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CNN Live Today

Interview With Subway's Jared Fogle

Aired January 30, 2003 - 11:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


WHITFIELD: Well, you've seen the commercials before, right, a guy named Jared touting the weight loss benefits of Subway sandwiches? But is the Subway diet really a healthy way to slim down and shape up?
CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now with some insight on whether it works, and whether it's good.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Whether any of us should do it.

WHITFIELD: Right.

COHEN: It certainly worked for Jared Fogle. As Fredricka said, you've probably seen the ads. Jared Fogle went from 425 to 190 pounds and he did it in just under a year.

There you see him before and there you see him after. Let's look specifically at what Jared did. Let's look at what he ate.

For breakfast, Jared just had coffee, which some people think that's not such a great idea. You ought to be eating a little bit more than that.

For lunch, he had a six-inch turkey sub that had a little bit of mustard, no cheese, lots of veggies, some baked potato chips, and a diet soft drink.

For dinner, he had a 12-inch veggie sub, and he also had a diet drink. No mayo, no cheese, none of that.

Now, let's talk about some of the downsides of this diet. There's not a lot of variety here. I don't see any fruits. I talked to some experts about it. They say it's not necessarily unhealthy, but, for example, where's the dairy? Why didn't he have skim milk instead of having a diet soft drink?

It worked for him because it's really simple -- portion control. He didn't eat very much. And I know this comes as breaking news to everyone, but when you don't eat very much and you walk one and a half miles a day, which is another thing he did, which is crucial, you're going to lose weight. So Jared is a smart man. He didn't eat very much, and what he did eat was low fat.

WHITFIELD: And so, if you are to follow the footsteps of Jared, does it mean you have to eat the very specific things that he ate?

COHEN: No. There is no magic in what Jared did. What Jared did was he ate the turkey, he ate the vegetables. He cut down on his calories enormously. He just didn't eat very much. If you can think of another way to do that, if you'd prefer to do tuna fish with low fat mayo, that may be the way that you want to do it. But he just did very small portions, he did low calorie, low fat, and he exercised, which is so crucial. He walked at least a mile and a half pretty much every day.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Exercise is crucial. We always hear that from a lot of dietitians and nutritionists. All right. Thanks very much, Elizabeth. Appreciate it.

Well, now, let's hear from Jared Fogle himself about his weight loss story. He is now spokesman for Subway sandwiches, the sandwich shop, and he joins us from Montgomery, Alabama. Good to see you, Jared.

JARED FOGLE, SUBWAY SPOKESMAN: Good morning. How are you doing?

WHITFIELD: I am doing good. So is this something you set out to do? You saw the Subway sign, you saw the advertisement of lean sandwiches, and you thought, You know what, this is the way that I'm going to lose weight?

FOGLE: It was. I mean, I actually had the convenience, initially, of living right next door to a Subway restaurant when I was in college at Indiana University, and I happened to go in there one day -- this was after I struggled for years and years of trying to get the weight off, and trying to various diets that I would fail on each time, and picked up a nutritional brochure. I added up the fat and the calories, and said, You know, if I were to eat a six-inch turkey and foot long veggie, but if I hold the cheese and the mayonnaise and the oil and do the baked potato chips and the diet soft drink, as you guys mentioned, maybe this could work.

And sure enough, it did, and it was just a little bit -- thinking outside the box. And for the first time, I think, I actually found something that was low fat and low calorie, but really tasted really, really good to me, and that was the big key.

WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about the quantities, because Elizabeth was just mentioning that you really didn't eat a whole lot. If you had a turkey sandwich at lunchtime, then you follow it up with a veggie sandwich for dinner, not a whole lot in terms of caloric intake. What was the formula, and how did you come up with this? Did you get some guidance from a nutritionist or your doctor or anything?

FOGLE: Well, my dad is actually a family physician, he is a doctor. So growing up, I always knew what I should be eating, what I shouldn't be eating. And it was a matter of just finally saying, You know, I need to get definitely below 2,000 calories for me, and I tried to get around 1,500 and also with the low fat as well, which was about 15 or 16 grams of fat a day.

And that was just a good combination for me. I was able to function on it still. And the reason I didn't do the breakfast was -- I was a college student. I was -- I wasn't waking up until 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning, so my first meal was lunch. But if I was up early, I would have a bowl of cereal with some skim milk, I would have a piece of fruit.

And I definitely encourage other people who are thinking about doing this to definitely consider doing a small breakfast and -- keep in mind, most people don't weigh 245 pounds, let alone need to lose 245 pounds like I did.

