Debbie Gibson’s Weight Loss Story – 114 Pounds at 5’6”
February 11, 2010 in Celebrity Weight & Measurements by Versus
Teen pop icon Debbie Gibson is our second celebrity this week who posed in a bikini in a magazine and shared her weight loss journey – let’s hear her story:
ITW: You look fantastic! But you never appeared to be particularly overweight.
DG: I was always so active, especially when I was busy performing on Broadway. I could eat macaroni and cheese during every intermission, and I wouldn’t gain weight. But my metabolism has definitely slowed down, so some weight came on really fast.
ITW: So why did you want to lose weight?
DG: I was hiding it really well, but I was a good 15 pounds heavier than I wanted to be. People should focus on good health first and foremost, but I realized that I feel best when I’m at my leanest, and I wanted to get a grip on this when I was only a little overweight, as opposed to letting it get away from me. So, I decided to try my boyfriend’s [Dr. Taylor] program, which is called Better Than Lipo.
ITW: How much do you weigh now?
DG: I’m at 114 pounds (she is 5’6”). I was okay at my previous weight, but I felt like my inner diva did not match my outer diva.
ITW: And how do you feel?
DG: I feel hotter and more in control. It’s even improved my sex life. You shouldn’t get your whole self-worth from how you look, but at 39, I think it’s okay to focus on the outside a bit if it makes you feel good.
Share your thoughts!
She has no boobs!
yes! her boobs are gone
and underweight at a BMI of 18.4!
bmi is relative; i don’t think she would be, ahem, healthier with a bmi of 18.5 than with 18.4. Look, i don’t like unhealthy thin and i’m right there criticizing everything that looks painful. But this woman has a beautiful body, it’s toned and slim and she looks glowing healthy. I don’t understand why people have to be sooo mean and uncalled for harsh and criticising everything!
She isn’t glowing, she has a fake tan lol.
lol lian i agree
Yeah, she looks like crap! No boobs, and instead what looks like a chicken back on her chest
She looks nasty.
No offense, but only fat people say “she has no boobs”
What woman in her right mind is going to say “I want to remain 200 lbs so that I don’t lose my boobs”. Zilch. A boob is simply fat, and there are plenty of fat, yucky boobs out there. There are also small pretty boobs…or small ugly ones too!! So saying “she has no boobs” just sounds stupid. She looks terrific…good for her.
I agree with much of what you say, except I want to inform you that boobs are much more than simply fat. I have been anorexic a bunch of times, because people have been so mean to brush off my hourglass figure as fat. So even though my body was shutting down and possibly eating into my chest tissue, I was dizzy from starvation, my chest bones were sticking out, and I was low fat, I was always at least a D cup. I’ve always got to emphasize my small waist, to show I’m not fat at all. My bone structure is wider at the chest and backside where I stick out, yet smaller where my curves go inward, such as at the waist and ankles.
Beyond a healthy, balanced and toned weight, you are right that fat will make your boobs bigger. And its true, that lots of fat people try to use the curves claim to make thinner people feel insecure.
Debbie Gibson seems to have a more rectangular body structure, which is fine. As a kid, I felt so bad that I didn’t have skinny legs like her and the popular girls in my class. Then I discovered that I just have hourglass figure legs, shapely and curvaceous. So I just had to find role models and make something of what I got.
She would look younger if she had some fat to smooth out the wrinkles. She looks older, and she didn’t tone up, she just lost fat.
But anyway, good for her for feeling better about herself. She dosen’t look bad.
She is toned! Look at her abs definition and her thighs!
i dont think im being harsh, just stating the obv!
She is not obiously underweight, so no, you’re not stating it. Sorry.
She looks underweight to me. Bony chest, visible ribs = not good.
I agree! She neither looks good nor healthy…
I don’t think that’s bone on her chest. I don’t know of any bone that goes over and is the same shape as breasts. I think that’s some kind of shadow.
as a general rule i’ve heard all my life…it’s 100lbs for 5 feet, and an additional 5 lbs for every inch. with that rule, she should weigh at least 130. i don’t live by this rule, i am 5’7″ and 120. i eat plenty of healthy calories and exercise, and my doctor says i am extremely healthy. I don’t doubt she also is
sydney ive heard that rule too- 100lbs for 5 ft and 5 pounds for each inch thereafter.
however i dont think that it means debbie should weigh “AT LEAST” 130. i think it means 130 is the # to aim for if she wants to look healthy and on the thin side. its certainly not a minimum because it would be a bmi of 21– right in the middle of the healthy range.
for me, im 5’9 and my “magic number” would be 145. but i see that more as a MAXIMUM not a minimum. i never want to be above that number, and for now while im in my 20s i like to stay well below it but still healthy. i feel i look best with a bmi between 18.5 and 20.
