Mindy Kaling has been open about her health journey over the years.

Many fans met the comedian through her character on The Office, Kelly Kapoor, which debuted in 2005. In addition to recurring on screen, Kaling was in the writer’s room. During a season 5 episode, Kelly went on a diet inspired by Beyoncé — replacing meals with a cleanse that consists of lemons, cayenne pepper, water and maple syrup.

That same year, Kaling released her first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? In the candid memoir, she wrote about creating a “makeshift diet formula” in high school after a classmate told her she would “be really pretty if you lost weight.” As a result, Kaling “would eat exactly half of what was put in front of me, and no dessert.”

The actress explained that she “stayed at a pretty normal weight until college” when she gained 35 pounds during the first six months of her freshman year. She dropped the weight by introducing exercise into her life but declared she would be “chubby for life” for four reasons: she has “no hobbies except dieting,” she has “no discipline,” men she’s “dated have been into me the way I am” and she’s “pretty happy with the way I look, so long as I don’t break a beach chair.”

Kaling’s new approach to wellness came after she navigated losing baby weight. She welcomed daughters Katherine and Anne in 2017 and 2024, respectively, and son Spencer in 2020.

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