How Melissa McCarthy Really Lost So Much Weight

In 2015, Melissa McCarthy emerged from some time out of the spotlight looking 50 pounds lighter as she promoted the Paul Feig action movie "Spy," resulting in a lot of press questions about her looks instead of her work. "There are so many more intriguing things about women than their butt or their this or their that. It can't be the first question every time, or a question at all," she told Refinery29 in March 2016. While disappointed, the "Gilmore Girls" alum certainly wasn't surprised.

McCarthy has been open about the obstacles she has faced in the industry for deviating from the norm, including having to put up with insulting interviewers. "He kept asking, 'Are you shocked that you actually work in this business at your tremendous size?'" she recalled to InStyle in 2019, referencing an interview she did after "Bridesmaids" in 2011. Unfortunately, it wasn't the first or last time she had to face that. "It happens all the time, to the point where it's fascinating because they don't do it to men," she added.

Besides the unprofessional conduct of journalists, McCarthy has also struggled with finding clothes for glamorous events. "Two Oscars ago, I couldn't find anybody to do a dress for me. I asked five or six designers," she told Redbook in 2014. But against all the unjust odds, McCarthy achieved mainstream success in Hollywood. So when she lost weight in 2014, she didn't do it to please others. Her weight loss was the result of a combination of factors — some personal, some professional.

When Melissa McCarthy stopped thinking so much about her weight, she started seeing the pounds melt away. "I truly stopped worrying about it," she told Life & Style in June 2015. "I think there's something to kinda loosening up and not being so nervous and rigid about it that, bizarrely, has worked." However, McCarthy's dedication to her work inadvertently helped the process. In preparation for her role as a C.I.A. agent in "Spy," McCarthy had to undergo intense workouts as she was set to perform her own stunts.

"The second I knew I was doing the movie, I started training with an amazing martial arts instructor," she said. While McCarthy didn't diet at all, she did implement a few changes to her daily life. For one, she started to incorporate more proteins and fewer carbs in her meals, though she refused to give herself a hard time if she had an off day.

However, McCarthy believes the biggest contributor to her weight loss was the lifestyle she was leading at that particular time in her life. "No trick, nothing to tell, just super boring life," she told Extra in March 2016. "You bring it real down, you don't do anything fun and you go to bed at 7:30 — that's the trick." Even after shedding all those pounds, McCarthy still chose to continue to not worry about it. Instead of stressing about keeping the weight off, she opted to be realistic.

In early 2016, Melissa McCarthy proved she didn't see her 50-pound weight loss a feat to show off. "I'll be back again. I'll be up, I'll be down, probably for the rest of my life," she told Refinery29 interview. Navigating her different sizes was always made harder by the restrictive shopping experience as someone who often needs sizes above 12. "I've been every size in the world, from a six to a 22 and it was mind-blowing how, at a certain size, clothes just became tarp with a hole in it," she told The Guardian in 2016.

Instead of trying to starve herself to fit into someone's ideal, McCarthy decided to start designing clothes with a broader audience in mind. In the summer 2015, McCarthy, who actually studied fashion before turning to acting, launched her own clothing line, Melissa McCarthy Seven7. "I wanted to build a better closet for myself," she told People.

Offering sizes from 4 to 28, her goal was to provide options for all women in the same place. "I think it's strange to segregate a part of the population and put them somewhere else," she told Inc. And that part of the population isn't even in the minority, considering that close to 70% of American women wear a size 14 or bigger. "So you're taking your biggest category of people and telling them, 'You're not really worthy,'" she said in a 2015 interview with Refinery29.