Kelly Ripa shares the unexpected weight gain she experienced after giving up alcohol and the reasons behind it.
Kelly Ripa reflects on her decision to stop drinking nearly eight years ago.
During the January 22 episode of *Live with Kelly and Mark*, Ripa was joined by Andy Cohen, who co-hosted the show while her husband, Mark Consuelos, is away filming.
During the discussion, Cohen, 56, shared that he was participating in «Dry January» and not drinking for the month.
As he talked about his experience, Cohen mentioned that he usually loses some weight during this time but that this year, the weight loss hasn’t happened yet.
Ripa, 54, responded by recalling her own experience when she gave up alcohol. «I thought I would lose weight, because everyone told me, ‘You’re going to get too skinny, you can’t afford to lose it,’” she said.
“But I actually gained 12 pounds and I was like, ‘I don’t get this magical weight loss everyone talks about.’”
She explained that her weight gain might be linked to eating more sugars. “Alcohol has a lot of sugar in it, which you don’t realize because it tastes bitter going down,” she said.
Ripa previously revealed that she quit drinking in 2017 during an episode of *Live with Kelly and Ryan*.
She shared that it all started when she and her friends decided to try a sober month, and once she completed it, she felt great and loved how she looked and felt.
“It wasn’t even a thought process,” she said. “I didn’t feel the need or desire to go back to it.”
While she wasn’t a heavy drinker, she noted that even having two glasses of wine during a dinner out would leave her feeling hungover the next day.
Looking back, Ripa compared her decision to quit alcohol to quitting smoking in the early ’90s.
She noted that giving up smoking was something she had to actively think about, whereas stopping drinking felt effortless.
“I didn’t really think about it at all,” she said. “I felt better, so I just stopped.”