Considering we know her height and weight she actually is obviously underweight. 18.4 is underweight, a doctor would probably tell her to put on a few pounds. Even if we didn’t know her weight you can see she is very bony.
Well I fail to see her as bony. Bony to me is Rachel Zoe. This girl’s doesn’t look like Rachel at all.
I agree – you start worrying when you look like RACHEL ZOE… lmfao. Many girls have a slightly low BMI just simply because they have a small frame. My doctor said I was 100% healthy even tho I am “very tiny” as he described, at 5’5″ with a bmi of 18.8. He was happy I didn’t pack on 40lbs like most of the young woman he sees…
She looks okay and I think she would look bigger if she was younger. As you age your skin thins and you can look frail at any weight.
some people are bonier than others. no matter how thin i get, you can never see the bones in my chest. one of my friends is 5’2″ 130 pounds and you can see all the bones in her chest. everyones body is different.
also, i don’t think it’s right to say that this woman is “too thin” or “unhealthy. she said herself that she’s eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle, yet people are saying she’s at an unhealthy weight. yet when celebrities are slightly overweight or admit that they never work out they are applauded for being “healthy” and “normal”.
we should all remember that health comes before looks, and you can be healthy at a variety of weights
Im 5 foot 6 as well and weigh 130 pounds. I wouldnt say no to losing 5, but Im toned and have some curves. 114 is like woah! Im sure some people look great at that height and weight, but this woman doesnt. She doesnt seem toned at all either!
This is in reply to Aims. 39 is WAY too young for the frail thing you’re talking about. She’s a long way off.
BTW I’m 5’9 and I felt my best weight was 135. I wore a size 2-4 pants (2′s only when they ran small though)…and I could bench press 135 at that time, as well as do 10 plus wide grip pullups with weight added to my waist. I did absolutely NO dieting whatsover, but was merely a gym rat. (I liked lifting heavy weights). I’d do about a 5 minute stairmaster prior, and a 10-15 minute treadmill run after lifting. My point is…IF someone is very active…they can be quite trim. S
This woman is to be praised rather than criticized. She didn’t like something, so instead of doing nothing, she got motivated and changed it. Her story doesn’t strike me as one of starvation, but rather switching to a healthier lifestyle. And as for BMI…it’s not absolute. Look at the woman. Aside from the fake tan, she looks great.
How do you know? For all we know, she could just be starving herself and saying that she eats healthy and exercises.
I’m always leery of these weight loss stories, so forgive me if I’m a bit cynical. I’d never hold anyone in high esteem when I have no idea of the means used to achieve the end.
I’m going by how she looks, and what she said in her interview. I understand your skepticism, but at the same time, not every celebrity is starving themselves to stay fit. Losing 15 pounds from switching to healthier eating habits and regular exercize is not unbelieveable…15 pounds is not that much. If she lost 50 pounds or looked bony, then I’d be skeptical too.
I agree 100%. She does look older, but her body looks very healthy. She is 40 now, so clearly she will look older than she did when she was a teenager.
My point exactly, but i guess if people see underweight they just don’t care about reasonable arguments… And yes, 15 lbs is not much, not scary, not anything.
I have to say…she looks much older, and barely recognizable! Yes, she’s thin, but I can’t say she looks healthy.
she looks 100 years old…shoulda stopped at 120…
when u get to be a little older…you almost need a lil pudge to look youthful!
couldn’t agree more
I saw this women when she was Sandy in Grease – doesn’t even look like her.
Oy my goodness. She looks soooooo old. Her face looks like she is sixty. Its great she did something about her unhappiness and lost weight but she needs to do something with her face so she woukdn’t look so old!! I hate to sound critical but to pose in a magazine in a swimsuit. I woukd want to look my absolute best. She needs some botox and fillers in her face.
Have you got a good “before” picture Versus? I googled her but had no idea which were recent/pre weigh gain!
I was confused, too – I can’t really tell the difference. Here she is in June last year:
http://www.moejackson.com/2009-deborah-gibson-looking-hot-drives-mini-cooper-0609?page=0,1
i don’t think it looks like she lost 15 pounds. where could she have lost it from!?
I didn’t even know Debbie Gibson was still around. What is with all these B-listers and weight loss stories?
true true
I don’t even know who she is
Heavens! She is 40 and her face looks like a normal 40 year old’s face! Go figure!!
