Inside Melissa McCarthy's Weight Loss Journey

Comedic actress Melissa McCarthy has historically been refreshingly frank — and a bit philosophical — about her curvy shape. For instance, in 2016, she told Redbook that every healthy woman should feel free to "enjoy and embrace whatever body type you have" (via Today). That same year, she told Refinery29, "I'll be up, I'll be down, probably for the rest of my life," and brushed off the idea that her weight should be the most "interesting" aspect of her.

That was then. Today, she's taken a somewhat guarded stance about the dramatic weight loss that was on display when she hosted SNL in late 2025. According to Entertainment Tonight (via YouTube), McCarthy may have lost upwards of 95 pounds. But no one is sure what route she took because she hasn't revealed exactly how she's dropped weight — or how much lighter she is.

This makes her current journey mysterious. Nonetheless, it may be possible to rule out the possibility that she used bariatric surgery based on past comments.

To be sure, plenty of people who want or need to lose a considerable amount of weight take a surgical route. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases noted that in 2018, around a quarter-million bariatric surgeries were performed in the United States. By 2022, the number had increased to 280,000, according to a review that year in Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases.

Yet there's no indication that McCarthy has had any type of bariatric treatment (e.g., gastric sleeve, gastric band) to reduce her size between 2024 and 2025. In fact, during a 2018 interview for The Breakfast Club (via YouTube), she said she'd rather lose weight slowly when she was asked why she hadn't gone through with surgery. (Side note: At the time, McCarthy had lost an estimated 75 pounds over what she described on the radio program as being about five years.)

Another increasingly popular method to drop pounds is with the assistance of GLP-1 agonists like Ozempic and Wegovy (referred to generically as semaglutide). Available by prescription, GLP-1 drugs reduce blood sugar swings and curb hunger pangs. A 2025 study in JAMA Network Open suggests that GLP-1 usage has "substantially" increased since 2022.

Though McCarthy hasn't admitted to taking a GLP-1 medication, at least one other actress has floated it as a potential reason for McCarthy's new look. In 2024, none other than legendary performer Barbara Streisand asked McCarthy on Instagram if she had lost weight using Ozempic (via Prevention). Streisand's comment received a quick thumbs-down from McCarthy's fans. However, McCarthy took a positive approach to the question and posted an Instagram video indicating she didn't mind the attention from Streisand. 

That said, McCarthy never directly answered Streisand's question, at least publicly. Therefore, it's uncertain if Ozempic played a part in McCarthy's weight loss. However, McCarthy didn't seem to display one known Ozempic side effect, called "Ozempic face," on her SNL appearance.

As explained by endocrinologist Dr. Vinni Makin to the Cleveland Clinic, Ozempic face is "characterized by gauntness, sunken cheeks, new wrinkles and loose skin on the face and neck." On SNL, McCarthy's round-shaped face appeared normal and naturally full.

A final technique to lose any amount of weight is through calorie restriction. This has been McCarthy's go-to dieting strategy before, as she noted in a 2016 Extra interview. At that time, she had just lost 50 pounds and said she succeeded by adopting a "super boring" lifestyle punctuated by going to bed early.

Indeed, hitting the sack sooner rather than later has shown promise as a weight reduction tactic. A 2012 study in CMAJ discovered that after six months on a weight loss program, women who slept 8.5 hours nightly doubled their caloric burn compared to those who rested just 5.5 hours. Of course, if getting "boring" has been part of the secret behind McCarthy's weight loss routine, she gave it up for at least one night when she jumped into the late-night SNL spotlight.