!["Now I’m eating normal. It just takes so much less to fill me up.”](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/7f/ff/1361825364_4737_Untitled.jpg?itok=Uoy3sALV ""Now I’m eating normal. It just takes so much less to fill me up.”")
"Food Network" star Paula Deen lost 40 pounds last year by eating less and working out daily, but she still feels fat.
“I still feel like a fat ass,” Deen, 66, told the Miami Herald at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. “I need a chin lift so bad.”
The 5-foot-5 Paula slimmed down from a size 18 to a 10-12 by drastically cutting back on sugar, carbs, portion sizes and walking on the treadmill every day. Deen, who wants to lose an additional 12 to 15 pounds, says changing her diet was critical to her weight loss.
“Now, I’m eating normal, whatever normal is,” says Paula, who was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2008. “It just takes so much less to fill me up.”
Deen even got her husband and two sons to slim down, and together the four have lost total of 178 pounds. Paula has lost 40 pounds; her husband Michael Groover shed 60 pounds; her older son Jamie lost 45 pounds; and her younger son Bobby has maintained a 33-pound weight loss.
"Doing it together helps so much," Paula told People. "It's just easier when y'all encourage one another and pull in the same direction. It's all about moderation. I eat reasonable portions now. Tonight I treated myself to just half a piece of bread. You can't deprive yourself all the time."
Deen, who has come under fire for her fatty, greasy, high-calorie recipes, has no plans to change the format of her popular "Food Network" cooking shows.
“It’s entertainment," she says. "I’ve never told somebody to eat fried chicken, biscuits and gravy every day. I probably have worked in more light dishes, but I don’t know if people would tune in if I did nothing but salads.”
