Valerie Bertinelli, a well-known actress and Food Network star, has been open about her lifelong journey with weight, body image, and self-acceptance. After years of struggling with public perception and personal insecurities, she now embraces body positivity and shares her experiences to inspire others. This article explores Valerie Bertinelli's weight loss journey, her shift in mindset, and the strategies she has adopted to cultivate a healthier relationship with food and her body.
Embracing Body Positivity
In December 2024, Valerie Bertinelli shared an empowering message on Instagram, emphasizing the importance of self-judgment over external opinions. "I have dealt with judgment my entire life starting from when I was a young girl. It has taken me a long time to realize that my judgment, with patient discernment, is the only judgment that counts," she wrote. Bertinelli's journey highlights a newfound appreciation for her body at every stage. She reflects on her past self, stating, "For the first time in my life, I love my body as it is. It’s not the 20 year old body that I hated and it really is a shame that I hated that beautiful body. Yes, it was a very different body than the one I now inhabit, but it hadn’t yet been through the journey I needed to go through."
That same month, she posted a bathroom mirror selfie of herself sporting underwear and a bra on Instagram. She wrote, in part, that she accepts and appreciates "every lump bump wrinkle and saggy part" of her body.
Shifting the Mindset Around Weight
Bertinelli's transformation involves a significant shift in how she views her body and weight. She now believes that "health is not a body size" and emphasizes that a person's worth is not determined by their physical appearance. In a since-deleted Instagram video in 2023, she shared, "Health is not the number you see on the scale. Your worth as a human being isn’t dictated by your body." She elaborated on her state of mind, saying, “I’ve never felt more beautiful, more at peace, more mentally and emotionally stable than I do today, and I’m wearing my ‘fat clothes.’”
Giving Up the Scale
For Valerie Bertinelli, stepping on the scale is just dead weight. The Food Network star opened up about her personal journey with body standards in an Instagram post for throwback Thursday. "This is a 150lb body on a 5’4 frame. I don’t weigh myself anymore because this is considered overweight by who’s standards I don’t know. It’s stupid and I believed them for far too long. I now, finally, know that I am a kind, considerate, funny, thoughtful woman," Bertinelli captioned the post. "So please remember, who you are and what your character is, should never be overshadowed by what size you are or how much you weigh. You are enough. Just the way you are," she continued.
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Strategies for a Healthier Relationship with Food
Putting the Kibosh on Emotional Eating
Bertinelli realized she had an unhealthy relationship with food and strived to shift the way she thought about eating. She told The Washington Post in April 2024, “It’s not the food that’s bad for us. It’s how, or why, we’re eating it. If we’re eating it unconsciously, if we’re eating it to soothe an emotion."
The star admitted that she turned to food to cope with emotional pain, often opting for premade meals like frozen pizza and grocery store sushi instead of cooking at home. “And if I try to push it away, shove it away, eat it away, the feeling’s not going to go anywhere,” she said. “It’s going to pop up again.” In an interview with Mashed that same month, Bertinelli said it’s important for people to realize that food itself doesn’t necessarily make you gain weight. Rather, it’s your eating habits themselves. “What changes your jean size is how you use food to deny your feelings and numb your feelings, period. And until I learned that, my life is not going to change,” she said.
Patience with Workout Routines
In 2010, Bertinelli ran the Boston Marathon. She's patient with herself when she tries to ramp up her workout routine. “But you know what? You got to start somewhere, I’m not embarrassed,” she said in the video while walking on a treadmill. “Today is the first day of the rest of my life.”
Eliminating 'Good' or 'Bad' Food Labels
While speaking with Mashed in April 2024, Valerie Bertinelli said she's done "putting the burden on the food of being good or bad." She explained, "I used to be afraid of apples and peanut butter because I was told in certain diets that they were bad for me. It’s an apple for Christ’s sake. It’s peanut butter. It’s got protein in it. It’s like stop," she said. "The same thing with bananas. I said this before, it’s like I was afraid of eating bananas because of all the carbs," she continued. "Stop it. Eat the f------banana. It’s good for you, it’s got potassium, it’s got vitamins."
