Soap Opera Weekly

Va-va-voom!
By Tonya Lensch

With a fabulous new look, a new direction for her character and an upcoming wedding, Days' Alison Sweeney is loving life.

What a difference a year makes. One can't help but be dazzled when thinking of the transformation Days of Our Lives' Sami Brady has made. Her portrayer, Alison Sweeney, has gone through her own transformations in the same amount of time. Aside from Sami's challenging front-burner execution storyline (garnering Sweeney SOAP OPERA WEEKLY's citation for Breakout Performance in 1999), she also is busy making wedding plans, and her smart new eating habits have slimmed her down. And it's evident while speaking to her that just as Sami has grown up right before our very eyes, so has the talented actress who has played her for the past seven years.

Sweeney's voice becomes effusive when she speaks of her fiancé, Dave Sanov. "It's kind of sappy, but I knew practically right away [he was the one]," she says. "I didn't necessarily think we'd be getting married so quickly, but it just seems that it all fell into place so perfectly. We had so much in common and we got along so well together that it just seemed so right, right away. There was never any question for me. But then again, I'm different because I didn't really settle. I never really did the dating thing anyway; I didn't date just to date, or just to go out. Dave is the first guy I've ever really had a serious, long relationship with because I am so damn picky! I didn't want to put up with it if it wasn't for real."

Now that she's found the real thing, Sweeney, excited about her upcoming July wedding, is putting the finishing touches on preparations - with and without Sanov. "At first you're like, I want him to be part of it, I want him to be interested. And then you are like, but I don't want his opinion, I want him to agree with me, right?" she says with a laugh. "No, he's been letting me do all the girly side of it, but he's been getting updates all along, helping me pick stuff out. And I've been asking his opinion. We agreed on the location together…We did the important stuff together. Our tastes are pretty much the same: We both wanted to do it outside; we both wanted to do it near the ocean."

As Sweeney prepares to take this important step, she has also witnessed several of her Days co-stars and close friends make big life decisions this past year - Bryan Dattilo (Lucas) married and became a father; Austin Peck (Austin) got engaged. "It's funny because I've known Bryan for seven years. We started [at Days] almost at the same time. We've grown up together and we're very close friends, so it's funny to see him all grown up and a father. It's like, 'My little Bryan is growing up!' And then he's like, 'What are you talking about? You're the one who's growing up, about to get married - look at that ring on your finger!'" Sweeney relates with a smile. "We're so used to being kids and even the show has been growing us up. There's a whole new generation of kids on the show, and it's like, 'Oh, my god, we're not the kids anymore. We're middle-aged!'"

Sweeney and Sanov don't plan to start a family immediately after their summer nuptials. "That is definitely in the future for us. We want to have a family, and we're very much looking forward to it," she explains. "But mostly we're looking forward to having a couple of years to ourselves to really settle down and have fun with each other, travel and enjoy our marriage and our relationship. Then maybe we'll expand our family. I'm enjoy our marriage and our relationship. Then maybe we'll expand our family. I'm going to spoil Bryan's kids first, and I already spoil the twins who will play Will."

Another big change Sweeney made last year was improving her eating habits, resulting in her new, svelte look. "The bottom line was - I can say this now - I didn't lose weight just to lose weight. I lost weight to be more healthy," she says frankly. "I have a fiancé who loves me very much and didn't care [about my weight], and my producers have always been so supportive of me, no matter what weight I was. I was eating too many sweets and too much soda. And the weight is a side effect of unhealthy eating."

So Sweeney got smart about what she was eating and how much. "I started this health plan of eating more protein and less carbohydrates, much less sugar, and trying to control my intake. In our society today, it seems as though it's always about money, and people think that they want to get more for their money. You end up in a cycle where you go to the restaurant up in a cycle where you go to the restaurant with the bigger portions thinking that you are getting more for your money, but really you're not supposed to eat that much. Our bodies were not meant to have these pasta bowls that are just overflowing! Or Thanksgiving every day - that's not really healthy!"

Sweeney kicked off 1999 by putting her plan into motion. "I really took myself seriously [last] January; it was my New Year's resolution…I just thought that I was going to eat better and be more aware of all the breads and pastas and real heavy stuff that you think is good for you and just isn't. And so I really emphasized vegetables and curing my sweet tooth."

While Sweeney sounds very confident about her new eating outlook, she admits that it's still hard. "But you work on portions and learn control. If you are full, don't eat. I think that is people's biggest thing with snacks - you eat because you are bored. You just have to learn to control that and find other things to do. I've now filled my dressing room with entertaining and amusing games and other things to do."

Sweeney also has learned how to make exercise fun, or, well, at least more interesting. "I'm not a big working-out person; I never have been. I make an effort to make myself active. I read this article in a fitness magazine about how people who are active tend to be thinner than people who are lazy. And I know that seems pretty fundamental, and you would think that means working out, but it really means kinetic movement, like you forgot something so you walk back. Or you clean the kitchen. You're always moving and making hand gestures, and you are one of those people who are just constantly in motion. And it's amazing how that will increase the amount of calories that you will burn and make you fitter. I go for long walks with Dave through the neighborhood. If I am caught up in the middle of a really good book, I will get on my [stationary] bike and finish reading it while I am on my bicycle.