Jason Alexander Won't Pig Out at a Super Bowl Party

How is the diet going?
Good, really good ... I'm down 12 pounds and it was a painless as anything I've ever done in my life. It has been so ridiculously easy compared to what I anticipated it might be. It does not feel like a diet program. I've done every diet program there is, I've tried every diet program and I've had some success with all of them. But it feels a very different approach and therefore I'm hopeful it will have very different results.

I imagine you're not really missing any favorite foods, then, if it's so easy.
You can't really miss anything because unlike other things that I've done – I've done programs where there is no carbs, there's no sugar, there's no food – there is no elimination fear. There's lots of carbs, there's lot of sugar and actually really good sugar.

Are you cooking for yourself at all?
I am ... the way I augment [the Jenny Craig meals] with vegetables ... I actually used to like to cook. I've become a master wok chef at this point. I tend to mix a lot of my dinner entrées into a wok with my vegetable content and I've augmented the dishes and you can get pretty creative with the stuff ... The Jenny program, I believe, sets you up for a system of how to deal with food for the rest of your life ... You can certainly take the principles of what they are doing and at some point and say I don't need all of their foods to do that. Otherwise, I would say it's a little bit of sham – if you only what they give you, you're fine, if you eat like a real person, you're dead. I wouldn't be willing to advocate for that. But that's not the situation at all.

Is that why you chose Jenny Craig?
I turned 50, I had a very thorough checkup with my doctor. He said, 'Look, you're really, really healthy. The one or two issues that you have are all related to weight, you've got to get it off.' I had presented myself to Jenny Craig people based on another situation, which had to do with a character I'm performing in Vegas with Donny Clay, who is a bad motivational speaker. And we were looking for a branding partner. So we had approached Jenny Craig, thinking they might want to hook up with me as Donny. They said, 'You know listen, we'd love to talk about that, but in the meantime, can we talk to Jason?' And Jason was a little reticent because of my stupid assessment of them that it was a female based product that was some how not appropriate for me ... the rest of it all became surprises. Incredibly stupid to think they only have girl food. I don't even know what girl food is.

We like all kinds of food.
Yeah, isn't that amazing? And so of course the product itself is more than right for men. It's fantastic for men.

What has your family's reaction to all this been?
Wonderful. My wife has been a very patient women. My wife, at age 53, is in the best shape of her life. She's never had an issue about weight and she's been very patient with mine. It's not easy. You see someone who you love making choices that are not healthy and not attractive and you have to love them anyway. She's really thrilled and optimistic. She's been on me with previous attempts at doing this. She's rightfully a little reserved, but thrilled with what she's seen so far. My kids are having a blast with it. My kids are very, very active. But my older son wants to be an actor and is very much a leading man. He's got his mother's beautiful looks. But he has a propensity, like I do, towards weight gain. He's trying to nip it in the bud now while he's a teenager. Watching me do this, knowing how challenging it is, is saying a lot to him.

The Super Bowl is coming up, and it's a big food event. How will you deal with that?
I have a great advantage over a lot of guys, when it comes to a Super Bowl event, because I don't really drink. Alcohol is a big treat at a Super Bowl party. There is a certain amount of alcohol that you can incorporate into a Jenny Craig program – there's not a ton, I'll grant you. And frankly, if I were in maintenance phase, I could go to a Super Bowl party and be a pig and it would be OK, my body would assimilate and I'd go back on the program the next day. But in weight loss mode, I wouldn't want to do that to my system. The truth is, do I still like potato chips? Yes. Do I still like barbeque ribs? Yes. Pizza? Yes. Pretzels? Yes. All the crap at a Super Bowl party, they sing to my heart. That scenario alone, it's a hard day. It would definitely be a hard day to walk into that environment and resist all those things. I make no bones about it. And I don't have a magic wand for anyone in that situation. I know that right now the things that are making me happy are the way I look, the way I feel, the way I'm breathing, the clothes that are fitting, the things that people are saying to me, the relative speed with which I'm getting to goals. Those are so rewarding that I could muscle it through for a day at a Super Bowl party. And go, 'You know what? I'm going to take my vegetable plate. I'm going to keep some of my treats for the day and take them into that party. And if I really, really have to splurge, I'm going to make a giant bag of air popped popcorn and go that route.' Would you feel deprived? Absolutely ... You know, I got to do all that stuff for 50 years, My body is not going to see another 50 years if I continue to do it. I want time more than I want a potato chip right now.

So who do you like in the game?
For all kinds of reasons, and I know they are the underdogs, I would love to see New Orleans take the game. I just think, that city has been through so much and their trials and travails are reflected in the Haiti situation. I think it would be great for New Orleans.

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