Melissa Joan Hart shares two things she cut from her diet that helped her lose nearly 20 pounds

Melissa Joan Hart said she never intended to lose weight when she embarked on her health journey, but found herself nearly 20 pounds lighter after changing her diet.

The Sabrina the Teenage Witch star, 49, shared in a new interview that as she approaches her 50th birthday in April, she’s begun working out “really hard” as part of what she called “a longevity journey.”

“I actually feel stronger and better than I have in a really long time,” Hart told People magazine. “I lost about 18 pounds last year.”

She admitted that she “just wanted to feel better. It had nothing to do with losing weight. I really didn’t think I could lose weight anymore, being in midlife and perimenopause and all those things, I was like, ‘Can I really lose weight? I don’t think I can.’”

“And in doing that and discovering fasting and cutting sugars and cutting alcohol — I haven’t had a drink in over a year,” she said, adding that she doesn’t even “enjoy drinking. So why bother?”

open image in gallery

open image in gallery

“So I cut these things out of my life, and I started to feel better,” Hart said. “And in doing that, I lost a lot of weight and kind of feel great.”

The Melissa & Joey alum isn’t the only celebrity to share that a diet change significantly contributed to their physical transformation.

Last month, country music star Jelly Roll, 41, opened up about his incredible 275-pound weight loss journey, saying he immediately found a therapist to help treat his “food addiction.”

“Even before I got into getting my blood work done, I went and got mental health therapy about my overeating,” he told Men’s Health. “I started treating my food addiction like what it was: an addiction.”

The “Liar” singer insisted that he didn’t use weight loss drugs because he didn’t want an “asterisk” next to his name when he lost the weight. His remarks were in reference to the stigma that often comes with the use of GLP-1 medication — commonly used to treat type-2 diabetes and obesity by reducing blood sugar levels and curbing appetite — which some critics consider “cheating.”

In recent years, several celebrities have openly discussed their use of weight-loss medications, including Chrissy Teigen, Oprah Winfrey and Amanda Bynes.

Retired tennis star Serena Williams, 44, partnered with a telehealth company last August and revealed she lost 31 pounds with the help of the company’s GLP-1 medication.

“I feel great,” she said in an interview with People. “I feel really good and healthy. I feel light physically and light mentally.”

Meanwhile, other A-listers, such as Kate Winslet, have spoken out against the popularity of weight loss drugs.

Speaking to The New York Times in 2024, Winslet confessed that she didn’t know what the popular GLP-1 Ozempic was. When the outlet explained that the medication works by curbing a person’s appetite, she appeared “appalled” that Ozempic has “dampened” interest in food.

“Oh, my God,” she replied. “This sounds terrible. Let’s eat some more things!”