Prioritizing Sustainable Habits Over Quick Fixes
Bertinelli shared that she would rather create sustainable healthy habits than go on a crash diet, telling People in April 2024, “I’ve learned patience. Stop with the ‘lose ten pounds in a week.’ Why would you want to? If you want to start taking care of your emotions and your head and your heart, do that, and watch yourself release the weight.” The 64-year-old knows it’s hard to be patient when you have a weight-loss goal in mind, but she said it’s worth the wait. “Maybe it could have gone quicker, but why do I need to go quicker?” she said. “Unless you do the emotional and mental work, weight is not going to stay off.”
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Incorporating Pilates into Her Routine
Pilates is one of many ways Bertinelli fuels her body and mind. In December 2023, the star filmed a video of herself working out at a Pilates studio and offering an inspiring message afterward. "No matter how hard it is to get there, I always feel so much better about myself once I'm done," she said. Bertinelli echoed that same statement in the caption, writing, “Exercise is not just for your body. It can also soothe your soul. 🤍💪🏼.”
Giving Up Alcohol
After Bertinelli didn't drink for a month in January 2023, she showed her followers how it helped her lose weight. “So, here’s a nice little side effect to Dry January,” she said in a February 2023 video. “These jeans that I’m wearing were so tight a few months ago that I couldn’t comfortably button them. Now, they are so loose, it’s time for me to go down a size." Bertinelli has now given up alcohol for good. In September 2024, she told People that aging was part of the reason she decided to stop drinking. “I think the older you get, the less you really want to really be putting that in your body. I mean, anybody can do whatever the heck they want, but I feel better,” she said.
Reframing 'Cheat Days'
Bertinelli believes the term "cheat day" is misleading, and that indulging “has been given a bad rap,” as she told USA Today in a story published in April 2024. “It’s not cheating. We need to allow ourselves the pleasure of our lives. Food is a big, important part of my life,” she said. In the same month, Bertinelli told People that she’s learned indulgences are an essential part of a healthy diet. “I don’t deny myself anything anymore,” she said. “I think what do I want, as opposed to what am I going to eat because I need to be careful about calories. If I want pasta alle vongole, I’m going to make that. And I’m not going to feel one ounce of guilt about it.”
Squashing Negative Self-Talk
While appearing on "The Drew Barrymore Show" in September 2024, Bertinelli admitted that she "used to hate" her body when she was younger, and described the negative effects that attitude had on her mental health. “And what does that do to your body, what does that do to your brain when you’re constantly going ‘Oh, I hate this, I hate that, I hate my thighs, I hate this’? And someone once said to me, ‘What’s your favorite part of your body?’ and I said, ‘My ankles.’ That was it,” she said. Bertinelli said that while she had a "beautiful body" when she was young, she's learned to appreciate her body even more with age, cellulite and all. “I so love my brain, and my body carries my brain. I so love my heart, and this body is what carries my heart. It’s aging, that’s what we all do," she said.
Valerie Bertinelli's Career and Personal Life
Valerie Bertinelli's career began in the 1970s when she starred in the sitcom One Day at a Time. As a teen in the spotlight, she struggled with her self-esteem. At the age of 15, Valerie landed the role of Barbara Cooper in One Day at a Time. One Day at a Time ended after nine seasons. Valerie starred in the short-lived rom-com, Cafe Americain.
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Valerie and her first husband, Eddie Van Halen, announced their split after 20 years together. “I think a lot of people think because I was getting the divorce, that was really the catalyst for gaining so much weight,” she told TODAY in 2008. “[But] I had so many problems all through the years, ballooning and going down again. But I think really what my sorrow was, that I wasn’t giving my son the life I thought he deserved and I wasn’t keeping the family intact.
