Maria Menounos Reveals Her Struggle To Get Fit Almost Killed Her

On the surface, Extra correspondent and former actress Maria Menounos doesn’t look like someone who has struggled with weight issues. In a recent essay for xoJane, the television personality reveals her very personal struggle with her weight. It was such a struggle that during her battle she found herself on her death bed in a foreign country.

In her essay titled “I’m Maria Menounos, And Almost Dying Led Me To Finally Get Healthy,” the star documents her long struggle with weight. While in college, she delved into sweets because she was off of her parents’ “proverbial leash.” This lead to binge eating on candy, chips, pizza, fries, ice cream — you name it. At her biggest she was a size 14.

For Menounos, the addiction to food felt like a competition with other students. Challenging students to eating contests, she took pride in always winning. Eventually she grew to a size 14.

Of her eating habits she explained:

“I was so obsessed with brown sugar Pop-Tarts that, to this day, I won’t eat them for fear that the taste will get me addicted again. At dinner, I could down a whole pizza by myself. Two hours after dinner, I would have three Eggo waffles for dessert.”

At the end of her “eating game,” Menounos said that she weighed more than 160 pounds. Feeling sick and lethargic from indulging in the wrong foods, in 1999 Maria decided to create her own diet. The diet, which she documents in her new book TheEveryGirl’s Guide to Life made her lose 40 pounds in the span of a year.

#MotivatedMondays! Here’s ur #EveryGirlsGuide excerpt & advice from my friend @GDeLaurentiis! http://t.co/2CNV1zcvB9 pic.twitter.com/ICsGKSJMSq

— maria menounos (@mariamenounos) May 26, 2014

Although she looked the part for her new gig at Entertainment Tonight, the fifteen-plus hour days and her “on the go” fast food habit she had acquired caused her to suffer from malnutrition and dehydration.

Menounos writes about her experience covering the Cannes Film Festival:

“I was 23 and found myself all alone in the corridor of a French hospital, shivering with a 105-degree fever. I didn’t speak French, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that when the doctor used the words ‘operation chirugicale’ and ‘terminale,’ he was talking about surgery and the possibility of death. It was the scariest experience of my life.”

Getting her life back on track wasn’t easy, but somehow Maria managed to stick to a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle. Now that healthy lifestyle doesn’t include daily fast food binges.

ABC News has highlighted the 11 steps that Maria took to living a healthy life.

• Make social hour your workout hour.
• Drink hot water.
• Always be moving.
• 75/25 plan
• Don’t attempt a 180
• Plan ahead
• Set reminders
• Sunday is “Prep Day.”
• Keep a food journal.
• Ban dieting.
• Set a curfew.

Menounos’ new book and diet regimen aren’t the only new things in her life. Back in May it was reported that she was leaving Extra after she booked a deal with E! The multi year deal with E! includes hosting a newsmag series, Untold with Maria Menounos, and the host will also be featured on roundtable series during Live From E! segments.

[Image via Parisa Michelle / Shutterstock.com]