Lisa Lampanelli’s Dramatic Weight Loss: Comedienne Opens Up About Losing 107 Pounds

Comedienne Lisa Lampanelli’s dramatic weight loss is obvious, as her smaller frame shows evidence of shedding 107 pounds. The 53-year-old “Queen of Mean” had gastric-sleeve surgery in April, 2012, as Inquisitr previously reported, and she’s since shrunk her once 248-pound body.

Lampanelli spoke with Yahoo! Beauty about her weight loss and says she loves where she’s at now. Although she’s happy with her transformed look, the former Celebrity Apprentice contestant doesn’t care for the term “beautiful.”

“When it comes to confidence, I think the term is ‘compare and despair.’ If you compare yourself to someone who you think is better than you, you’re going to always feel like a loser. If you compare yourself to someone who you perceive is worse than you, you’re going to feel a false sense of one-upmanship. Stop it. Say, ‘I’m in the place I’m supposed to be.’ That builds confidence. That lack of comparison helps you succeed and feel good about yourself on your own terms.”

Losing so much weight was like “turning back the clock,” Lampanelli says.

“I turned back the clock. I’m reliving my life. I lost about 90 pounds in 9 months, and lost about 107 total. I just felt like I was 19 again and could do things over.”

After divorcing her husband, Lampanelli said she began doing things a lot differently, which “resulted in this pretty major transformation spiritually, and emotionally too.” Her standup comedy has transformed to a type of comedy that has “message of acceptance to it,” she shares. She tells New York Daily News that she doesn’t curse and yell as much off-stage as she did before. She says that she’s “more gentle” now. She still describes herself as an “insult comic through and through,” however!

The comedienne didn’t always have a weight problem. It all started after she went to college at 18 and used emotional eating as a way of coping with loneliness. It started a 32-year cycle of weight problems.

So, what has Lampanelli done for her dramatic weight loss besides getting surgery? She explains that the surgery isn’t all of it.

“Everybody focuses on a simple fix. Weight loss surgery is a tool but it’s not an easy, simple fix. It’s about the emotions. It’s not a trick. It’s not about willpower. It’s about every time you’re hungry: is it about emotional hunger or physical hunger. This is not a sound bite way of life, it’s an every day, every meal, wondering if you’re eating your feelings or if you’re eating for nutrition. It’s not, ‘Give up a certain food and you’ll lose weight.’ I gave up sugar, but it has nothing to do with the weight loss.”

Lampanelli has also joined yoga retreats and says people who are overweight aren’t that way because they love food, but because they’re not coping with something else inside. Getting rid of sugar from her diet has made her want to avoid dying from health issues — like her father did of cancer.

What does Lisa Lampanelli like most about her drastic weight loss? She says driving up to Macy’s and seeing what cute outfits she can buy at a good price is like a game to her.

What’s Lisa Lampanelli’s advice to those wanting to lose weight? She basically tells people to get to the root cause of what’s triggers emotional eating. She doesn’t deny there always being triggers around her, and that she tries to conscientiously eat something healthy if she feels a twinge of temptation for sugary treats.

[Photo by Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images for Friars Club]