For the better part of thirty years, Grace Dent has worked as a chef. It’s the job, not a complaint. Despite being one of the most well-known restaurant critics in Britain, she acknowledges that her body has never truly belonged to her. The newspaper owns it. The restaurant owns it. It is part of the next tasting menu, the next brioche, the next expertly put together trifle that is placed on the table at nine in the morning because someone wants her professional opinion before the lunch crowd shows up. She could have easily consumed 4,000 calories by 10 a.m. on a working day. She has stated this herself, almost casually, as though the number were just another professional detail, like the stains of ink on a copy editor’s fingers.
The number on the scale isn’t what makes Grace’s story truly fascinating. Long before she became well-known, her relationship with food was surrounded by decades of controversy. When she was nine years old, she wrote about counting calories. By sixth form, she and her friends had become “masters of calorie counting,” as she put it, keeping track of every approximate figure-like piece of information they might require to survive. She tried the Atkins diet in its harshest form—one boiled egg for breakfast, black coffee for lunch, and grilled chicken for dinner—and adopted an 800-calorie-per-day plan at different points in her adult life in an effort to be what the television industry refers to as “camera ready.” The goal was for her to be twelve pounds below her normal resting weight. She succeeded. She paid a price for it.
Hearing a food critic talk about starving herself for the camera makes me feel a little uneasy. Grace has never framed it as a glow-up or dressed it up as inspiration. She has been open about the fact that she felt compelled to do it. More than anything, her transformation story differs from the typical celebrity wellness narrative because of her candor.
When it did happen, the real turning point was not as dramatic as a magazine cover might imply. Grace gave up drinking about three years ago. She claimed to have been at it since she was 14—not destructively, not covertly, but consistently, as British social life tends to subtly require. Press events, parties, restaurant openings, and media dinners. There was always alcohol. She eventually came to the conclusion that it would no longer be the case. Soon after, she became aware of a shift in her weight. Not because sobriety is a miracle cure, but rather because cutting alcohol out of a diet that was already extremely high in calories produced a real, quantifiable improvement.
She also began to move more purposefully. The daily routine became 15,000 steps. Those who imagine food critics as sedentary individuals who only move between a restaurant table and a taxi may be surprised to learn that weight training also entered the picture. Grace has talked about how lifting weights affected more than just her appearance. Listening to her discuss it gives me the impression that she has at last discovered a form of health that isn’t based on deprivation.
The MasterChef position might have sped up some of this. It’s a different kind of scrutiny to go from critic to prime-time presenter on BBC One, and Grace has admitted that she wants to feel good about herself before filming. However, blaming her transformation solely on her desire for television would be simplistic. The priority was sobriety. First came the steps. First came the lifting of weights. It was followed by the show.
She also experimented with medication at one point, taking a weight-loss medication for two months that, according to her, destroyed her appetite and had no effect on her weight. Not even a pound. She has discussed this with what sounds more like rueful amusement than resentment, but it does raise a silent question about how easily these medications are marketed as cures when they are ineffective for certain people.
It’s difficult to ignore how much more relaxed Grace Dent looks when she enters the MasterChef studio with Anna Haugh in contrast to her 2023 I’m A Celebrity appearance, which was cut short due to health issues. She has the appearance and, more significantly, the sound of someone who has given up fighting her own body. I didn’t defeat it. Not altered it in accordance with someone else’s design. I’ve just come to a working understanding of it. That seems like a noteworthy accomplishment for a woman who has spent her whole career consuming more food than anyone could need.
FAQs
1. How did Grace Dent lose weight?
She stopped drinking alcohol, walked 15,000 steps daily, and started weight training.
2. How many calories did Grace Dent consume as a restaurant critic?
She regularly consumed around 4,000 calories before 10 am on working days.
3. Did Grace Dent try any weight loss medication?
Yes, but two months of pills produced absolutely no change on the scales.
4. When did Grace Dent give up alcohol?
She became teetotal approximately three years before her 2024 podcast appearance.
5. What extreme diets did Grace Dent try in the past?
She followed an 800-calorie-a-day plan and a strict Atkins diet for TV.
6. What is Grace Dent’s current role on television?
She co-hosts MasterChef Season 22 on BBC One alongside chef Anna Haugh.
