Mindy Kaling Says Portion Control Helped Her Lose Weight After Giving Birth

Mindy Kaling has shared what helped her shed those kilos during her recent weight loss journey — portion control. The 42-year-old mother of two revealed in an interview with Entertainment Tonight that it kept her from making drastic changes to her diet as she tried to lose the weight she gained after giving birth to her son Spencer in September 2020.

"I eat what I like to eat. If I do any kind of restrictive diet, it never really works for me. I just eat less of it," the actress told the outlet.

"I wish there was something more juicy or dynamic about the way that I've lost a little bit of weight, but that's the way I've done it," she added.

Interestingly, Kaling's recent weight loss is a completely different journey compared to what she took on when she had her daughter Katherine, who is now 4. "After I had my daughter I had to shoot a movie like two months later, so I was very much like, 'Just give me grilled salmon and sautéed spinach. I'm going to eat that for three months,'" she recalled.

Kaling also spoke about how her second pregnancy was a bit easier than the first, considering that she didn't really "have those pressures" to face as quarantine continued. "It was this almost extended maternity leave. I wasn't going to be on camera, the studios were shut down," she explained.

It can be recalled that the actress spoke up in August 2021 about all the attention she was given during her first pregnancy and how she felt about it. "I felt really scrutinized during my first pregnancy and I think that it was such a joy to spend the last seven months of my pregnancy under the cover of just nobody was out, nobody was taking photos," she told Access at the time.

Besides openly discussing her pregnancies and weight loss, "The Office" star has also been very vocal about what it's like to be a single mom. In fact, in the same month, she said it "absolutely takes a village" to raise two children as a single mother.

"I wouldn't be able to keep my full-time professional career and have two children under the age of 3 without the incredibly strong relationship I have with my nanny," she said, as per People. "Also with my dad, who comes over to the house at least twice a day to take my son out for walks and to pick up my daughter and bring her home. My village is small and I wish it was bigger."

But despite the struggle, Kaling revealed she found it hard to ask for help. "We carry guilt about needing help and most women in the country don't necessarily have the same resources. A lot of people are lucky because they have family who can help them, but my mom passed away in 2011, so I really didn't have a choice," the outlet quoted her as saying.

"Particularly during the pandemic, we really got to see how precious and how indefensible childcare providers are," Kaling said further.