Time for a little self-love! Demi Lovato went into detail about the unexpected way she started to shed weight in an inspiring, body-positive post.
“I’m full of peace, serenity, joy, and love today 💖,” she captioned an Instagram video on Monday, March 1, posing in front of her bathroom mirror and pulling up her shirt to show her toned stomach. Lovato, 28, stretched the waistband of her pants out to demonstrate how her body has changed.
“I accidentally lost weight,” the Disney Channel alum added. “I don’t count calories anymore. I don’t over exercise anymore. I don’t restrict or purge. And I especially don’t live my life accordingly to the diet culture … and I’ve actually lost weight.”
The “Skyscraper” singer, who has been vocal about her eating disorder and mental health struggles through the years, described her lifestyle changes as a “different experience” than what she’d done in the past. Despite losing weight, Lovato said that she still has a sense of fullness.
“I feel full. Not of food but of divine wisdom and cosmic guidance. Peace, serenity, joy and love,” the Camp Rock star concluded.
Lovato previously opened up about her recovery from bulimia by embracing her curves in a set of bathing suit pics in December 2020.
“I used to genuinely believe recovery from an eating disorder wasn’t real. That everyone was faking or secretly relapsing behind closed doors,” the “I Love Me” singer wrote at the time, showing off her stretch marks as she posed poolside. “I’m so grateful that I can honestly say for the first time in my life — my dietitian looked at me and said, ‘This is what eating disorder recovery looks like.’ … I started wearing actual glitter paint on my stretch marks to celebrate my body and all of its features (whether society views them as good OR bad) My stretch marks aren’t going away so might as well throw a lil glitter on em’ amiright? 😝✨.”
The New Mexico native reminded anyone who might be going through a similar journey of self-acceptance that they are “worth the miracle of recovery” — and that they’re not alone.
Since her time as a child star, Lovato has experienced a number of ups and downs in the spotlight. In July 2018, she was hospitalized for a near-fatal overdose and subsequently spent three months in rehab after breaking six years of sobriety. A sneak peek of her upcoming YouTube docuseries, Dancing With the Devil, detailed her recovery like never before.
“I had three strokes. I had a heart attack,” she said in a clip released in February. “My doctors said that I had five to 10 more minutes. … I was left with brain damage, and I still deal with the effects of that today. I don’t drive a car because I have blind spots in my vision. I also for a long time had a really hard time reading.”
Though her past drug use still leaves a lasting impact on her health, Lovato is “grateful” for the reminders of what she survived. “I’ve dealt with the repercussions, and they’re there to remind me what could happen if I get into a dark place again,” she said in the trailer.
