Valerie Bertinelli: I’ve gone “down a size” since doing “Dry January.”
Slim and slim! Valerie Bertinelli started 2023 by cutting alcohol from her diet – but was surprised when weight loss was an accidental by-product.
“So, here’s a nice little side effect of Dry January. These jeans I’m wearing were so tight a few months ago that I couldn’t button them comfortably,” Bertinelli, 62, said via a TikTok video earlier this week. “Now that they’re so loose, it’s time for me to size down. Yes, I like that side effect.
After the One day at a time alum revealed the shocking slim down, fans quickly took to the comment section to share their own experiences of going alcohol-free.
“I did Frugal October AND dry January AND much less sugar. Very little weight loss. So crazy! But I feel healthier,” one social media user wrote, to which Bertinelli replied, “Oooh, sober October. I like it. I can also do dry July. ??????.”
The Delaware native has been open about her weight-loss journey over the years, often clapping back at trolls who commented on her body. In July 2021 open about how harmful unwanted comments can be for someone’s self-image.
“Someone… decided to point out that I needed to lose weight. Because look, I don’t have a scale or I don’t have clothes that I try to put on every day and I don’t have mirrors, so I can’t see what has become of me,” she joked via Instagram. at the time. “So I needed that help to let me know I need to lose weight.”
The Daytime Emmy Award winner – who lost ex-husband Eddie Van Halen after his death in October 2020 – explained that people are “unhelpful” when they share their unwanted opinions.
“Because when you see someone who’s put on a bit of weight, my first thought is, ‘That person is clearly going through some things,'” she added. “But since I haven’t been successful at that all my life — at age 61, I’m still dealing with [it]. Don’t you think I’ve had enough, lady? Where’s the compassion? Not f–king helpful.”
Bertinelli shared that grief has been a common obstacle when it comes to her weight fluctuations — and that she previously “used food as a way not to feel the sadness or stress” in her life.
“Eating something away only makes me feel worse about myself,” she wrote in an essay Today in January 2020. “One of my personal mottos is ‘choose happy’. But sometimes that choice is really a challenge.”
These days, the Food Network star is taking a healthier approach, revealing last month that she tried a month without alcohol to “reduce my sugar cravings” and “calm down the cortisol in my body.”
“If you do a dry January, let’s have fun. Let’s do it together,” she said in a TikTok clip at the time. “If not, then it’s okay. It does not matter. You take care of yourself, I take care of me.”