Top Chef star Gregory Gourdet spent the second half of 2021 on a weight loss journey. Earlier this month, Gourdet shared photos of his success and offered some inspirational words in his caption. Gourdet, 46, rose to fame as a finalist on two seasons of Top Chef and wrote the best-selling book, Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health.
Gourdet’s Jan. 11 Instagram post included two before-and-after photos, as well as a recent picture of the chef flashing a peace sign to the camera. During his “pandemic weight loss journey,” Gourdet lost 40 pounds, going from 212 pounds to 172. He “gained a good amount of weight” in 2020, after gyms closed and he suffered a torn meniscus. At his highest weight, he “pressed the reset button” in July 2021.
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At first, nothing was working, including yoga and intermittent fasting. So instead, he walked on a treadmill until his therapist told him he could run again and went on a keto diet. He extended his fasting to 24 hours a few days a week, and he began losing weight, Gourdet wrote.
After thanking everyone who helped and supported him, Gourdet added a disclaimer. “Reminder that health isn’t measured by weight,” he wrote. “Thick or thin, always love yourself. Live in whatever body you feel comfortable in and don’t compare yourself to people on the internet. We all come in different shapes and sizes and can all do different things in our bodies.”
In the end, Gourdet noted that he still has a “very long road” to recovery. “Need to be in shape to open [his Kann restaurant]. There’s gonna be lots of long days and stuff to lift and move around,” he wrote.
Gourdet was a finalist on Bravo’s 12th and 17th seasons of Top Chef. He owns the pop-up restaurant Kann. Last year, he published his book Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health with J.J. Goode. He has appeared on several Top Chef spin-offs and even played himself in an episode of Portlandia. He will next be seen in an episode of Luda Can’t Cook, a new Discovery+ series featuring rapper Ludacris learning to cook from experts. In his episode, Gourdet and Alain Marire share Haitian food and culture with Ludacris. New episodes will be released on Feb. 12.
