‘I’m doing a lot better now’: Amanda Bynes’ weight loss, explored

Amanda Bynes is in her late 30s now, and everyone always hopes to hear good news about her. It has been years since she acted, but the former child star has given us some insight into her personal life.

Bynes’ child star career is a haunting and gloomy story for anyone who grew up watching her movies. Every once in a while, she shares some career or life news. But while she recorded one podcast in 2023, no one is sure what else she is up to. So, anyone who is curious about Bynes’ life will want to hear her talk about losing weight.

Amanda Bynes’ weight loss, explained

Bynes posted on Nov. 5, 2024 on Instagram Stories that she had begun trying to lose weight. She showed her daily activity: 481/320 calories burned, 14,895 steps taken, and 6.60 miles walked. She wrote, “Down 6lbs! 154lbs now.”

As Us Weekly explained, Bynes told fans on Mar. 28, 2024 via Instagram Stories that a period of depression led her to put on 20 pounds. She said her goal was 110 pounds, and she was 162 pounds at the time. As noted by TMZ, the actress was vulnerable in her 2018 interview for Paper Magazine and said, referring to her role in She’s the Man, a retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which saw Bynes’ teenage girl character in guy drag, “I went into a deep depression for 4-6 months because I didn’t like how I looked when I was a boy.”

Bynes said via Instagram Stories of her recent. weight loss, “I’m doing a lot better now and have learned to do opposite action when I don’t feel like working out or eating clean.”

Depression affects everyone differently, but it can mean gaining weight, as Bynes explained. In some cases, you could lose weight because you don’t feel like eating, or you think you shouldn’t eat, which is, of course, serious. I may not be able to relate to Bynes’ horrible child star experiences, but when she says she now exercises and eats well even when she doesn’t want to, I totally get what she means. Everyone goes through that, right?

Although people often say that eating healthy and working out will put you in a good mood, that is neither here nor there when you’re depressed. Mustering up the energy and motivation can be tough. Even a Harvard prof. agrees. Dr. Michael Craig Miller said, “Exercise supports nerve cell growth in the hippocampus, improving nerve cell connections, which helps relieve depression.” Now that Bynes is on a happier path, it sounds like she wants to focus on her health goals, in this case weight loss.

Bynes discussed her mental health in her PAPER interview, and she said, “It definitely isn’t fun when people diagnose you with what they think you are.” It’s a fair point that no one should publicly that they think a celebrity (or anyone at all, really) has a certain mental health condition. People deserve to tell their own story if and when they’re ready and want to do so.

In the case of Bynes’ weight loss, she chose to tell her social media followers what has been going on, and she clearly felt comfortable telling them she had experienced depression. If any of her fans have also had depression, this was likely comforting. I’m glad she said she’s doing better, as she said, and truly wish that will continue. To put it lightly, she has been through enough.