How Celebs Lose Weight (for Better or for Worse)

By Sharon Knolle
It's that time of year when everyone is trying to lose those extra pounds. You can take your cue-and some unusual dieting tips-from the stars, like Jersey Shore's Snooki, who relied on The Cookie Diet to lose weight after giving birth to baby Lorenzo.

While Snooki's approach still involved some sensible small meals, Anne Hathaway took a much more drastic method to achieve the look of a homeless, starving street waif in Les Miserables. The actress told Vogue that first she went on a cleanse (losing 10 pounds) then lived off of only two thin squares of dried oatmeal paste a day, losing another 15 pounds in two weeks. "I had to be obsessive about it. The idea was to look near death," she said. "Looking back on the whole experience-and I don't judge it in any way-it was definitely a little nuts."

For a healthier way to get back in shape, you can try other tricks from the stars that don't involve starving yourself. To fit into her skin-tight costume in Tron, Olivia Wilde (who's a vegan) took up martial arts and cut out two calorie-heavy items. "I love bread. I don't cut it out in general, but if I need to slim down that's an easy way to do it," she told Women's Health. Another tip from the star: "The fastest way to lose weight is to stop drinking. In two weeks, you'll lose five pounds."

To lose her baby weight, The Master star Amy Adams took pole-dancing classes. "I'll do anything to get off of that treadmill," the star revealed to the Daily Mail UK.

The Avengers star Scarlett Johannsson likes to jog in Vibram FiveFingers, those ugly shoes that reportedly help you hit a more natural stride. When she was getting in shape for her role as Black Widow, she added boxing and kettle-bell exercises.

After revealing she had diabetes, comfort-food queen Paula Deen made some big changes to the way she cooks and dropped 30 lbs. She told People she's bid adieu to mashed potatoes and added Greek salads and baked fish. "I do think differently now" about food, Deen said. "I'm more aware."

Alec Baldwin also shed 30 lbs. after learning he was pre-diabetic. The 30 Rock star called his yoga-instructor wife a "good influence." In addition to doing downward dog, Pilates, and spinning at SoulCycle, he says he also cut out sugar.

Jenny McCarthy's secret weapon: watermelon. As she tells Shape, "It helps you if you retain water. It's a natural diuretic… It's really filling and yummy." She also does yoga twice a week as well as strength training and running three to five times per week. "Besides the actual working out, food is the most important thing," she noted. "Especially in today's age how convenient fast food restaurants are, and how exhausted we are as mothers. It's too overwhelming that we sacrifice [healthy] food."

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Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures