Valerie Bertinelli shares a ‘nice side effect’ of Dry January – and her fans are loving it

Scott Stump
·2 min read
4

Valerie Bertinelli is reaping the benefits of Dry January every time she puts on her jeans.

The celebrity chef and television personality shared on TikTok how abstaining from alcohol last month has had a tangible effect on her body.

"So, here’s a nice little side effect of Dry January," she says in a video while taking a walk. "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.

"Yeah, I like that side effect."

Bertinelli, 62, received plenty of encouragement from her fans after sharing the update.

"Great! Proud of you!" one person commented.

"Beautiful inside and out. Do whatever makes YOU happy," another fan wrote.

"You my dear are glowing! You look amazing! Happy for you," another commented.

Another fan mentioned trying "Sober October," which Bertinelli replied she is mulling over.

"Oooh, sober October. I like it. I also may do dry July," she wrote.

The "One Day at a Time" star shared in a video on Instagram on Jan. 5 that she was going alcohol-free for the month to "reset" her body.

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A post shared by Valerie Bertinelli (@wolfiesmom)

She decided to nix the booze to help cut down on her cravings for sugar and to "calm down the cortisol" in her body that she said has left her in "fight, flight, freeze, fawn mode" for the past six years.

Bertinelli has been open about her exasperation with the lifelong pressure to lose weight as an actor and television personality.

“I don’t weigh myself as much anymore,” said Bertinelli told People in 2020. “I’ll put on some jeans once in a while to see how they feel. Why do I have to know the number I am?”

She wrote in an essay for New Beauty last year that avoiding the scale has had positive effects on how she views herself.

"It’s all a test and we’ll see how it works, but I do know that my mental health has improved immensely because I stopped looking at the scale every morning—and that’s the first big step for me," she wrote.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com