Valerie Bertinelli’s Weight Loss Journey in Photos Amid Fitness Transformation: See Before and After

1975

At the age of 15, Valerie landed the role of Barbara Cooper in One Day at a Time. During her time on the series, the young actress couldn’t help but compare herself to her famously thin costar, Mackenzie Phillips.

In her memoir, 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].”

The teen tried dangerous weight-loss techniques, which led to her reaching a weight of 98 pounds.

1984

One Day at a Time ended after nine seasons. Around this time, Valerie said she had a habit of overeating.

“It wasn’t one particular food; I just had no Stop button,” she recalled during an interview with Good Housekeeping in 2010.

1993

Valerie starred in the short-lived rom-com, Cafe Americain. In the show, she appeared trim and slim.

2001

Valerie and her first husband, Eddie Van Halen, announced their split after 20 years together. During this time, Valerie began to gain noticeable weight.

“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.”

Valerie and Eddie’s divorce was finalized in 2007.

2007

Valerie became a spokesperson for Jenny Craig, often appearing in commercials in which she showed off her newly slim figure.

“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.”

2008

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. Both books covered her fluctuating weight.

2009

At 48, Valerie posed in a green bikini for People Magazine. The photo was taken after nine months on the Jenny Craig diet and losing more than 40 lbs.

“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.”

2010

Valerie starred in Hot in Cleveland from 2010-2015. By the end of the series, the actress had a fuller figure.

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. “All my insecurities came out.”

2015

Valerie’s Food Network shows, Valerie’s Home Cooking and Kids Baking Championship, premiered.
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. “But I’m happy today.”

2022

Valerie’s book, Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today was published.

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. But even being at my lowest weight never made me happy,” she said.

2023

In June 2023, Valerie lost weight again, celebrating her smaller size with an Instagram post.

“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. And when I started doing that, I started caring about the nutrition that I put in my body more.”

Later that month, she posted on Instagram again about prioritizing her mental health over weight loss, telling followers to “please don’t come to me for diet advice.”

March 2024

Valerie showed off her slim-down in a creme pantsuit at Elton John’s Oscars Party on March 10. The following month, she released her cookbook, Indulge.

“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,” Val admitted in a since-deleted Instagram post on February 15, 2024, sharing a throwback photo of herself in heavier times.

“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 added.

June 2024

Valerie flaunted her petite frame at the 51st Annual Daytime Emmy Creative Arts & Lifestyle Awards, where she wore a form-fitting black satin top with a lace jacket over it, along with wide-leg trousers.

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. And I’m not going to feel one ounce of guilt about it.”

“But I also don’t crave things anymore that won’t necessarily feed my body all the nutrition that it needs,” she added.

September 2024

The cookbook author wore cute white overalls in a mirror selfie before getting on a flight to New York City. Valerie appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show, where she got candid about her experience with menopause.

December 2024

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. But right now every lump bump wrinkle and saggy part of me just feels acceptance and simple appreciation to be standing in front of a mirror in a hotel bathroom in downtown Manhattan ready to color my roots late on a Monday night,” she wrote in the caption.

During a December 13, 2024, appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Valerie said of why she decided to share the photo, “Well, you know what, I have been coming to terms with my body now, aging, and I saw myself in the light and I went, ‘Oh I’m not mad at that.'”

“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. It’s a belly.”

May 2025

Valerie was all smiles while showcasing her trim physique in a red bikini after a dip in the pool.

“My pool is 66 degrees,” she captioned her playful post on May 1, 2025, including several photos. “Now, for a cold plunge that’s relatively warm. (that’s what they say whoever they are) but along with everything else I’ve been experimenting with, this has helped improve my mood, has reduced inflammation and it’s easier than filling my bath up with ice cubes.”