Alright, where are my fellow Dry January participants? How’s everybody doing now that we’re in the home stretch? I’ve done Dry January every year since 2020 and despite all of the real world sh-t that’s bombarded this last week, this has been my easiest year yet.
Every year, we hear about celebrities who are doing Dry January. Last year, we got play-by-play updates from Amy Robach and TJ Holmes. Tom Holland and Bella Hadid are both on record as Dry January success stories. Now, we can add Kelly Ripa to the list! Last week, Andy Cohen was a guest host on an episode of Live with Kelly and Mark. When Andy talked about how he’s doing Dry January again this year, but hasn’t lost any of the weight that he usually loses, Kelly shared that although she doesn’t drink anymore, the year that she did do Dry January, she ended up gaining 12 pounds!
During the Wednesday, Jan. 22 episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, Ripa was joined by Andy Cohen as a stand-in co-host while her husband. Mark Consuelos, is filming a new project. During the opening segment, Cohen, 56, revealed he’s currently participating in “Dry January” and not drinking for the month.
However, as Cohen detailed his experience, he remarked that “usually a little weight loss comes my way after,” but this year, it’s “not really happening yet.”
“I told you when I quit drinking, I expected there to be this windfall of weight loss because everybody’s like, ‘Well, you are going to get too skinny, and you can’t afford to lose it,’ ” Ripa, 54, said before revealing the opposite occurred. “I gained 12 pounds [and said], ‘I don’t understand this magical weight loss that people apply.’”
“I think I just took to eating the sugars,” she continued. “Because apparently, alcohol is like a lot of sugar, which you don’t really realize when it goes in it tastes kind of bitter.”
Ripa revealed in January 2020 during an episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan that she eliminated alcohol from her diet in 2017. The following month, she told PEOPLE that she and her friends decided to try a sober month, and once she completed it she realized she “felt great” and “liked the way [she] felt.”
“It wasn’t even really a thought process. It felt great, I felt like I looked great, I felt like I didn’t feel hungover. Not that I was a heavy drinker — I wasn’t someone who got drunk — but even like two glasses of wine at a girl’s night out dinner; I would feel it the next morning,” she said.
“I just didn’t really feel the need or desire to go back to it,” she continued. “It wasn’t really a choice or a thought, it was just, ‘Yeah, I guess I don’t drink anymore.’ ”
At the time, Ripa said quitting smoking in the early ’90s was something that she “really had to think about,” noting that quitting drinking “was very easy” and she “didn’t really think about it at all.”
“I’m not comparing cigarettes to alcohol, but for me it was just like, I don’t do that anymore,” Ripa added. “I felt better so I just stopped.”
Replacing alcohol with sugar and extra food in general is absolutely a real thing. I remember a friend from college telling me once that they kept either gummy bears or Swedish Fish on hand to keep the cravings down when they were trying to give up alcohol. That’s crazy that she put on 12 pounds though! For Kelly, giving up alcohol was probably easier than giving up smoking because she had that sugar substitute. The nicotine patch was only available by prescription from 1992 to 1996 until it was made available over-the-counter. I’m happy for her that she’s living her best sober life. That’s awesome.
I’m in Andy’s camp this year. My first year, I lost 16 pounds and in subsequent years, “only” lost around five. Honestly, this is my first Dry January in which I haven’t lost any weight, but my kids have been home from school for this entire month (they’re in year-round school) and I’ve definitely had more than my fair share of Crumbl Cookies and Peanut M&Ms over the past four weeks, lol. Ha, gee, I wonder if that could have anything to do with it…
Photos credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com, Getty and via Instagram
This was my experience too – when I talked about it with my doctor she said it’s common because of the way alcohol affects the body’s blood sugar.
I suspect age (I am now 48, perimenopausal) is a big factor too.
Still, now that I am 4 years sober, quitting drinking has been one of the BEST decisions of my adult life.
Same! I am 8 months sober from alcohol and what Kelly is talking about is REAL. I’ve never been happier and my anxiety is practically non existent. My sleep is so much better, I have a much more positive outlook on life But yeah I’ve put on weight. I’ve talked to my doctor and to other sober folks who said this has happened to them too in the first year, and they were eventually able to balance out the sugar intake.
I stopped all drinking when I started chemo 5 years ago. And the few times I have tried it since, it either tastes horrible to me, or I feel so terrible the next day even after a tiny amount, that I shun it again. As for the weight loss, I swear that menopause has slowed my metabolism to nothing. I don’t eat after 5pm, EVER (because it causes heartburn at night), no alcohol, and lots of exercise and the weight doesn’t budge an ounce. I will say I’ve saved a ton of money by removing alcohol from the budget, there is that!
I also stopped drinking when I had cancer surgery and then chemo.
Never looked back, especially as there are so many good replacements now, mocktail ingredients like Martini Vibrante, or sparkling “wine”.
What I did after no longer drinking was taking a closer look at OTC meds that sometimes have a very high and very unnecessary alcohol content, stuff like a herbal mix for heartburn that contains 40 volume % of alcohol or cough sirups.
My oncologist makes me clear EVERY OTC drug and supplement I take with her. Tylenol is the only pain killer allowed (my cancer put me in renal failure, so we baby the kidneys now). But even green tea and vitamin C were no-nos for a while. Supplements are where she gets strict because they aren’t regulated. I was very into seltzer for a bit, but after my colectomy, the new plumbing seems to disagree violently with the gas. I tend to Irish Exit a lot of parties and weddings when the drinking really gets rolling. But hey, I am happy to be there at all!
Well, gaining weight isn’t always a bad thing, especially in Hollywood, where people go to great lengths to fit into a size.
I’ve never been a big drinker but my fiancé loves good wine, so this year I averaged 1 or more glasses of wine a day in December. I have other digestive issues which is one reason I have never had much to drink, since beer and wine often give me heartburn and indigestion. I’ve therefore done my first “dry January” to get my digestion back on track. It hasn’t been a hard adjustment for me, and I also don’t feel like it’s made a huge difference to how I’ve felt. But I figure it’s still healthier to go without – not to mention cheaper!
I’m doing dry January for the first time. I’ve had a rough few years and have been over indulging and decided it was time for a reset. I was actually a little worried that it would be difficult, but it hasn’t been at all. I even opened a bottle of wine to put in the pot roast I was making a couple weeks ago and didn’t even feel tempted to pour a glass.
I DO think that I’ve been eating more sugar this month