DIET | DETECTIVE^®

Mary Dimino is a familiar face on television, appearing on Conan O'Brien and in sketches for David Letterman, VH-1, and HBO's Chris Rock Show. Mary is a hand-picked New York studio warm-up comic for Comedy Central's The Graham Norton Effect. Her sweet face coupled with her tell-it-like-it-is delivery makes Mary a favorite with comedy club audiences and won her a spot in the prestigious Ladies of Laughter competition at Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City. As an actress, Mary played Polly on New York Undercover, appears in the new film Staten Island, and Summer of Sam. Most recently Mary starred in the PBS film "Fat: What No One is Telling You", which was up for Emmy consideration. She is a recognizable talent in award-winning national commercials for Nicorette Gum, Dunkin' Donuts and Chase Bank. In theatres, Mary can currently be seen as Connie, the Maid of Honor in the hit play Tony and Tina's Wedding.  Mary was recently nominated for Best Comic by the Staten Island Advance in the 2007 AWE Awards.

Name: Mary Dimino

Birthday: May 25

Location: New York

Website: http://www.marydimino.com/

Diet Detective: Hey Mary, finally, I realize I contacted you so long ago to do this interview, and you were so gracious to keep following up—so here we are. My first question is about your being overweight---tell me a bit about your weight history? Were you always overweight (even as a child)? What was that like?

Mary: I was always a chubby kid.  My dad was a baker and would bring home industrial sized vats of brownie mix and cakes. Plus, being Italian, I was raised on lots of good food.  Not necessarily food that's good for you. But good food none the less. After college I ballooned up tp 256 lbs, that was my highest weight.  That's when I started my stand-up career and I just wasn't eating right.  Lots of late night meals after a performance.  At the same time, I started writing  for a cable show.  I just packed on the weight. A few years later I decided to decide to be thin.  I started to exercise and eat healthy.  Within two years, I lost over 120 lbs.  My lowest weight was 130.  I've maintained the majority of the weight loss since.  Through changing the way I think, my relationship with food, and my feelings towards exercise, I was able to change my life.

Diet Detective: Were you ever teased about being overweight? How did that make you feel? What did you do about it?

Mary: In school, the overweight kid is always teased.  One of the popular kids would say something and everyone would laugh. Eventually, I got really good at figuring out what the popular kid was going to say, and say it first to get the laugh.  And it worked.  I learned how to use humor as a way to ease my pain and break the tension.

Diet Detective: You finally lost weight? What made you decide to lose the weight?  Was there a trigger “aha” moment?

Mary: When I was in my twenties, my mother was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.  I'm an only child and was the primary caregiver. I remember one day going up a flight of stairs and being totally out of breath. My mother was at the other side of the stairs weak and sick from the chemo and I was too out of breath at that moment to help her.  I thought - how sad is this?  I've gotta get healthy so I can help her get healthy.  That was a pivotal moment.

Diet Detective:  How did you lose those 120 pounds? How do you maintain the loss?

Mary: I started by walking.  First around my block one time.  Then two times, then three times.  Eventually I'd walk around my neighborhood for 30 minutes each day.  After I lost the first 30 lbs, I joined a gym.  I started spinning and incorporated weight training and yoga.  That's how the first 120 lbs. came off.  It took about a year and a half. Now I love spinning, it's my favorite cardio.  To maintain, I work out four to five times  a week, approximately two hours a day, I eat sensibly and I never forget where I came from.

Diet Detective: Did losing weight make you feel different? Can you explain?

Mary: Yes, I felt like a new person.  I had incredible amounts of energy and just felt so healthy, so light on my feet. I felt like I woke up from a deep sleep.  My mind was sharper, clearer.  What I distinctly remember was this new-found ability  to weave between people on the streets of Manhattan!  Something I could never do before. And that felt great.  Because when you're big, you can only move as fast as the slowest person in front of you.  Now I had wings. I could go faster, get more accomplished in a day.  It was an amazingly different feeling. Different from the struggling, self-conscious, weighted-down person I was before. With this new body, I felt almost weightless.  I can't begin to express....with 120 less lbs on you, you walk faster, think clearer, move better.  I just wanted to dance.

Diet Detective: Has your weight control affected your stand-up act?

Mary: Of course, my struggles with weight are a part of my act.  Every good comic uses their truth. Everything a comic struggles with in life usually becomes apart of their act. It makes you a real person on stage, it makes you vulnerable.  And that's what inspires an audience.  I love when people come up to me after a show and tell me they feel like I was talking about them, or their spouse or their best friend.  They relate to you so much, it is as if they've always known you.  And that's the best.  Actually, the best ever is when someone sees me months or years after a performance and comes up to me and says something like--oh my god, I remember you, do you know that I still think about some of the things you've said that night in your show, do you know how much you've inspired me, do you know I've changed my life and I can't thank you enough for that--that is the best!

Diet Detective: I know that you use the fact that you were overweight in your comedy—how does that make you feel? Do you use if for a reason other than it being funny? Does it help you in some strange way?

Mary: I'm sure it is cathartic in many ways.  I use it because it is my truth. I can't deny it.  It would make no sense talking about something that never has happened to me or that I have never experienced just  for a laugh. Plus, audiences sense when you're not coming from a real place.  You need to talk about things that are important to you. For me, it's not just the weight.   I talk about relationships, family, food, friends, being Italian...When it comes to the weight stuff, I can only pray that I can help and inspire someone out there.  To connect with someone.  To have someone feel less alone. Afterall, we're really all kinda the same, aren't we...

