Page 26 of Ready, Willing and Abel

Meredith Banks: Which is?

Abel Cartwright: I found what worked for me and what I could live with.

Meredith Banks: That’s it?

Abel Cartwright: That’s it.

Meredith Banks: So, how has your life been different since you became a heartthrob?

Abel Cartwright: It’s hard to tell, to be honest. Because my weight loss happened during a lull in my career, in that natural transition when I went from teenager to leading man age. So for much of it, I wasn’t really in the spotlight.

Meredith Banks: That’s right, because Oliver’s Twist had been cancelled.

Abel Cartwright: Exactly. I had some time to figure out what I wanted to do next. If I wanted to continue acting or just be a normal teenager for a while.

Meredith Banks: You played that title role, Oliver, for several years.

Abel Cartwright: Yes. Started it when I was seven and ended right after I turned fourteen.

Meredith Banks: So what instigated the weight loss?

Abel Cartwright: Honestly, I was told that if I didn’t lose weight, I’d be pigeon-holed into the fat funny sidekick roles for the rest of my life.

Meredith Banks: That bothered you?

Abel Cartwright: It wasn’t so much that it bothered me. I felt like I owed it to my family. They’d all made so many sacrifices for me to be in that show.

Meredith Banks: The show filmed in Texas, though, so you never had to move to Hollywood.

Abel Cartwright: Correct. And I am thankful I didn’t spend my formidable years there. That I was home with my parents and my twin brother.

Meredith Banks: So you owed your family and that’s why you lost weight.

Abel Cartwright: That’s why I started. Along the way I discovered that exercise, as much as I don’t love to do it, makes me feel better. I have ADHD, so the exercise gives me the dopamine my body needs and helps clear my head of all the static.

Meredith Banks: What about your diet?

Abel Cartwright: I don’t limit my food choices, for the most part. I listen to my body and eat what I’m craving. Sometimes that’s roasted asparagus, and sometimes it’s a brownie with ice cream.

Meredith Banks: What’s it like being a role model for other guys who want to go from fat to fit?

Abel Cartwright: My body transformation happened at the right time as well. Puberty and the flood of hormones worked well with my efforts so it was easier to build muscle when my body was already trying to do that. Yes, I did hard work, but I don’t consider myself a role model for weight loss or anything.

Meredith Banks: Why not?

Abel Cartwright: I guess because my motivation seems kind of shallow all these years later. I didn’t do it to improve my health or to have more energy. I did it so I could keep getting paid to be in front of the camera.

Meredith Banks: Even that, though, was somewhat altruistic, right? To pay back the money your parents lost.

Abel Cartwright: I guess you could say that. I brought some people into my family’s life that nearly cost us every dime. That was a wrong I needed to right.

Meredith Banks: As a teenage boy?

Abel Cartwright: You grow up fast when you’re in that world. It wasn’t like I crashed the car and their insurance rates went up. Those people took everything from my parents. I had to get it back.

Meredith Banks: And you did. Eventually.

Abel Cartwright: Yes. The first role I took after my “transformation” earned everything we’d lost and more.