“This has really, really been good for me,” she said of the diet program during a 2010 interview with Good Housekeeping. “People come up to me and tell me how I changed their life and I’ve inspired them. And they tell me their stories, and that keeps me going. Valerie released her book, Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time. On the cover of the book, the author smiled in a form-fitting blouse. A year later, she published Finding It: And Satisfying My Hunger for Life without Opening the Fridge. At 48, Valerie posed in a green bikini for People Magazine. “There’s a lot of pride and a lot of shame associated with that cover,” she told People in 2020. “I worked really, really, really hard. Physically definitely. Valerie starred in Hot in Cleveland from 2010-2015. In her 2022 book, Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today, Valerie wrote that she compared herself to her costars Wendie Malick and Jane Leeves. “Both women were tall, skinny, beautiful, and gorgeous, and I thought, ‘Here I am again, the one with the hourglass figure, short and round,’” she wrote. When the show started, Valerie still had a full figure, but she later said she wasn’t as self-conscious about her size as she’d once been. “Do I want my jeans to be a little looser? Hell yeah!” she told Entertainment Tonight in 2016. While promoting her book, she told Eating Well that she was never satisfied with her weight loss. “I’ve struggled with my weight for my whole life.
“So it’s getting about time for me to probably go down another jean size. I can’t believe it. And this all started in November, the month I got free,” she said in the clip, referring to her divorce from her second husband, Tom Vitale. “And I started really concentrating on my emotional and mental health. Valerie showed off her slim-down in a creme pantsuit at Elton John’s Oscars Party on March 10. “This is a 150-lb body on a 5’4 frame. I don’t weigh myself anymore because this is considered overweight by whose standards I don’t know. It’s stupid and I believed them for far too long. “So please remember, who you are and what your character is, should never be overshadowed by what size you are or how much you weigh. You are enough. Two months prior in April 2024, the actress spoke about her dietary habits. “I don’t deny myself anything anymore,” she told People. “I think what do I want, as opposed to what am I going to eat because I need to be careful about calories. If I want pasta alle vongole, I’m going to make that. The cookbook author wore cute white overalls in a mirror selfie before getting on a flight to New York City. Valerie shared a makeup-free selfie in her underwear standing in front of a bathroom mirror on December 2, 2024. “At some point I will talk about the madness my body has been through this year. “Like all those, you know, planks and sit-ups I’ve done, you can see underneath the saggy skin,” she joked. “But I have to say … it’s 64 years of gravity. It’s science. If you focus in on that picture, you’re gonna see the little saggies and I’m proud of them because I’m 64. “My pool is 66 degrees,” she captioned her playful post on May 1, 2025, including several photos.
On Ozempic
Weight-loss medications like Ozempic have become increasingly popular in recent years. While Bertinelli told People in April 2024 that she hasn't tried them, she's fully supportive of anyone who wants to give them a go. “I think whatever people need to help them, if it helps, use it,” Bertinelli told the outlet.
Leaving 'Kids Baking Championship'
The scale isn't the only thing Bertinelli is leaving behind. The beloved "Kids Baking Championship" co-host announced that she was leaving the show after 12 seasons, citing "budget cuts" as the reason for her removal. Bertinelli said "it really hurt" her feelings to be let go from the program she's hosted with former "Ace of Cakes" star Duff Goldman since 2015. "Without sounding like a drama queen, the show saved my life," the "Hot in Cleveland" actress continued. "Working with all those really wonderful people and feeling productive and knowing I could spread some kindness and not just wallow in my hell … It was like a floatation device." Bertinelli said episodes from Season 12 of the show were filmed in summer 2022, which she described as her "apex year of hell" amid her divorce from Tom Vitale. The network also canceled her cooking show "Valerie's Home Cooking," after 14 seasons last year.
Re-wearing Old Clothes
Valerie Bertinelli re-wears 'fat clothes' from weight loss ad: 'Never felt more beautiful'. Bertinelli's long been candid about her struggles with body standards. In October, Bertinelli posted an Instagram video posing in a pink button-down shirt and blue jeans that she had on for her "first 'before' picture with Jenny Craig." The former brand representative for the now-defunct weight loss company, Bertinelli said she has "done so much emotional and mental work to recover from years of pretending everything was OK when it wasn't."
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