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The Daily Dish Top Chef

Top Chef Alum Richard Blais Shares Dramatic "Before" Photo — and the Diet Change He Made to Shed 60 Pounds

The Bravo's Top Chef alum changed what — and when — he eats.

By Tamara Palmer
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Richard Blais cuts a slim figure that belies the fact that he is behind several restaurants specializing in comfort food, like his fried chicken specialty shop, the Crack Shack. But the Bravo's Top Chef alum, and Top Chef: All Stars winner, is frank about his past battles with weight loss as well as how he did it.

How to Watch

Watch the Top Chef Season 21 premiere on Wednesday, March 20 at 9/8c on Bravo and next day on Peacock.

He told People that he made permanent changes to his diet, including cutting out late-night eating sessions, and he started running in the mornings. One big motivation was that his wife was a trainer.

"To get the girl, I had to turn it around," he said.

He has found that his exercise routine makes him feel as satisfied as binging used to feel.

“The same feeling I would get from eating a whole pizza and bottle of wine, I get from running now,” he explained. He's also swapped the off-hour pizzas for more grains like quinoa.

Making small changes yielded large results, as you can see from a photo he recently shared on social media.

"Here I am many years ago plus 60 pounds at least from where I’m at today," he wrote in an Instagram post, which he paired with a photo of himself from the past. "I remember just waking up uncomfortable; all the time. Posting this today to inspire some resolutions to keep going, namely mine.

Check out Richard's "before" pic below.

Instead of going for fad diets, it's these incremental changes to what and when he ate that made all the difference.

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