‘Dateline’ Correspondent Josh Mankiewicz Shares How He Lost 70 Pounds
Josh Mankiewicz of Dateline fame opened up about losing 70 pounds.
He lost the weight after initially losing 47 and gaining it back.
He also shared his thoughts on drugs that help with weight loss, like Ozempic.
Dateline correspondent Josh Mankiewicz lost nearly 50 pounds decades ago, and over time, it returned. Now, after a second significant weight loss of 70 pounds, the 69-year-old is sharing what worked and how he plans to maintain it.
Initially, in 1998, Mankiewicz tried the era’s popular Atkins diet, which is a low-carb diet that focuses on high protein and high fat intake. He lost 47 pounds on the eating program, he told People. But when he stopped following it, his results dwindled.
“It’s tough to say goodbye to carbs forever, particularly when your ancestors invented the pierogi,” he told People. “So over time, I put weight back on and every year I’d go in for my physical, and my doctor, she’d be like, you have got to work on that.”
So, in 2023, it was back to the drawing board.
“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 explained. “This wasn’t any particular diet, it was essentially just cutting out all of the things that we all sort of intuitively know that we’re not supposed to eat.”
That included giving up bread, potatoes, pasta, desserts, and fast food, among others, he said. And rather than taking the high-protein route, he loaded his plates up with extra green vegetables. “That seemed to do it,” he said.
The TV personality also opened up about the possibility of using a prescription weight loss injection like Wegovy or Ozempic (the latter of which is a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes). He knew that medication was an option, but ultimately decided against it.
“Giving myself a shot every week did not seem like something that I wanted to do,” he explained. “And the idea of actually changing the way I ate seemed like a better idea. I’m glad that I was able to do it just on willpower. But sometimes people need help and there’s nothing wrong with that too.”
By the end of the year, Mankiewicz lost 70 pounds. “I felt great,” he recalled. And he’s maintained the change by sticking to his new eating patterns. “Now, I’ve pretty much permanently changed the way I eat because I’ve managed to adjust to this pretty well in terms of not craving any of that stuff that I used to love so much,” he said.
He also incorporated exercise into his lifestyle with the help of a Peloton spin bike, gifted to him by his wife. After learning about a man who turned his health around with 100 rides, he was inspired to complete a streak of his own.
“I thought to myself, could I do 100 rides in 100 days? So I did. I ended up doing like 184 days straight, which was hard being on the road as much as I am for Dateline,” he said. “I didn’t really think of it as being difficult at the time. But generally, once I start on something, I finish it. And I was able to keep it going. It was good to get into a routine.”
Mankiewicz credits support from his community on and offline for keeping him motivated.
“It definitely helps to have other people supporting you. All my friends here in Los Angeles all told me how great I look, which definitely helped,” he said. “And I could see it on the air. Deep down, I’m shallow. I care a lot about how I look on TV.”
“I got a whole new wardrobe,” he continued. “I had to throw out a bunch of stuff and that was kind of fun. And now when I turn on Dateline, I only flinch at what the murderers are doing, not what I look like.”
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