This is not a normal 40 year old’s face. My mum is 55 and she looks five years younger than this woman.
Now, my mum has a young looking face but it doesn’t look 35 so clearly this woman looks older than she is.
She looks horrible! This is obviously a push for her boyfriend’s weight loss program. She has absolutely no sex appeal at all. Looks like a skeleton in her upper body. Very sad.
kinda confused? wouldn’t you be considered underweight at 5″6 an 114 pounds? i dunno maybe she is healthy but it seems odd to me. oh, well it could be her own body’s composition.
If you cover her face she looks like a boy in bikini.
i was thinking exactly the same thing, she’s not that pretty, she has no curves, her abs are like boys’ abs. it’s just not a very good look to me
She needs to put on 5 pounds
i like only the legs…the chest seems scary with all these bones..and the hair???so few hair have stayed in her head..have they fallen?this change made her think she looks better now?
Poor thing. This was the only way she could get publicity..
This is also a bad photo. I’ve seen other photos of this shoot, she really looks very good. The way her face is in this photo makes her look older. But she is 40 now… Her body is very healthy and amazing looking.
the only thing i find truly disturbing about this story is that she clearly says she was “only a little overweight” at 130 pounds, but in reality 5’6 and 130 pounds is NOT overweight at all, it is a perfectly normal and healthy weight! I think by saying that she does send a very negative message to women out there who are healthy by suggesting they are slightly too heavy.
Thank you Mia! Some sense……This woman is underweight…114lb is very slim for her height and wow! she lookd horrible sorry. She is getting close to Rachael Zoe territory…….
I agree Mia.
130lbs at 5″6 is hardly a porker; in fact it’s relatively (for want of a better word) normal.
But as for the sending a negative message to women, I think women need to use their common sense. Trust that your doctor is a better source for info on health than In Touch magazine.
You are so right!
She looks so skinny! Gain 5 more lbs…
She looks terrible! Her upper body is gross. Just imagine that she’s thinner than she is in these photos. My husband and his athletic trainer friends would advise some light weight training to gain some muscle definition to her arms.
I also don’t like her midsection. It’s a little too masculine for my taste. I do like her legs though.
She’s lost any softness to her face, which is what happens when women lose to much weight. She should gain about 5 lbs. IMO.
She looks horrible and I cannot believe InTouch ran this story!!! The End!!!!!
she might just e older. We are so used to seeing women in their twenties. Youth gives softness.
She doesn’t not look god. Her clavicle is so bony.
She looks like she weighs less than 114 at 5’6″. Maybe it’s the muscle mass? Her body fat is obviously very low.
Yeah low body fat gives the illusion of weighing even less and that’s the last thing you need when you’re already underweight!
Having said that though, I’d definitely rather err on this side than be fat
she looks old….
such unfortunate wide waist and no boobs…tragic
Um who is she? She looks fine to me, she sounds like she just lives a really healthy lifestyle, and good for her for losing weight! Though I have no idea how she looked prior to the weight loss.
Ha…I’ll tell you who she is- I probably still have her mixed tape from 1988. She was around during the days of Tiffany and Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative”.
The thing is, she looks nothing like she did back then!
“I think we’re alone now….”
Guys, it involved a lot of malls, dumb girls and bad music.
Wait damn, That was tiffany. I remember now, her crap involved malls too. Didn’t she have her own perfume for awhile?
I think that she looks good. Her BMI puts her at JUST underweight but she doesn’t look sickly or anything. I don’t know how healthy she truly is but from looking at this picture, she looks like she takes good care of herself! Good for her.
You know, my first reaction was to think it was irresponsible for her to send the message that 130 at her height was not a ‘good weight”.
But then I thought about.
Being 5’6″ myself I can tell you that I’m much more comfortable at 115 or 120 than I am at 130 or higher. I think we all have a weight that makes us feel our best, whether other people agree or not.
And yes, 115 is on the low end for her height but it’s not like she’s got any muscle on her and she looks rather small framed. You could probably find someone who was more athletic, at her height and SIZE who weighed 5 lbs more…
Does that make sense?
I am the same and I agree with you. Her legs looks strong. She looks good to me.
i agree that the number can be different from person to person and we shouldnt attack her for being 114 lbs if she looks healthy. to me she doesnt look like rachel zoe at all. she is the same weight as some of the VS models that people praise — but 4 inches shorter.
numbers can be misleading. focus on how you look and feel.