Diet Detective: What’s the toughest part of staying fit and healthy? How do you handle it?

Mary: The toughest parts for me are: the holiday eating, dinners after a show, and finding time to work out consistently. How I handle the holidays is, I give in to the temptations (hopefully with a modicum of moderation) and then I back off for the next month or two. So January and February I cool it with the desserts and get back into the working mindset.  Eating at the comedy club....well, that's difficult.  I don't like eating before a set, so I usually eat after my performance.  I'll ask the club for a salad or some fruit if it's a late show. Sometimes I'll bring my own food to the club and graze between sets so I won't be ravenous at the end of the night. As far as working out, I think of it this way, would you ever leave your house without brushing your teeth, showering, putting clothes on?  No, it's just something you do everyday. You don't have to "find time" for that.  Well, I like to think of working out the same way.  It becomes a necessity in my mind, a good habit.  Then it comes more naturally.

Diet Detective: When you’re doing your comedy and you glance around the room and see someone overweight, how does it make you feel? Do you cut back on the personal fat jokes?

Mary: I see myself in that person. I have much empathy. Sometimes even sadness.  Then the sadness turns to hope. I think, if I could do it, then this person could also.  I want to inspire them through my words, my stories, through my life. It's that feeling that gives me the courage to do my act, just do it, unedited. For all I know, I may have something to say they need to hear at that exact moment. I want them to know my life experience, my take on the world, because it may be what they are experiencing also.

Diet Detective: If you could eat one forbidden or unhealthy food (candy, cakes, etc..) whenever you wanted without gaining weight, what would it be?

Mary: Ice cream.  Everyday, after every meal, all kinds. Ice cream sundaes, sandwiches, pops, flying saucers, Fudgie the Whale cakes... No ice cream shall go ignored.  Every Wednesday would be Sunday...and every Sunday would be a birthday. The answer is most definitely ice cream.

Diet Detective: What’s your favorite breakfast?

Mary: Now that's a tricky question.  Do you mean the favorite “healthy Mary” breakfast or the favorite “fat Mary” breakfast?  Let's do both. Okay...

My favorite Fat Mary Breakfast (notice that's first) would consist of the following:  2 eggs sunny side up, English muffin, pumpkin pancakes, hash, bacon, orange juice and tea. My favorite Healthy Mary Breakfast is currently:  steel cut oatmeal with a handful of raisins and cinnamon, green tea and a quarter piece of cantaloupe.

Diet Detective: What do you consider the world’s most perfect food?

Mary: The egg.  It has protein, it has lutein and zeaxanthin, it has all the essential nutrients your body needs to build muscle and stay strong.  It is easy to cook and it is versatile.  Eggs are good.

Diet Detective: On those days when you're not motivated to work out, but you should, what's the one thought that gets you going?

Mary: The thought of how I'll feel tomorrow.  If I work out, I'll always feel better not just physically but mentally. If I succumb to laziness, there will always be a price.  Not today, but tomorrow or some time in the future.  And once you make that choice, you can't go back to undo it.  Out of respect for myself and for all my previous hard work, I choose to work out. 

Diet Detective: What person do you respect most, or who motivates you?

Mary: Oprah.  She has gone through a lot of the same issues as me.  I have much respect for her work ethic and her sense of being true to herself.  She is continually working on herself.  Always looking for a higher place.  And I respect that. Those are the kinds of people who motivate me.  People whose intentions and whose hearts are true.

Diet Detective: What do you do to reduce stress/relax/center your mind? Do you participate in an organized relaxation activity such as yoga, meditation or tai chi?

Mary: I take yoga classes at the gym when I can.  I find it extremely beneficial to the mind and body.  Stretching needs to be an integral part of anyone's workout.  I do tai chi at home to some tapes.  I find it to be soothing, relaxing and invigorating all at the same time.

Diet Detective: Do you have a Calorie Bargain?

Mary:  A non-fat fudge pop is my calorie bargain for ice cream. 

Diet Detective: What was your worst summer job?

Mary: Working at a Wendy's.  I would sneak-eat all day.  A fry for you, a fry for me.  A Frosty for you, two Frosties for me. I learned no food is free; it all comes with a cost. That summer, the cost was my waistline.

Diet Detective: Define failure.

Mary: Failure is the mother of success.

Diet Detective: What’s the best book about health that you’ve read? (Aside from your own)

Mary: Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen's book "You On a Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management" They are right on the money. I love those two guys.  I actually got to work with Dr. Roizen at the TV Critics Press Tour in Pasadena.  We were both there representing PBS.  I was promoting the film I was in, "Fat" and he was promoting his film, "Heart Disease in America."  After meeting him and talking over dinner, I just knew that his way is really one of the best ways to take the weight off and be healthy.  He gave me a signed copy of his book, I've read it and it has helped me maintain the weight loss with a new perspective.  I like this book because it is both insightful and practical.

Diet Detective: Do you have a pet?

Mary: I have a cat.  A cat that loves French fries, tater tots, and egg rolls, but hates tuna....go figure. My cat stares me down when I'm eating at the dinner table.  I take it he loves me, but sometimes it's just about the food.

Diet Detective:  What’s next on your “to-do” list?  

Mary: My one-person show.  I am writing it and get it up in a theatre this year.

It's a show about.....I'll let you guess that one. Let's just say it's a show about my truth.

Thank you!!!!

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