It was extremely unhealthy for me to be 425 pounds. I was morbidly obese, and I needed to do something. And so I encourage people to maybe do what I did in moderation. Rather than the burgers and fries, rather than a pizza, rather than the hot dogs and all that kind of stuff, to substitute in the low fat Subway sandwiches, you too are going to have quite a bit of success.

WHITFIELD: So in moderation, but you did couple it with exercise, which really is very important.

FOGLE: Absolutely.

(CROSSTALK)

FOGLE: Absolutely. The exercise is a key component, and you have got to have both.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, hold on a second. Let's bring in Elizabeth back into this equation. When we talk about exercise and eating right in moderation, it sounds like this is a formula that really worked for him, perhaps a formula that would likely work for everybody, is you got to know when to say when, and you got to know that you've got to put in some exercise.

COHEN: Right. You have to put in exercise. I thought it was interesting that Jared did not exercise -- at the very beginning of his weight loss, he weighed 425 pounds. It was probably difficult. And, of course, you want to consult your doctor before you start anything. But I think one of the brilliant things about Jared's diet -- and exercise program is how simple it was. I mean, walking a mile and a half a day. Very simple. You don't need to run. You don't need to do high powered step aerobics. Just walking can be so important, and Americans just don't do it is the problem.

WHITFIELD: And Jared, so how are you managing to keep it off? Because it's been a few years now since you started that diet, and that really is the key. A lot of folks try fad diets or some sort of interesting diet regimen, and they end up gaining it all back. How are you able to keep it off?

FOGLE: Absolutely. Yes, I've been fortunate. I've had it off now for four years, and it was a matter of saying, once I got down to my goal weight of about 190 pounds, to not put it back on. And for me -- for a while there, I was eating Subway once a day every day for a couple months, and I slowly weaned myself off. And I just changed my mentality. I changed my lifestyle. I pretty much have whatever I want now, it's just in moderation, you know. And if I want pizza these days, I'll have pizza, just not an entire pizza. I may have a couple pieces of it. I try to keep up my walking...

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Now, quickly, though, Jared, you do kind of admit that this may have been a risky venture for you?

FOGLE: No. I think -- No. I think being 425 pounds was a risky venture. I think I needed to do what I had to do, and I just had to think outside the box a little. And it's worked for thousands of people now across the country as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jared Fogle, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much.

FOGLE: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 30, 2003 - 11:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WHITFIELD: Well, you've seen the commercials before, right, a guy named Jared touting the weight loss benefits of Subway sandwiches? But is the Subway diet really a healthy way to slim down and shape up?
CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now with some insight on whether it works, and whether it's good.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Whether any of us should do it.

WHITFIELD: Right.

COHEN: It certainly worked for Jared Fogle. As Fredricka said, you've probably seen the ads. Jared Fogle went from 425 to 190 pounds and he did it in just under a year.

There you see him before and there you see him after. Let's look specifically at what Jared did. Let's look at what he ate.

For breakfast, Jared just had coffee, which some people think that's not such a great idea. You ought to be eating a little bit more than that.

For lunch, he had a six-inch turkey sub that had a little bit of mustard, no cheese, lots of veggies, some baked potato chips, and a diet soft drink.

For dinner, he had a 12-inch veggie sub, and he also had a diet drink. No mayo, no cheese, none of that.

Now, let's talk about some of the downsides of this diet. There's not a lot of variety here. I don't see any fruits. I talked to some experts about it. They say it's not necessarily unhealthy, but, for example, where's the dairy? Why didn't he have skim milk instead of having a diet soft drink?

It worked for him because it's really simple -- portion control. He didn't eat very much. And I know this comes as breaking news to everyone, but when you don't eat very much and you walk one and a half miles a day, which is another thing he did, which is crucial, you're going to lose weight. So Jared is a smart man. He didn't eat very much, and what he did eat was low fat.

WHITFIELD: And so, if you are to follow the footsteps of Jared, does it mean you have to eat the very specific things that he ate?

COHEN: No. There is no magic in what Jared did. What Jared did was he ate the turkey, he ate the vegetables. He cut down on his calories enormously. He just didn't eat very much. If you can think of another way to do that, if you'd prefer to do tuna fish with low fat mayo, that may be the way that you want to do it. But he just did very small portions, he did low calorie, low fat, and he exercised, which is so crucial. He walked at least a mile and a half pretty much every day.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Exercise is crucial. We always hear that from a lot of dietitians and nutritionists. All right. Thanks very much, Elizabeth. Appreciate it.

