Celebrity weight loss transformations often seem sudden, especially for actors and singers who can retreat from the public eye before unveiling a new physique. However, for news anchors, disappearing for months to focus on fitness is not an option. These individuals are constantly on our screens, allowing viewers to observe their weight fluctuations in real time. Broadcast journalists face considerable scrutiny, including comments about their weight. Despite the pressures, many news anchors have successfully navigated weight loss journeys in the public eye. Chris Wragge, a prominent figure in New York City's news landscape, is among them.
The Pressure of On-Screen Appearance
Being on camera non-stop adds pressure on news anchors who are overweight and want to make a change. As Chris Wragge told Page Six in November 2023, "the camera really does add 10 pounds." This awareness influenced his approach to maintaining a healthy weight while still enjoying food.
Chris Wragge's Motivation and Method
Wragge, who co-anchors "CBS News New York This Morning" and "CBS News New York at Noon" with Mary Calvi, recognized the importance of healthy eating, not only for his on-camera appearance but also to be a healthy father to his young children.
His wife, a nutritionist, played a crucial role in his transformation. "My wife's a nutritionist and I just stuck to a meal plan last year," he said. This commitment led to a significant change: "I lost 30 pounds. I feel so much better and I eat so much better because a lot of bad foods are what's going to kill us."
Moderation and Enjoyment
Wragge emphasizes moderation as the key to his success. He doesn't deprive himself of the foods he loves but ensures he takes care of himself throughout the year. "I’m not sitting back saying. ‘Oh I’m not going to have pumpkin pie,’ or anything like that - but I just make sure I take care of myself during the year now,” he said at an event at Cipriani.
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This balanced approach allows him to maintain his weight within a healthy range. “I can keep my weight within five pounds, plus and minus."
Staying Healthy for Family
The 53-year-old anchor's primary motivation is his family. “That’s why I want to stick around. So I’ll eat healthy. I’ll do all the things I need to do. I work out but I don’t want to lose the enjoyment of food,” he said.
Other Anchors' Journeys
Chris Wragge is not alone in his weight loss journey. Other news anchors have also shared their stories, offering inspiration and insights.
Al Roker
After more than two decades, it feels safe to say that Al Roker's weight loss story is one of success. The iconic weatherman underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2002, after years of struggling with obesity. At the time he went under the knife, Roker was 340 pounds and a size 54 waist. The medical intervention helped the star shed over 100 pounds, and he has continued to live healthfully in the years since. "It's still a struggle but I'm never going back," Roker wrote on Instagram in 2022 to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of his surgery.
Rachel Bogle
Journalist Rachel Bogle started her career as in-house host and emcee for the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever basketball teams, right after graduating from Indiana University. She then transitioned into radio and, in 2017, to television. Bogle spent five years at WTTV CBS4, working as the morning traffic anchor and a features reporter. It was during her years at the Indianapolis station that Bogle first decided to publicly document her weight loss journey. By the end of 2023, Bogle had dropped a whopping 50 pounds from her frame, which she proudly showed off in a body-hugging dress on her social media accounts that December.
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Jessica Larché
Jessica Larché is another local news anchor whose massive weight loss has been nothing short of inspiring for those who have followed the process. In fact, Larché's weight journey was such a success that she even turned it into a brand, Jessica on a Journey. She has a blog, podcast, and YouTube show (called "Decide to Live with Jessica Larché"), all centered on overcoming obstacles and finding wellness. For Larché, weight has long been an obstacle - though it never stopped her from achieving her dreams in broadcasting. At the time, Larché had long been using food as a coping mechanism to deal with her emotions, but she was rattled by the 2011 death of her father, who himself struggled with food addiction and morbid obesity. "I had reached 260 pounds," Larché said in an interview with Health Journal. "That's when I realized that I had a bad relationship with food. I wasn't exercising at all either and these choices were going to lead to a premature death."
Jeff Ehling
Reporter Jeff Ehling has been on television screens since 1986, when he began his career at WVGA, an ABC affiliate station in Valdosta, Georgia. When the scale climbed to 200 pounds in 2019, Ehling began to completely overhaul his diet and exercise routine. "You are seeing less of me on TV. No, I'm not going anywhere, there is just less of me to see. I lost 39 pounds!" he wrote in an op-ed for ABC13.
Elex Michaelson
Michaelson is the co-anchor of Los Angeles' FOX 11 News on weeknights, and yes, his pants bust open on live television. "I turned in the wrong direction, and my pants split in the back. Thankfully, I was sitting down and all of Los Angeles didn't get a view of my underwear. But, right then and there, I knew it was time for a change," he told Men's Health in 2021.
Michaelson's weight struggles started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he found himself stress eating while at the same time unable to go to the gym or partake in group sports. "I'm 6'5", and I started the pandemic at about 215 pounds. Around a year later, I was 230 pounds. My 'slim fit' suits didn't fit any more because I was no longer 'slim.' It became harder to button my suit jackets on the air," he said in the same interview.
Josh Mankiewicz
In May 2023, Mankiewicz once again decided to take charge of his eating, after years of unhappiness with his body. "I didn't like the way I looked. I didn't like the way I felt. So I just decided to go ahead and do it," he told People.
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Michael Strahan
At his biggest, Strahan weighed in at 285 pounds, thanks to heavy weights and a diet of fast food and pizza. "It just wasn't me," Strahan recalled to Men's Health. "And as I got older, I lost weight because I felt I didn't need the girth to help me when I was out of position on a play, I knew technique at that point. Now, however, he focuses his exercise - which includes high-intensity interval training - on function and flexibility. "I'm leaner," Strahan told Men's Journal in 2014.
Roxanne Vargas
"Intermittent fasting, or IF, you're hearing a lot about it," Vargas said in a pre-taped segment that aired on NBC 6 News in January 2020. "But it's been around for centuries, and you've seen the transformation for yourself right here. Yeah, that's me about a year ago and 30 pounds heavier. So many of you have been asking how I did it and this is part of it, IF."
Deborah Norville
In 2018, after losing 30 pounds, the Emmy winner spoke about the issue for the first time. "I felt terrible," she told People. Norville confessed to feeling negatively about her weight for a decade prior to losing weight. The turning point was, for her, finding out she had high blood pressure and was at risk of cardiac issues, which run in her family. "It took me about a solid three weeks of me being incredibly purposeful about avoiding sugar," she said in the interview. "You will be slack jawed about how much added sugar there is, when you start reading your labels. I looked at my half and half, and the second ingredient was corn syrup.