Heavy Duties

Good thing Leah Remini listened when her family lovingly told her a year ago that she could stand to lose a little weight. This year the pretty actress nailed a plum role on NBC’s “Fired Up,” premiering Thursday night in the plum spot right after “Seinfeld.”

The L.A. Svelte Belt is a long way from the candy store under the el train in Brooklyn where a carefree Leah hung out as a kid, but some things don’t change. Leah can eat (and cuss) like you don’t want to know.

So, it’s 1996 and she was having a consultation with personal trainer Gina Lombardi. While Gina jotted down medical history and diet, Leah got up, went into the dining room, opened a window and lit up. Did Gina mind, Leah asked just to be polite. Gina’s jaw dropped. Yes, she minded and she said so.

So Leah’s thinking, “I’m in my own house. I went into the dining room and opened up a window. What, I’m going to pay a trainer with an attitude like this?”

Gina got backbony and went after Leah with nasty, little calipers, which showed an extra 20 pounds on her 5-foot-3-inch frame. Gina brought up the dreaded “D” word, whereupon Leah wagged a finger at the trainer and swore that diets never worked.

So Gina put Leah on a diet, slowly and gradually, one meal at a time starting with breakfast: Try a piece of fruit before the usual eggs and bacon. Leah thought, “I want a piece of fruit for breakfast like I want a Pap smear.”

She had the fruit. She actually liked it. Eventually the eggs and bacon dropped off. So did the 20 pounds, once Gina and Leah modified every meal until the entire day’s fare was properly balanced, from protein to carbohydrates.

How bad was it in the old days?

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and bacon or four Egg McMuffins and three orders of hash browns.

Lunch: Pizza or hamburger and fries or tuna fish on a Kaiser with a side of steak fries.

Dinner: Spaghetti with meatballs and Parmesan cheese, a loaf of Italian bread plus a Caesar salad, a baked potato with half a stick of butter.

Dessert: A big ol’ piece of three-layer chocolate cake every night.

Under Gina’s tutelage:

Breakfast: Egg whites and any of the following--fruit, plain bagel, whole grain pancakes, cereal or oatmeal with oat bran and berries.

Lunch: Cheeseless pizza or pasta with turkey meatballs or a salad with dressing on the side, turkey breast on whole-grain bread; vegetables; baked potato with not a drop of butter.

Dinner: Grilled swordfish or chicken or occasionally red meat or pasta with turkey meatballs; vegetables; baked potato with no butter.

Dessert: Entenmann’s low-fat coffee cake. (“I used to look at that and think, ‘It’s Entenmann’s. Why would anybody want no fat? I want the fat. Where’s the damned fat in the Entenmann’s?’ ” Leah recalls. “Now, I’m telling you, I think the low-fat is so good.”

Beverage: Take away the butter and chocolate, but please do not mess with the girl’s Puerto Rican coffee.

Not only is Leah eating properly and doing Gina’s evil little exercises with free weights but the two women became fast friends.

Now, isn’t that rich?

* Guest Workout runs Wednesdays in Life & Style, but next week the column runs on Tuesday--April 15, for you taxpayers--when the Guest Worker is IRS Commissioner Margaret Milner Richardson.