Valerie Bertinelli In Workout Gear Thanks Fans While Taking a Walk

Valerie Bertinelli is thanking fans for all their support in a sweet social media post. Bertinelli, 64, shared a video of herself walking down the street, wearing leggings and a shirt with the words "love yourself" on it. "When I go on my walks, I do a lot of reflecting. Sometimes sweet, sometimes challenging. Reflecting on this week and the kindness all of you have shown me in our conversations at the Indulge book signings, and here online, I just wanted to send out a huge thank you for supporting me and for all your sweet responses to my life updates. 🥰 I truly love this community that we have built here. Thank you for sticking around. Through the challenging and through the sweet 💜," she captioned the post. Bertinelli recently announced she is six months sober—here's how she's living her best life.

Bertinelli lost weight slowly, which she says was just what she needed. "I've learned patience," she told PEOPLE. "Stop with the 'lose ten pounds in a week.' Why would you want to? If you want to start taking care of your emotions and your head and your heart, do that, and watch yourself release the weight. Unless you do the emotional and mental work, weight is not going to stay off."

Bertinelli didn't use Ozempic herself, but refuses to judge anyone who does. "But what I don't like is people poo-pooing others that have decided to use it," she told PEOPLE. "I think anything you need to do, if you need to go on a diet, if you need to go on Weight Watchers, if you feel better doing Paleo, or Keto, if that makes you feel better, because my brother is doing Keto and I tell him, 'Dude, eat a banana. It's not going to kill you.' But he says 'This is working for me,' so, cool."

Bertinelli loves taking Pilates classes, and sometimes posts videos of her workouts online. "No matter how hard it is to get there, I always feel so much better about myself once I'm done," she captioned a post. "Thank you, Grace! Exercise is not just for your body. It can also soothe your soul 🤍💪🏼."  

In a recent social media post, Bertinelli announced she is six months sober from alcohol. "Alcoholic drinks often contain a lot of sugar and carbohydrates, along with empty calories that contribute to weight gain," Bethany Agusala, MD, tells UTSouthwestern Medical Center. "Sobriety helps improve insulin efficiency, which helps alleviate digestive problems such as bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and nausea."

Bertinelli is gentle with herself when she's tempted to eat for emotional reasons. "I still have my moments where I'll start unconsciously eating because I'm feeling something emotional and mid way through I'll think what am I doing? Why am I feeling this way?," she told PEOPLE. "When I find myself unconsciously emotionally eating, I don't beat myself up. I go, okay, give myself a hug and say what's going on?"