Janet Jackson’s weight loss struggles are infamous. She revealed at the Hollywood premier of Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? that she will be writing a book detailing her struggles with weight and yo-yo dieting. She says,

“I’m really coming from the soul with it, and what I was going through at different times in my life and what possibly brought it about for myself”

Last year before her 60 lb weight loss, she told Extra, “I could not believe how big I was, how heavy I really was. I would see myself in the mirror, but I wouldn’t look too often. I didn’t want to get used to that image.” In her diet book, Janet will reveal how she lost the weight “nutrition wise” but qualifies that “its different for everyone.”

Janet’s diet plan is a 3 meal, 2 snack, 1300-1600 calorie-day diet plan. She initially used a food delivery service, but now has a personal chef prepare her meals. Btw, Ricki Lake also attributes her diet success to a food delivery service. Janet’s diet also contains protein with every meal and snack to help curb hunger.

Celebrity Diet Doctor Weigh in…
When it comes to weight loss, you can set goals or you can set up behaviors that make weight loss “inevitable.” Both Ricki Lake and Janet Jackson set themselves up for success by using a food delivery service. When you implement the right behaviors you make achieving your goals second nature. This applies not only to the limited confines of weight loss, but to the larger arena of life.

A diet strategy used by Hollywood celebs, including Janet Jackson and Jessica Alba, is to include a serving of protein with every meal, about 30% of total calories consumed. Studies show that higher protein diets (30% protein) not only help with initial weight loss but also help keep the weight off.

Why does protein help with weight loss?

1. Preserve muscle mass as you lose weight. When you lose weight on any diet, you lose both fat and muscle. Higher protein diets (30% protein), however, do a better job at preserving muscle mass and your metabolism. Remember one pound of muscle burns approximately 30-50 calories per day so you want to keep your metabolism up by preserving as much muscle as possible.
2. Promote loss of body fat. Higher-protein lower-carb diets promote loss of body fat, due to the lower insulin response of a lower carbohydrate diet. Remember more insulin promotes packing on fat.
3. Metabolic advantage of protein. There is a caloric cost of digesting food called the thermogenic effect and the caloric cost is highest for protein. It takes about 30% of a protein’s caloric value to digest it, while it only takes about 2% of a fat’s caloric value. Our bodies are a lot less efficient at digesting protein, compared with carbs and fats, so less overall calories are available to the body.
4. Protein helps curb appetite. Protein makes you feel “full” and curbs your hunger more effectively than carbs or fat.

Remember balance is the key. Your body also needs carbs and fats for optimal health. While these stars incorporate protein with every meal, their diets are also rich in unprocessed carbs and healthy fats to keep their bodies in top form.

One year after a much publicized 60 lb weight loss, Us Weekly reports on how Janet has successfully maintained her great shape and kept the weight off. She recommends “eating light” and does not believe eating is about deprivation. She admits to having “cheat days” and handles her cravings by having “a little bit of it” but making sure to get back on track by “doing a little extra exercise.” While she continues to work with her nutritionist, she has now hired a chef to prepare her meals instead of using a food delivery service as she did last year. Btw, she used freshdining.com which is the same food-delivery service that Rickie Lake used to lose weight.

Janet Jackson’s Diet Plan
It’s a 1300-1650 calories-a-day meal plan with 3 meals and 2 snacks.

• Breakfast
  4 egg whites with 1 yolk and half a grapefruit or 3 small oatmeal protein pancakes with sugar-free maple syrup and 2 slices of turkey bacon.
• Midmorning snack
  Protein shake
• Lunch
  Mixed green salad with grilled zucchini and 4 ounces of grilled chicken with olive oil and lemon pepper dressing or 4 ounces of tuna salad mixed with Dijon mustard and wrapped in lettuce, and an apple.
• Midafternoon snack
  6 ounces of cottage cheese and berries or 12 almonds.
• Dinner
  5 ounces grilled tilapia with half a cup of wild rice or 5 ounces of ahi tuna with grilled asparagus.

Janet Jackson’s Workout
While she was losing weight she was doing about an hour of exercise six days a week and now, in maintenance mode, she is doing about half that. Her trainer, Tony Martinez, describes her workout routine:

• Interval Training mixing cardio and resistance work. “She’ll walk on the beach for a minute, then side-shuffle for 30 seconds, then run for a minute.” “Next we got to a reverse lunge with 3 pound weights for 30 reps, and back to a run again.”
• Sports “We hit tennis balls. If she misses, she has to do pushups. If she misses again, it;s walking lunges around the court.”
• Dancing “Rehearsal is a big workout. It’s cardio and lasts for 8 hours.”

Judging from her diet plan, she curbs her hunger by eliminating processed carbs and having a good amount of protein with each meal. It’s obviously a plan that works for her. Way to go Janet!