Well, now, let's hear from Jared Fogle himself about his weight loss story. He is now spokesman for Subway sandwiches, the sandwich shop, and he joins us from Montgomery, Alabama. Good to see you, Jared.

JARED FOGLE, SUBWAY SPOKESMAN: Good morning. How are you doing?

WHITFIELD: I am doing good. So is this something you set out to do? You saw the Subway sign, you saw the advertisement of lean sandwiches, and you thought, You know what, this is the way that I'm going to lose weight?

FOGLE: It was. I mean, I actually had the convenience, initially, of living right next door to a Subway restaurant when I was in college at Indiana University, and I happened to go in there one day -- this was after I struggled for years and years of trying to get the weight off, and trying to various diets that I would fail on each time, and picked up a nutritional brochure. I added up the fat and the calories, and said, You know, if I were to eat a six-inch turkey and foot long veggie, but if I hold the cheese and the mayonnaise and the oil and do the baked potato chips and the diet soft drink, as you guys mentioned, maybe this could work.

And sure enough, it did, and it was just a little bit -- thinking outside the box. And for the first time, I think, I actually found something that was low fat and low calorie, but really tasted really, really good to me, and that was the big key.

WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about the quantities, because Elizabeth was just mentioning that you really didn't eat a whole lot. If you had a turkey sandwich at lunchtime, then you follow it up with a veggie sandwich for dinner, not a whole lot in terms of caloric intake. What was the formula, and how did you come up with this? Did you get some guidance from a nutritionist or your doctor or anything?

FOGLE: Well, my dad is actually a family physician, he is a doctor. So growing up, I always knew what I should be eating, what I shouldn't be eating. And it was a matter of just finally saying, You know, I need to get definitely below 2,000 calories for me, and I tried to get around 1,500 and also with the low fat as well, which was about 15 or 16 grams of fat a day.

And that was just a good combination for me. I was able to function on it still. And the reason I didn't do the breakfast was -- I was a college student. I was -- I wasn't waking up until 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning, so my first meal was lunch. But if I was up early, I would have a bowl of cereal with some skim milk, I would have a piece of fruit.

And I definitely encourage other people who are thinking about doing this to definitely consider doing a small breakfast and -- keep in mind, most people don't weigh 245 pounds, let alone need to lose 245 pounds like I did.

It was extremely unhealthy for me to be 425 pounds. I was morbidly obese, and I needed to do something. And so I encourage people to maybe do what I did in moderation. Rather than the burgers and fries, rather than a pizza, rather than the hot dogs and all that kind of stuff, to substitute in the low fat Subway sandwiches, you too are going to have quite a bit of success.

WHITFIELD: So in moderation, but you did couple it with exercise, which really is very important.

FOGLE: Absolutely.

(CROSSTALK)

FOGLE: Absolutely. The exercise is a key component, and you have got to have both.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, hold on a second. Let's bring in Elizabeth back into this equation. When we talk about exercise and eating right in moderation, it sounds like this is a formula that really worked for him, perhaps a formula that would likely work for everybody, is you got to know when to say when, and you got to know that you've got to put in some exercise.

COHEN: Right. You have to put in exercise. I thought it was interesting that Jared did not exercise -- at the very beginning of his weight loss, he weighed 425 pounds. It was probably difficult. And, of course, you want to consult your doctor before you start anything. But I think one of the brilliant things about Jared's diet -- and exercise program is how simple it was. I mean, walking a mile and a half a day. Very simple. You don't need to run. You don't need to do high powered step aerobics. Just walking can be so important, and Americans just don't do it is the problem.

WHITFIELD: And Jared, so how are you managing to keep it off? Because it's been a few years now since you started that diet, and that really is the key. A lot of folks try fad diets or some sort of interesting diet regimen, and they end up gaining it all back. How are you able to keep it off?

FOGLE: Absolutely. Yes, I've been fortunate. I've had it off now for four years, and it was a matter of saying, once I got down to my goal weight of about 190 pounds, to not put it back on. And for me -- for a while there, I was eating Subway once a day every day for a couple months, and I slowly weaned myself off. And I just changed my mentality. I changed my lifestyle. I pretty much have whatever I want now, it's just in moderation, you know. And if I want pizza these days, I'll have pizza, just not an entire pizza. I may have a couple pieces of it. I try to keep up my walking...

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Now, quickly, though, Jared, you do kind of admit that this may have been a risky venture for you?

FOGLE: No. I think -- No. I think being 425 pounds was a risky venture. I think I needed to do what I had to do, and I just had to think outside the box a little. And it's worked for thousands of people now across the country as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jared Fogle, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much.

FOGLE: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com