Kathy Bates, 76, Broke Down 'In Tears' After Experiencing This During 100-Pound Weight Loss
Kathy Bates is reflecting on her 100-pound weight loss journey.
The actress, 76, had an emotional experience while prepping for the 2024 Emmy Awards, telling People that she "was able to go" to Giorgio Armani for the first time "in quite a while" to find a dress.
While trying on dresses, Kathy and a friend broke down "in tears, because everything I came out in just looked exquisite." And when the night rolled around, "the pictures on the red carpet were so different from any pictures I'd ever had taken on a red carpet," she said.
"I just felt so relaxed and ready," she said. "I knew I felt great, and I looked great. We had a wonderful little skit with Antony [Starr] and Giancarlo [Esposito]. It was a lovely night. That evening was really special."
The Misery star recently shared that she lost 80 lbs. over the past seven years, "through changes to her lifestyle and diet." She then lost another 20 lbs. with the help of the semaglutide Ozempic.
“There’s been a lot of talk that I just was able to do this because of Ozempic,” she told People. “But I have to impress upon people out there that this was hard work for me, especially during the pandemic. It’s very hard to say you’ve had enough.”
To lose weight, Kathy primarily shifted her diet. Here’s what Kathy has shared about her weight loss, plus how she did it.
How did Kathy Bates lose weight?
Kathy lost weight thanks to a combination of diet and weight loss medication, she told People. She used to "eat terribly: burgers and Cokes and pizza," she told People, but has since begun listening to when she's full. She also stopped eating after 8 p.m.
She isn’t strict, though. “We’ve been having trucks come to the lot over at Paramount to thank the crew, and yesterday we had Pink’s Hot Dogs,” she added. “Oh, my God, I hadn’t had a hot dog in such a long time. Today, I’m getting back on my track."
The results were well worth it, with Kathy telling Variety that she's "never been in such good health."
"I just had a physical. I’m doing great," she told Us Weekly at WebMD's Health Heroes event in 2019. "I feel like a completely different person. I can move, I can walk. I just wish I had done it years ago."
Did Kathy Bates use Ozempic?
Yes. Kathy lost 80 pounds "through changes to her lifestyle and diet." She then lost another 20 lbs. with the help of the semaglutide Ozempic, she told People.
She began her health journey while ‘facing diabetes.’
Kathy struggled with health complications from her weight while starring in the 2011 NBC drama Harry’s Law. “I had to sit down every moment that I could,” she told Variety. “It was hard for me to walk.”
So, she started losing weight a few years later. In 2019, Kathy had lost 60 pounds after a health scare.
"I was facing diabetes," she told Extra. "It runs in my family, and I really didn’t want to live with that."
Kathy added that she was "scared straight" after watching one of her sisters deal with diabetes. "I ate because I was afraid, and I ate because it was a FU to my self-esteem,” she told People. “[Diabetes] runs in my family, and I'd seen what my father had gone through. He had had a leg amputation... it terrified me."
She credits conscious eating with her weight loss.
In 2019, she credited "mindfulness" with her transformation. "Just knowing when to push my plate away," she told Us Weekly.
Kathy even learned a hack from her niece that helped her to lose weight. "After you eat for 20-30 minutes, you experience an involuntary sigh," she said. "It’s communication between stomach and brain telling you you had enough…and what I discovered is if you listen to that sigh and push that plate away for just five minutes, you realize you’re satisfied and you don’t have to eat more."
In September, she shared a similar sentiment: "There’s a hormone that’s released when we’re hungry, and another when we’re satisfied. The way I recognize that second hormone is I have an involuntary sigh," she told Woman's World. "It may not feel like you’ve had enough, so the trick is, you have to push your plate away! It’s hard, but I got excited about the results I was seeing. It took a long time, but I eventually went from a 3X to a size 10.”
But the results didn't happen overnight, with Kathy telling Us that she was "really patient."
"It took a few years," she said. "I don’t like the word willpower, but I like the word determination."
Of course, Kathy has ups and downs on her journey, telling Woman's World that "there are moments when I’ll overeat" because "you have to have a life."
"Then I’ll realize my costumes are getting a little tight, so I knuckle down and get determined to be healthy again," she continued. "I’m not doing this to fit into a dress or for a boyfriend. I do it for me."
It’s affected her post-cancer lymphedema.
Kathy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003 and breast cancer in 2012. After undergoing a double mastectomy to treat her breast cancer, she's struggled with lymphedema, a chronic condition that causes swelling in the body because of a collection of fluid.
Kathy shared that you can “swell horribly” from lymphedema, but changing her diet and exercise routine helped, she told People.
"It's been a tremendous benefit for me," she said. "I'm lucky that I don't have to wear my compression sleeves every day. It's such a thrill to be able to put my arm into a jacket and it fits."
Now, Kathy’s feeling great after her health journey. “I’m ashamed I let myself get so out of shape, but now I have a tremendous amount of energy,” she told Variety.
She wants to figure out a workout routine.
Kathy lost weight thanks to shifts in her diet and a weight-loss medication. And now that she's wrapped filming on the CBS series Matlock, she wants to add a workout routine to her schedule.
"That's going to be my next thing that I'm worried about because I won't be on set running back and forth," she said. "I have a treadmill here at the house, and I might try Pilates. People always ask, 'Don't you want a trainer?' No, I really don't. I don't want anybody over my shoulder."
But Kathy said that "it's just very important to me to keep this going," adding, "I don't want to slip."
She relaxes with gardening and art.
Aside from heathy eating, Kathy practices mindfulness via a hobby she picked up during the COVID-19 pandemic: gardening.
“During the pandemic, my niece turned me on to miniature violets,” she told Women's World. “Every morning, I would go down and see these tiny bulbs going up, and I’d get so excited. Once, I was at Lowe’s and there were these violets that were dying, and I brought them back to life. Reviving and caring for a violet and seeing it grow is similar to reviving my own growth as a healthy, vigorous creature.”
She also unwinds with an adult coloring book app on her phone. "I’ll have the TV on with either a nature show or a murder trial," she said. "I know it’s strange, but I get addicted to murder cases, so I’ll listen to that and do my painting. It’s so relaxing."
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