How the ‘Chopped’ Judge Lost 40 Pounds

“It was important for me to be healthy not only for the way I look or feel but also for the message that I was sending to my kids,” Maneet said in an interview with Parade. “I was telling them it’s OK to be overweight and not take care of yourself, and that’s not the message I want to send them.” 

But as a chef, Maneet couldn’t do what most people do and turn to a special kind of diet. “I couldn’t go on a restrictive diet like keto or paleo because I eat for a living,” she said. Fair point! Rather than limiting the types of foods she ate, Maneet decided to track her calories with the help of an app. “I kept to 1,200 calories a day, which would pretty much start with me logging my two glasses of wine and two pieces of chocolate, so I knew what I had left,” she said.

In addition to tracking calories going in, Maneet also took control of the calories she burned by making sure to take at least 10,000 steps every day. Now, she says the changes she made in order to lose weight are just a part of her everyday life. “If I’m at the airport and the lounge is over there, I’m like, ‘No, I haven’t done my steps.’ So I walk from one end of the airport to the other with my suitcase.” Impressive!

All of that hard work has definitely paid off for Maneet. She lost 40 pounds as a result of her efforts — mission accomplished! But that’s far from the only thing Maneet has accomplished over the past few years.

In addition to appearing regularly on Chopped, Maneet has also been working on her latest cookbook, Chaat: Recipes from the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India, which is slated to be published in October of 2020. The book was inspired by an epic cross-country railway journey where she encountered all types of food from all over India. Plus she and her husband run two restaurants in Nashville. Talk about staying busy!

You can catch Maneet on episodes of Chopped, which airs on the Food Network Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.