How Did Valerie Bertinelli Lose Weight? Secrets Behind the Star’s Success Through the Years

Valerie Bertinelli, who became a spokeswoman for the weight loss program Jenny Craig in 2007, has been candid about her fluctuating body throughout the years.

She released her autobiography Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time in 2008, and the follow-up book, titled Finding It: And Satisfying My Hunger for Life Without Opening the Fridge, hit bookshelves in 2009.

Valerie Bertinelli’s Quotes About Weight

The actress, who rose to fame in the 1970s when she starred in One Day at a Time, has previously said that she compared herself to then-costar Mackenzie Phillips. In Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time, Valerie admitted that “even though I wasn’t overweight, I felt obese next to [Mackenzie],” per Life & Style.

After One Day at a Time ended following nine seasons, Valerie had a habit of overeating, she’s explained. “It wasn’t one particular food; I just had no ‘stop’ button,” she revealed during a 2010 Good Housekeeping interview.

In her 2022 book, Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today, Valerie wrote that she also compared herself to Hot in Cleveland 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. “All my insecurities came out.”

In a since-deleted October 2023 Instagram post, Valerie shared a message with fans about her renewed sense of self. In a video, she wore her “before” clothes from her 2009 weight loss photos.

“I thought I was fat the last time I wore these clothes,” she said in the clip, adding that she’s “never felt more beautiful, more at peace, more mentally and emotionally stable than I do today.”

How Did Valerie Bertinelli’s Divorce From Eddie Van Halen Affect Her Weight?

Valerie and her first husband, late musician Eddie Van Halen — who share son Wolfgang Van Halen — announced their split in 2005 after more than 20 years together. Their divorce was finalized in 2007.

“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. And I think I had a lot of grief about that and that was how I soothed myself.”

How Did Valerie Bertinelli Lose Weight?

Valerie became a spokesperson for Jenny Craig in 2007. “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. This really is the great leveler and equalizer — when people talk about their weight and how they let it consume their lives.”

After nine months on Jenny Craig, Valerie lost more than 40 pounds and 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. I wish to God I had worked just as hard on my mental shape.”

While promoting her book Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today, she told Eating Well that she was never satisfied with her weight loss. “I’ve struggled with my weight for my whole life. But even being at my lowest weight never made me happy,” she said.

In June 2023, Valerie lost weight again and told fans in an Instagram post that she began focusing on her mental wellbeing.

“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, appearing to reference her divorce from her second husband, Tom Vitale. “And I started really concentrating on my emotional and mental health. And when I started doing that, I started caring about the nutrition that I put in my body more.”

Why Doesn’t Valerie Bertinelli Weigh Herself Anymore?

In a since-deleted Instagram post from February 15, 2024, per Life & Style, Valerie shared a throwback photo of herself.

“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. I now, finally, know that I am a kind, considerate, funny, thoughtful woman,” she said. “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.”