Magda Szubanski breaks her silence to 2DayFM on why she re-signed as Jenny Craig ambassador

MAGDA Szubanski has broken her silence on why she gained weight and had to re-sign with Jenny Craig for the second time, and hits back at her critics.

Magda Szubanski has been re-signed as the ambassador for weight loss company Jenny Craig.

ACTRESS and comedian Magda Szubanski is blaming “calorie amnesia” and a broken rib for the weight gain that saw her re-sign with weight loss company Jenny Craig for the second time.

Szubanski came under fire last week for accepting a lucrative deal with the weight loss company.

On Triple M Sydney’s The Grill Team show last Thursday, host Matty Johns criticised Jenny Craig’s decision to re-sign Szubanski as an ambassador, saying she shouldn’t be “rewarded” for “getting fat again”. News_Rich_Media: On Triple M Sydney's 'The Grill Team', co-host Matty Johns argues that Magda Szubanski should not be rewarded for signing up with Jenny Craig to lose weight again. Courtesy: Triple M Sydney

“If you want to pay people to lose weight, I can fully understand that because it’s an example to other people of ‘this is what you can do’,” Johns said.

“But once you’ve lost the weight, and then you put the weight back on, should you be paid money again to get it back off again? ... It sounds to me like it’s rewarding people for being fat, and getting fat again … To me, fat appears like an industry itself.”

More: Why Magda quit Jenny Craig in 2011

News_Image_File: Triple M’s The Grill Team — Gus Worland (left), Matty Johns and Mark Geyer.Szubanski, who lost 36 kilos during her two years as Jenny Craig ambassador from 2009-2011, has cited “calorie amnesia” and a broken rib as the reasons why she put the weight back on.

Speaking on 2DayFM’s Jules, Merrick & Sophie with Mel B breakfast show this morning, the 52-year-old explained how she fell off the wagon.

This is how the conversation played out:

Jules Lund: I bet you are sick of talking about your weight.

Magda Szubanski: Oh mate, yeah. No, that’s my new job now, I can’t talk about it enough.

Sophie Monk: All women do anyway. Talk about their weight.

Magda Szubanski: May as well get paid for it, I say.

Sophie Monk: Exactly.

Magda Szubanski: Going to be talking about it.

Merrick Watts: All those other women out there are going to be saying, “Oh, I didn’t think of that”.

Magda Szubanski: Oh well, all for them I say.

Merrick Watts: Magda welcome to the studios, it’s lovely to have you here.

Magda Szubanski: Thanks, lovely to be had.

Merrick Watts: You’re back with Jenny Craig. It’s been recently well publicised.

Magda Szubanski: Just a bit.

Merrick Watts: Was it a case of falling off the wagon and getting back on the wagon?

Magda Szubanski: Look, it was yeah. It was that thing of, you know, when you are trying to get fit and then you injure yourself, you know rehearsing for Kath & Kim, fell off getting onto a horse, landed on a set of steps and broke my rib, as you do. Then you know, you’re busy, you’ve got long hours and it just creeps up, and then when you put the weight on, of course you don’t want to get off the couch and you don’t want to exercise. It just gains momentum, your portions get a bit bigger again and you start to forget — “calorie amnesia” as they call it.

Merrick Watts: Explain to me what calorie amnesia is?

Magda Szubanski: Well that’s where you sort of just forget how much you’ve actually eaten.

Jules Lund: This is the amazing thing. I’m in that every day and I’m losing the battle myself. We get up at 3.45am and I’m having four meals a day. Are you guys?

Merrick Watts: A little more than that.

Magda Szubanski: It’s about becoming mindful. I know that’s the buzzword of the moment, but being aware. A lot of that is just in that calorie amnesia fog and you don’t really realise what you’re doing, so keeping track of it helps get you get back on track. I mean hopefully, I don’t know how I’ll go, I have high hopes but …

Jules Lund: You lost 35 kilos.

Magda Szubanski: 36 (kilos) and I kept it off for quite a while.

Jules Lund: That number is monstrous, that you lost that.

Merrick Watts: That’s more than half of Sophie Monk.

News_Image_File: Magda Szubanski at the Bran Nue Dae movie premier in Sydney in 2010.

What do you think of Jenny Craig’s decision to re-sign Magda Szubanksi as an ambassador? Continue the conversation below and on Twitter @newscomauhq