Shonda Rhimes showed off her 127-pound weight loss at the 2016 White House Correspondents Dinner, where she looked dazzling in a form-fitting gold dress.
Before walking the red carpet, Rhimes posted an Instagram selfie, where she looked like a princess in a glamorous evening gown that spotlighted her stunning weight loss.
Rumors have swirled that Shonda’s weight loss was due to gastric surgery, but she insists diet and exercise were her secrets, as Celebrity Health Fitness has reported.
“I changed everything I ate, and I hated all of that,” said Rhimes. “I hate exercising and I did that, too. I hated it the whole time. Once I decided it wasn’t gonna be fun, I lowered my expectations, and it got kind of easier.”
The mom of two girls added: “I have some little kids and I want to be around for them.”
Shonda, who had been obese her entire adult life, said she never set out to lose weight, but slimmed down naturally after deciding to take better care of her health, Examiner reported.
“It was a complete byproduct of the whole thing,” said Rhimes, who detailed her weight loss in her book, Year Of Yes.
“It wasn’t the goal. One of the yeses was, ‘I can’t say yes to everything and not say yes to taking care of myself and my health.’ That came from having an epiphany.”
Shonda continued: “I work my butt off at work and I work hard at being a mother, so why do I think losing weight would be easy?”
It wasn’t easy, but Rhimes dropped 127 pounds during the past year by drastically cutting portion sizes and limiting processed junk, eating healthier foods, and exercising.
The award-winning creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal got serious about weight loss after a humiliating airplane incident when she realized she was too fat to fit the seat belt on her first-class airplane seat.
“In 2014 I get on a plane to New York,” Shonda Rhimes recounted the defining moment in her new book, Year of Yes.
“I’m a fancy TV writer, so I have a big first-class comfy seat. I grab the seatbelt and – well it’s gotta be broken. Right? RIGHT? I do not have a broken seat belt. I am literally too fat for a first-class airplane seat belt.”
At that instant, Rhimes realized she had let her emotional overeating lead her to dangerous obesity.
“Food makes you feel better. It numbs you,” wrote Shonda. “Being numb no longer suits me. I could spend my life thinking, ‘I wish I could lose weight,’ or ‘I’m going to,’ or ‘I’m trying to.’ I couldn’t be the whiner anymore.”