How Penn Jillette Lost over 100 Lbs and Still Eats Whatever He Wants | Big Think

How Penn Jillette Lost over 100 Lbs and Still Eats Whatever He Wants
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The story of the Penn Jillette's weight loss is, as you might expect from a Las Vegas entertainer, quite extreme. In fact, it was the radical nature of his diet that made the prospect of losing weight so attractive. After consulting with his doctor, who wanted to surgically remove a portion of Penn's stomach, a moderate diet was no longer an option.
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PENN JILLETTE:
Penn Jillette is a cultural phenomenon as a solo personality and as half of the world-famous Emmy Award­-winning magic duo Penn & Teller. His solo exposure is enormous: from Howard Stern to Glenn Beck to the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. He has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, MTV Cribs, and Chelsea Lately and hosted the NBC game show Identity. As part of Penn & Teller, he has appeared more than twenty times on David Letterman, as well as on several other TV shows, from The Simpsons and Friends to Top Chef and The View. He co-hosts the controversial series Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, which has been nominated for sixteen Emmy Awards. He is currently co-host of the Discovery Channel's Penn & Teller Tell a Lie and the author of God, No! and Presto!
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TRANSCRIPT:
Penn Jillette:  I lost over 100 pounds, a third of my weight. I was probably at my heaviest. You don’t ever weigh yourself at your heaviest but I was probably over 340, certainly around there. And now as I sit here in front of you I’m probably about 232. There’s a fluctuation of a couple of pounds, it goes back and forth. That’s a lot of weight. And I did not lose it for vanity. I was pretty happy with myself fat. I didn’t mind being fat. It wasn’t a big deal to me. I didn’t mind how I looked. But my health was getting bad. I didn’t even mind how I felt very much. I didn’t mind not being energetic and stuff. But I started having blood pressure that was stupid high like, you know, like English voltage, like 220 even on blood pressure medicine. And I have two young children. I’m an old dad. My daughter was born when I was 50. So I’m 61 now.
And my life expectancy, the actuary tables were crashing down and the doctor said that I had to get a stomach sleeve. It was a wonderful moment because it then gave me the option to go crazy. If you’re going to surgically do something to me to stop me from swallowing that means I don’t have to worry about doing a sane diet. I can get nutty. And being given the option to be nutty was all I needed. I realized that not only am I not good at moderation, I also don’t respect moderation. Anyone I know who’s able to do moderation I don’t like them. The people I respect and love are people that go wild. I mean I don’t want to go into Kerouac here but the mad ones. No one brags about climbing a nice little slope. You brag about climbing Everest. So once my friend Ray Cronise who I can Cray Ray, once Cray Ray told me that I could lose the weight but it was going to be really hard, it got really easy. Once you make something a challenge, you make something I can brag about, I can do it.
So I wrote this book about me. It is more first person singular in it than in a Donald Trump speech. I don’t’ write about you. If you take medical advice from a Las Vegas magician you are an idiot who deserves to die. You have to do this for yourself and with your proper medical professionals. That being said the first thing Cray Ray and I wanted to do was change my way of eating. It turns out everything about eating is habit. It’s all habitual. You think you have a natural inclination to like grilled cheese or donuts. Not true. All we eat is habit. So I wanted to take a couple of weeks and change my habit. And one of the really good ways to do that that worked tremendously for me is what’s called the mono diet which is just what you think from the root, eating the exact same thing. And I could have chosen anything. I could have chosen corn or beans or whatever. Not hot fudge but anything. And I chose potatoes because it’s a funny thing and a funny word. For two weeks I ate potatoes, complete potatoes – skin and everything and nothing added, nothing subtracted. When I say nothing subtracted I mean no skin taken off but also no water. You can’t cut it up and make it chips in a microwave. Don’t take water out of it. Leave the potato completely – so that means baked or boiled and not at any mealtime.
You don’t get up in the morning, eat a...

[pinkphoenix]

"I eat whatever I want, but what I want has changed profoundly". Simply brilliant. 👏👍

[makeitconscious]

"I now eat whatever I want but what I want has changed profoundly." That' it right there

[Naturalfreakz]

"I do not cheat, it's all part of my plan." - Been in the fitness industry for 15 years and that is the first time I've heard it phrased that way. I like this guy's way of thinking.

[Scott-J]

I read Penn's book, I tried the cray ray diet and failed. I went Keto/IF and succeeded. Without Penn's encouragement to go a little bit crazy I never would have found my way. For that, I will forever be grateful.

[christopherlynch]

Living longer for my kids is more important than chocolate cake.  That is the money quote.

[cjfontaine]

"Somehow I believed that my mind could stay healthy and happy even as my body was falling apart." - Penn

This. I needed to hear this.

[resaboutb.]

"It turns out everything about eating is habit. It's all habitual." This spoke *volumes* to me.

[-.-_]

"Being with my children was more important than eating chocolate cake." it right there!!!

[Marqan]

A very important thing he says is to sleep longer.
Even minimal sleep deprivation can disturb a weight-loss diet.

[IronWarriorEver]

Jokes on you guys, the 100lbs is actually in his chest pocket next to his handkerchief.

[Cydinium]

He ate potatoes for two weeks so he could reset his *taste* *spuds*

[rachelno]

This has to be my favorite conversation on weight loss I have ever heard. Thank you

[MagicVato]

I’ve been doing this diet for 2 years. It’s called being poor!

[suziequzie]

He had me at "potatoes". Then he nailed it when he said "hibernate".

[heavihandzthearch]

He explained his experience with his weight loss beautifully.

[denoftools]

"Be like a bear"? I think I can do that.

[mayanightstar]

"When you're losing weight, be a little bit like a bear" That is such a wonderful comparison. And such a soft way to talk about weight loss, a topic so wrapped up in self hate and loathing.

EDIT: IDK why this comment popped off but people keep misinterpreting it. The part of the quote I was impressed by was the gentleness of how it was phrased, not the intricate little details of weight loss science.

[mablestark]

He's the only person I've ever heard have a huge transformation like this and not be a douche. He's quite good at then for just about everything he does

[penpress]

I'm dumb enough to take medical advice from a Vegas Magician.

[tssnmm]

"I don't respect moderation." This lowkey spoke to me