I’m the same height and weight as her but I look nothing like her at all! I guess we have have different body proportions. I think shes a little too skinny.
You can see her bones protruding!
Her body looks lean and fit, but her chest looks too bony. I can’t talk since my chest is ALWAYS bony, but since hers wasn’t beforehand, I can’t help but not like this. Plus, her face looks TERRIBLE.
She looks terrible! 130# at 5’6″ is great…she probably should have stayed there. Now she has that gross female bodybuilder face. ICK.
eww
My thoughts:
I’m 5’5″ and 115lbs and its amazing what inch higher in height can make on your BMI. My BMI is 19.1 which is perfectly healthy. I don’t think that her BMI that is 0.01 underweight means she is starving or unhealthy. BMI is a scale that used as an example, and not an accurate dicator of your health. And when used by a professional , it is not the main aspect they look at when accessing your health, especaily by 0.01 of a degree.
Obviously she shouldn’t lose anymore weight at all, but she looks toned and healthy here. Her chest has a shadow that looks boney, but I would like to point several women have boney delatoge’s(sp?) and chests and they are far from skinny.
I’m personally not a fan of her shape. her pelvis is too narrow, her waist is wide, and her breasts are flat. Which she can’t help. So think she looks her personally best as possibly can body wise. although, I have no idea who she is or how she looked before.
I 100% agree. You and I are exactly the same height and very close in weight – I doubt you look unhealthy as I most certainly do not, although I would consider us tiny people.
I agree as well!!
Too skinny. Women need a higher body fat percentage the older they get anyways… she was probably perfect before.
I’m 5’5″ and 112lbs so we have a very close BMI. We have similar arms and legs but I do have some boob but I have a small frame – so I don’t look too thin. I think she looks good but I would have chosen a different top to wear.
lol I find it so funny how people can say she is underweight at 0.01 off 18.5 which is totally rediculous. She looks great imo. And so what if she has small boobs. I would rather have no boobs over a flabby stomach which is not just for vanitiy but for health. Kudos to her for getting healthy and fit.
I mean no boobs with a flat stomach lol.
hahah…she llooks healthy and fit and all you knob heads are JEALOUS!> GEEEZ
and her chest is not sticking out its the light you fools! No one can have bones sticking out that way.
Weight loss FAIL! She looks horrible! Very underweight. Makes her look a lot older!
No idea who she is, but I don’t like her body at all.
Looks very ruler-ish and she has no boobs.
114 pounds at 5’6″ doesn’t sound good.
I’m 2 inches smaller and around that weight.
Okay, here’s something to think about. Marilyn Monroe’s stats according to her official website:
Height: 5 feet 5 1/2 inches
Weight: Varied, 115 – 120 lbs
So at her least she’s roughly in the ballpark of Ms Gibson here.
I think the population’s general size and weight increase is distorting a lot of things.
Gibson probably looks so thin because her weight is more lean muscle than fat. If her boyfriend’s a doctor (I think he works in nutrition from what I can google) it’s kind of hard to believe she wouldn’t have access to someone who can observe how healthy of unhealthy she is – let alone that she lost weight on HIS program.
She looks older but she IS older. It’s inspiring that she saw something that she didn’t like in herself and managed to change it.
Monroe was known to lie about her weight and the studios were notorious for fudging measurements/weights. Furthermore why is Monroe held up as this paragon of what is and is not acceptable for women? I can introduce you to many people who do/did not find her attractive in the least.
wow i thought that was uma thurman at first glance
Wow! Debbie is so fit, toned, defined and super lean. 5′ 6″ and 114? Perfect. Some are so used to seeing over fat or over weight women that when someone like Debbie comes along they think she’s too skinny. Kudos to her for getting into fabulous shape!
i am 15 and an inch shorter than her at 5’5″ and it really hurts that she refers to her “overweight” body that was “a good 15 lbs” away from where she thought was the best because i weight about 127 and that is 2 lbs less than her fat weight. i am mainly vegan, with the exception of grilled chicken and salmon on occasion. i struggle with body image issues and this is not helping when i hear my thoughts of being too fat solidified.
She looks great for 40. She has a sexy lean figure that’s more attractive then 99% of 40 year olds.
Not having body fat is just as dangerous as having too much. I can only guess she has a very low body fat percentage based on lack of boobs and lack of softness in the face. I’m sure she has no bum either (or had… it’s been 4 months). And, as we grow older, we need more body fat. Based on this, she doesn’t seem healthy to me in this pic. I’ve seen professional athletes with bigger boobs than her.