“I Feel So Sad for Myself That I Did That”: How Rebel Wilson Atoned for 20 Years of Bad Habits and Learned to Love Herself

Rebel Wilson built her entire career around being a big girl. Her popularity skyrocketed with the character of “Fat Amy” from the Pitch Perfect movies, which tied her to being typecast for a few years. And yet, last year, Wilson prioritized her health over popularity and money, and it looks like everything is working out swimmingly for her.

We at Bright Side felt inspired by Rebel Wilson’s journey to self-love and hope it will resonate as strongly with all of you.

Rebel declared 2020 a “year of health” and kept her word.

Over the course of 2020, the actress melted in front of our very eyes. Early in the year, she decided to take care of herself and dedicated it to become her “year of health.” Rebel says it took her 2 decades in order to finally reach the right headspace to put herself first: “I wasn’t loving myself in the way that I should from 20 to 40 — that’s 20 years. I feel so sad that I did that to myself, just not loving yourself in the right way.”

Rebel has confirmed that she’s reached her ideal weight, and here’s exactly what helped her get healthy, both physically and mentally:

1. Getting to the root of her unhealthy lifestyle.

Losing weight always requires a certain mental state, which can’t be achieved without addressing what it is that created an unhealthy relationship with food in the first place. Rebel knew exactly what was holding her back from the start: “I think what I mainly suffered from was emotional eating and dealing with the stress of becoming famous internationally. There is a lot of stressful stuff that comes with it, and I guess my way of dealing with it was just eating doughnuts.”

2. Calorie deficit and protein over fad diets.

In terms of nutrition, Wilson didn’t turn to a specific diet, that often fails us once we return to our usual eating habits. She figured out that as long as she cuts her usual calorie intake in half, that should do the trick: “My body just responds well to protein. Nutritionally, the only thing is I do try to stay under 1,500 calories because of my body type. If want to lose weight in that week, I kind of have to stay under the 1,500 [calories] each day.”

3. Workouts are tough, but necessary.

Rebel’s trainer prefers to keep her on high-intensity cardio workouts most days of the week, but introduces weights for 2 of those days: “We train pretty much every day together.” Sounds absolutely exhausting, but the dedication is unmatched.

4. Rebel’s career no longer controls her weight.

So now that Rebel doesn’t exactly fit into the stereotype of a “fat best friend,” is she concerned about losing work? Actually, the comedian has broadened her horizons and feels more confident about her future career: “I feel more in control... I get to produce movies now, which is amazing, and have more control over the content. Everything seems to be coming together.”

5. Moderation is the key to success.

Wilson remains realistic about weight loss and knows that suppressing cravings won’t do any good: “We’ll be like, ’Should we get In-N-Out burgers?’ And I’m like ’Nothing is forbidden,’ I can go there, I just might eat half of what I used to eat before. You know? And I’ll have a burger, and a few fries, and then you feel fine.”

6. Numbers on the scale don’t matter.

Even though Rebel is focused on counting calories, she doesn’t care about how much she actually weighs. To her, this is only an indication of the fact that she’s doing well, but how she feels is much more important: “You never want it to be about the number, because it really isn’t about that. It’s [really] about: I was doing some unhealthy things to my body, and I just wanted to change it and become a healthier person.”

7. She’s doing this for herself, not a man.

Aside from slimmed-down photos, Rebel has started sharing snaps of her new handsome boyfriend. However, the actress shut down speculations that she lost weight for him: “We dated before I started any of this health journey. Goes to show you, ladies, you don’t have to be a certain size to get a boyfriend.” This just further proves that Wilson has her priorities straight and won’t ever back down again.

Do you want to start your own “year of health” now? What are your favorite tips to lose those pesky pounds?