Adele has been candid about her weight loss journey.
The “Hello” singer lost 100 lbs. over a two-year period, debuting her dramatic transformation on Instagram in 2020. In the years since, she’s opened up about the lifestyle changes that made it possible and how she found her motivation.
“It was never about losing weight, it was always about becoming strong and giving myself as much time every day without my phone,” she said during an October 2021 interview with British Vogue.
The 16-time Grammy winner has also addressed the public discourse about her body after she lost weight.
“My body’s been objectified my entire career. It’s not just now,” Adele told Vogue that same month. “I understand why it’s a shock. I understand why some women especially were hurt. Visually I represented a lot of women. But I’m still the same person.”
Here’s everything Adele has said about her weight loss.
Her weight loss first made headlines in 2020
Adele first shocked fans with her dramatic weight loss in May 2020, when she shared a photo of herself on Instagram in honor of her 32nd birthday. “Thank you for the birthday love,” she wrote alongside a shot of her in a slim-fitting black mini dress. “I hope you’re all staying safe and sane during this crazy time.”
Fans immediately noted her transformation in the comment section, and even her celebrity friends chimed in. “I mean are you kidding me,” wrote Chrissy Teigen, while Kalen Allen noted: “THAT WAIST IS SNATCHEDDDDDD!!!!”
The post was shared during the singer’s nearly six-year break from the spotlight between the releases of her albums 25 and 30. At the time, she was also in the midst of divorcing her ex-husband, Simon Konecki, with whom she shares son Angelo.
She started working out to improve her mental health
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Adele poses with the Best Pop Solo Performance Award for “Easy on Me” in the press room during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Adele addressed her weight loss publicly for the first time in her October 2021 cover stories for both British and American Vogue. During the interviews, the “Rolling in the Deep” singer revealed that she began experiencing anxiety after her divorce and turned to fitness as a way to cope.
“The gym became my time. I realized that when I was working out, I didn’t have any anxiety. It was never about losing weight,” she told Vogue. “I thought, If I can make my body physically strong, and I can feel that and see that, then maybe one day I can make my emotions and my mind physically strong.”
Adele shared a similar sentiment the following month while speaking to Oprah Winfrey for the Adele One Night Only special.
“I had the most terrifying anxiety attacks after I left my marriage,” she told Winfrey. “They paralyzed me completely, and made me so confused because I wouldn’t be able to have any control over my body.”
The singer added of working out: “That really contributed towards me getting my mind right … It became my time. Having these sort of pins in my day helped me keep myself together.”
At one point, she worked out three times a day
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Adele performs on stage as American Express present BST Hyde Park in Hyde Park on July 01, 2022 in London, England.
While her weight loss may have seemed like it happened overnight from the outside, it was actually the result of years of hard work in the gym.
“I think one of the reasons people lost the plot was because actually, it was over a two-year period,” she told British Vogue.
Adele added that she “got quite addicted” to working out and began exercising two to three times a day. “I do my weights in the morning, then I normally hike or I box in the afternoon, and then I go and do my cardio at night,” she said, noting that her regimen was not attainable for everyone as she used trainers and was “basically unemployed” at the time.
The singer also clarified that she didn’t do any diets. “Ain’t done that. No intermittent fasting. Nothing. If anything I eat more than I used to because I work out so hard,” Adele told the outlet.
She was “disappointed” by the comments about her body
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Adele attends The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment 2023 at The Beverly Hills Hotel on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Adele has also been very open about the public scrutiny surrounding her weight loss.
“The most brutal conversations were being had by other women about my body. I was very f—— disappointed with that,” she told Vogue. “That hurt my feelings.”
Although she found the comments hurtful, Adele told Winfrey that she wasn’t “shocked or even fazed” by them. “My body has been objectified my entire career,” she said. “I’m either too big or too small; I’m either hot or I’m not.”
She prioritized her health for her son
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Adele attends The BRIT Awards 2022 at The O2 Arena on February 08, 2022 in London, England.
Another motivator for getting healthy was her son, Angelo, who was around 7 years old when Adele kicked off her weight loss journey.
“For her, it’s not about losing weight,” a source close to the star told PEOPLE in September 2019. “She wants to stay healthy for her son’s sake, and though it’s been challenging for her to keep a new workout routine, she is sticking with it.”
The insider added: “She has taken a more serious interest in improving herself and is actually having a great time.”
She’s always embraced body positivity
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Adele arrives at the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize at Grosvenor House on September 9, 2008 in London, England.
Before losing weight, Adele was outspoken about body positivity, and she’s made it clear that that hasn’t changed.
“People have been talking about my body for 12 years. They used to talk about it before I lost weight. But yeah, whatever, I don’t care,” she told British Vogue. “You don’t need to be overweight to be body positive, you can be any shape or size.”
She echoed that message during her conversation with Winfrey, telling the media mogul: “I was body positive then and I’m body positive now.”
While she’s always been an advocate for loving yourself at any size, Adele also noted: “It’s not my job to validate how people feel about their bodies. I feel bad if anyone feels horrible about themselves but that’s not my job. I’m trying to sort my own life out. I can’t add another worry.”
Read the original article on People
