Tonight at 9: Packing on the pounds on purpose, Piers Morgan and a stripper's butt, and the secret of Barry's Bootcamp

On the heels of the recent holiday splurge, on Friday evening "Piers Morgan Live" welcomes a live studio audience, and a parade of diet experts, foodies and personal trainers, as part of an hour-long special entitled “Losing It: America’s Fat Obsession.”

With healthy eating, cooking, and living serving as the program's pillars, Piers Morgan is joined by a man he describes as “super fit, [with] rock hard muscles, and very lean,” and asks him to explain why he intentionally gained 70 pounds.

“I thought…I need a different perspective,” says Drew Manning, who is a fitness trainer and author of the book, “Fit2Fat2Fit.” “I never struggled with my weight.“

Manning chronicles his dramatic gain, and then loss of 70 pounds, in his book, in the process searching for a better way to relate to his clients:

“Becoming overweight gave me a better understanding...versus that trainer with the six-pack….the typical type of trainer,” he says.

While many people struggle to keep the weight off, Manning spent months eating all the wrong things, and doing no exercise, in an effort to understand what it's like to live life as an overweight person, in the process giving his followers hope and inspiration. Surprisingly, it was the not physical change that had the greatest impact on Manning, but how being overweight made him feel:

“The biggest things I learned was more so on the mental and emotional side. Physically, I knew I was getting the man boobs and the love handles….But it really did affect my relationship even with my wife," he reveals. "It affected me as a dad, it affected my personality, and that's a scary thing because diet affects you more than just your weight. It affects you so much more psychologically than you think.”

Referencing societal pressure to be thin, Morgan wonders if Manning sensed any difference interacting in the world as a fat person, versus being one who was fit:

“I think some people looked at me differently, I could see the stares at the grocery store loading up my cart with soda and cereal…but no one was really mean,” says the fit-again instructor. “But I felt like, from my perspective, people were staring at me more, so my self-esteem, my confidence levels, took a hit the bigger I got. So that's the hard part to deal – was my self-esteem being out in public, or getting out of the shower, covering up in front of my wife.”

• Piers Morgan and the butt of a 22-year-old stripper

As part of an hour-long program dedicated to weight-loss, healthy eating, fitness, and exercise, on tonight "Piers Morgan Live" welcomes Tracy Anderson, asking the celebrity trainer to reveal the secrets to dropping unwanted pounds after giving birth.

"Every time I see one of these celebrities having a baby, within about three months they look like a stick insect again, and it always says 'as reshaped and retrained by Tracy Anderson,'" notes Piers Morgan. "What you do to these poor women?"

Laughing, Anderson explains her hardly complicated philosophy:

"You know what, I support them. I support them, I tell them the truth, and I give them the tools to actually get the results that they hope to get out of their hard work," says Anderson. "As women, we're doing a lot in this world to support a lot of people. And if we want to look like our best versions of ourselves and feel comfortable in our own skin, we deserve that."

Having heard that Anderson has a history of guiding her clients towards obtaining the derrière of an exotic dancer, Morgan wants in:

"Gwyneth Paltrow said that you've given her a 22-year-old stripper's butt," declares the host. "You performed miracles on these celebrities. If ever I have the time, I will come and be beasted by you myself and get myself a 22-year-old stripper's butt, which should be quite something."

According to the guest, such a phenomenon may not be so far-fetched:

"I am launching a men's program."

• The man behind "Barry's Bootcamp"

This evening Piers Morgan hosts “Losing It: America’s Fat Obsession,” an hour-long special geared toward the nation's obesity epidemic, with an emphasis on exercise, and diet.

As part of a segment he nicknamed "The Trilogy of Torturers," Morgan asks the creator of "Barry's Bootcamp" to explain how his famed workout bests others:

"Good question. It's, you know, it's running and weights," says Barry Jay. "It's very basic training, and it's put in a group atmosphere, where you have the camaraderie and support and the encouragement to push and be pushed really hard."

As for those looking to truly redefine their body, Jay insisted that pumping both iron, and your legs, is the key to success:

"Can you get properly fit by...either just doing weights, or just doing running. Is the best combination, both," asks the host.

The guests response was quick, and emphatic:

"Both. The combination is really the winning combo. there."

Tune in to CNN at 9 for the full hour entitled "Losing It: America’s Fat Obsession."
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