Our children are obese, either have or being threatened by diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and not socially adjusting properly to others because of a lack of fitness.Collection: Fitness
Number one, like yourself. Number two, you have to eat healthy. And number three, you've got to squeeze your buns. That's my formula.Collection: Fitness
Every morning when I get up, I ask God what he wants me to do, ask him to lead me to the right people to help them.Collection: Morning
Ninety percent of people who lose weight gain it back. It's very sad.Collection: Sad
When I go to bed at night, I ask God to give me another day; I ask him to keep me strong and make me a good teacher and to keep spreading this right word.Collection: Teacher
When you're feeling down, sad, lonely, negative, you don't want to take care of yourself - and the weight problem and the diabetic problem and the heart attack and stroke problems and high cholesterol set in.Collection: Sad
But if you pick up every other magazine, it is the peanut butter diet, or the cabbage soup diet, and then you go to the radio and you hear that you can drink some solution and you will lose weight overnight. It just does not work that way!Collection: Diet
Count your blessings. You are one of a kind. There's no one in the world like you. You are amazing.Collection: Amazing
Stop trying to find something in food that will make you feel better. I used to have eating disorders; I'd binge and purge all the time: fried oysters, po' boys, muffulettas, beignets, coffee and doughnuts. I tried to medicate myself with food when people made fun of me or hit me with a bat in school. I'd always turn to food.Collection: Food
I could be hit by a Sara Lee truck tomorrow. Which is not a bad way of going: 'Richard Simmons Found in a Freeway in Pound Cake and Fudge, With a Smile on His Face.' Let's face it. We don't know anything.Collection: Smile
No one is perfect... absolutely no one. Like precious stones, we have a few flaws, but why focus on that? Focus on what you like about yourself, and that will bring you happiness and peace.Collection: Happiness
I show them the funny part, the silly part, the laughing part, the crazy part and then the really deep, deep part where I'm talking from my heart to these people. Because I've been through everything they've been through.Collection: Funny
My way is the sensitive, emotional way, because that's who I am. I try to be the clown and court jester and make people laugh. At the same time, you have people in the hospital who have had gastric bypass or lap-band surgery, and they still have to work out. If you don't work out and eat healthy, you'll look like a melted candle.
I'm a real paradox. Because I'm a very serious person, and I take my work very seriously. But I wrap it up in a court jester and a clown and make people laugh and make them feel good about themselves.
I don't know about you, but every time some joker points me out as I walk through an airport wearing extra-small Dolfin shorts, a tank top and leg warmers, I get a little upset.
No tricks, gimmicks, special pills, special potions, special equipment. All it takes is desire and will.
There are sacrifices you have to make. I don't have a lot to offer one person. I have a lot to offer to a lot of people.
When I was growing up, I did not exercise at all. I was raised in the French Quarter in New Orleans. If I saw someone running, I would call the police because I thought they stole something on Royal Street.
I put a spell on people so they don't know they're working out... An enchanting spell, where they just don't think about it, or over think it, and then at the end they go, 'Wow, I feel good.'
I start phone calls at 4 A.M. to cheer people up. The housebound, people in the hospital. People who, after decades, still can't get over what happened 10 or 15 years ago.
I do not want any child in America to have my childhood because it was taken away from me because I just wasn't good enough; well I am good enough now.
When I lost my weight, I went and bought about 15 different types of underwear to see what would look good on my new body. It's exciting!
Well mine is not gimmicky - it is the 6 food groups that God made, and exercising every day. Trying to think positively.
I get an abundance of e-mail every day, some say 'dear Richard, can you call my husband, he weighs 400 pounds...' or 'my 14-year-old is 200 pounds...' or 'I just got divorced, no one wants me, I am 500 pounds.' So I pick up the phone and I call people.
People are still grasping for the miracle, and unfortunately, there are no miracles, if you do not exercise for a year, and let your body remain dormant, then you will gain weight.
Yeah, but I do call them back and follow up. Most people talk at overweight people, I talk with them.
I get tired of negativity in our country. I get tired of people who only want to know dirt. I get tired of people who don't believe in themselves.
Everyone has a story that makes me stronger. I know that the work I do is important and I enjoy it, but it is nice to hear the feedback of what we do to inspire others.
I hope in my lifetime we can all continue to laugh at ourselves and not put down anyone for what they weigh.
I suffered from eating disorders when I was just a kid. I did not like me or the way I looked. But back then, you could not tell anyone.
I think it is very important that you like yourself for who you are and not want to look like anyone else. You also have to understand, many people have had cosmetic surgeries in order to look the way they look. So why look like them when you can just look like you? And there is nothing wrong with looking like you.