mariah carey: hard work, a "bleak" diet & tons of willpower

Hard work, a "bleak" diet and tons of willpower have helped Mariah Carey lose 25 pounds

Mariah Carey has lost nearly 30 pounds in the last seven months by eating a plain diet of soup and fish, following a strict workout plan and - and most importantly - by not stressing about how her body looks.

The singer, who has always embraced her famous curves, showed off her sensational new figure at the VH1 Save the Music Foundation 10th Anniversary Gala (where she received an award) in New York City on Sept. 20.

Dressed in a stunning purple gown that showed off her trim, new figure, Mariah revealed that her secret to shedding the pounds is a "bleak diet." Mariah, who stands at 5 feet 9 inches and weighs an estimated 135 pounds, said she doesn't want to be skinny but she isn't satisfied with her body and will continue to work on slimming down.

"I still feel like I have a ways to go, but it is what it is," said Mariah. "I don't feel like you have to be a size zero. It does feel good when you get into a nice size three and you're like, 'It feels big in here.' We should all embrace who we are physically."

Personal TrainerHelping Mariah stay in shape for the past eight years has been her St. Barts-based personal trainer Patricia Gay, who Mariah flies infor special one-on-one sessions. "I have a wonderful trainer," smiled Mariah.

"She lives in St. Barts. People are like, 'Only you would fly people from St. Barts to New York to work out!' Even if we're not working out, she monitors my diet and stuff like that. It makes things easier for me."

Patricia tell OK! that Mariah has struggled to keep her weight stable in the past. "She was up and down, up and down, but she is the perfect weight now," Patricia says.

"The big difference is the food. She loves pasta and bread, but now she eats more fruits and vegetables - and she loves it. She also gets more protein now. She knows exactly what she has to eat to feel good as a singer and to feel good in her mind and body."

"When it comes to working out, Mariah's regime varies because she works out so much," explains Patricia. Mariah's workout sessions last between 90 minutes and two hours, sometimes three to four times a week.

"If she is serious about the food, then she doesn't have to work out that much," says Patricia. "Right before she has a show or wants to wear a special dress, I know to push her a bit. We work out specific muscles through Pilates. We work out the butt, sometimes using weights and stretching.

Mariah will make an arch, a bridge with her back, and lift her butt off the ground; sometimes she squeezes a ball in between her legs - this works out the inner thighs and part of the butt."

Patricia adds that Mariah's healthy mind is helping her maintain a healthy body. "She wants to feel good in her body," she says. "When you have a good balance in your life, you are much less attracted to junk food. Mariah is powerful, and when you are powerful, you control your life and you know when you are doing things that are bad for your body. She has passed to the next level of understanding.

Hard WorkWhen tackling her weight, just as with her phenomenally successful career, Mariah knows hard work is the only way to get ahead. "It's about discipline," explains the singer, 37, who is set to release a new, as yet untitled album. "I have a lot of discipline. When it's time to get it together, I know that I have to."

She decided to get in shape in recent months after her clothes didn't fit right. "I didn't feel like I had gained weight, but when I tried on these shorts that I'd had for many years...And now they fit again--they're actually kind of big." She adds, "It feels good. For me, it's about embracing everybody at what weight they're supposed to be. I'm not supposed to be a stick-figure girl.

It's not me."
In August 2006, while promoting her Adventures of Mimi Tour, Mariah called Patricia, "wonderful" and said, "I love her. But sometimes she can be very strict. If I want a little snack, I know if Patricia's in the kitchen, she's going to give me something really bleak to eat, so I don't even bother going downstairs. I just send somebody else to get something for me and sneak it up!" giggles Mariah. Patricia responds, "I know when I can push her, but I am not military."

Mariah added, "I'm not eating ice cream or fattening stuff. I like flavor in my life. I don't just want chicken stock and zucchini and carrots and call it a day. Patricia will also give me fish and chicken."

Loving Her CurvesThe superstar has always celebrated her figure. In February 2006, Mariah told Rolling Stone that she has the kind of figure that means she will never be a waif. "I can't try to compete with people that weigh 80 pounds soaking wet," she told the magazine. "I've got a butt, and I want to keep it because I like it. Yeah, it grows and it shrinks. There's only a certain amount of weight that I want to lose."

Further proof that Mariah doesn't stress about her figure came when she told Jay Leno on The Tonight Show in June 2006 that she doesn't own a scale. "Muscle weighs more than fat, so why torture yourself with a scale?" she reasoned. "If your clothes fit you better, then you know yuo lost some weight." When asked if it was true that she had lost 32 pounds that summer, Mariah answered, "I don't know - could have been 31 point something. It could have been 33, I don't know."

Ideal WeightNew York City-based weight-loss physician Dr. Howard M. Shapiro tells OK! that a healthy weight for someone of Mariah's height is approximately 140 pounds. Mariah's self-described "bleak diet" of fish and soup doesn't necessarily mean boring, according to Dr. Shapiro, and could be jazzed up with salt or spices. "A diet of fish and vegetables is a very healthy diet, and it doesn't have to be prepared blandly," Dr. Shapiro tells OK!. "Spices carry no calories, and if it's low salt, she won't be retaining any fluid. You don't get heavier if you put salt or spices in foods."

Dr. Shapiro, author of the Picture Perfect Weight Loss books, adds, "Soups can be very filling if they have a lot of vegetables in them because they have a lot of fiber, which makes them very filling. Soups are very low calorically, unless it's a cream soup." He tells OK! that fish is another good option: "Fish is very healthy because it's less calorie than chicken and red meat.

Even the fattier fish, like salmon, is a heart-healthy fat. If you wanted to compare seven ounces of salmon, it might be 290 calories and 12 grams of fat, but it's a heart-healthy fat, versus seven ounces of red meat, which may be 655 calories and 48 grams of fat, and it's an unhealthy fat." Dr. Shapiro adds that Mariah is on the right track to lose weight: "If she continues doing what she's doing, she will continue to lose weight."