yo-yo cycle of binging. I’ve always been able to satisfy my cravings; it’s just a matter of balancing,” she says of whether she’s now having any trouble staying in shape.
As for the way other women in Hollywood diet, Goodwin likes to call it the “Cocaine and Cigarettes Diet.” It’s unhealthy, it’s very dangerous and, last but not least, it will lead to yo-yo-ing weight, she says.