How did Adele lose weight? Diet explored as singer slams followers who felt 'betrayed' by her weight loss 

Adele opened up about the backlash she received after losing 100lb during her appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on Sunday, July 3. The British singer said that some of her fans "felt betrayed" by her dramatic weight loss.

However, as she made it clear that she lost weight for herself and to deal with her anxiety struggles, she added:

"Because, like, you ain't holding my hand at night at 4 am when I'm crying my heart out with anxiety and needing a distraction and stuff like that."

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Adele says exercise helped deal with stress and anxiety

The Hello singer debuted her slimmer figure in an Instagram post in May 2020 where she posed with a golden ring. People quickly began noticing that she looked incredibly slim in the little black dress.

The post went viral and even got massive media attention. Adele told the BBC show's host, Lauren Laverne, about her experience and said:

"I understand why the Press were fascinated by it. I didn’t share my journey in the way that everyone else does. Most other people would have a DVD out by now. I did it in the quiet for myself."

She also received major backlash from many of her fans, who thought that her transformation was a sign of the singer caving into societal pressure. She said that she "felt bad" for people who let others' opinions affect how they felt about themselves.

She added:

"Some of the ones I saw were young, they were like 15. There were some other people that felt very betrayed by me, like, 'Oh, she is giving into the pressure of it', which didn't really bother me."

Adele revealed that exercising kept her distracted and also made her feel "mentally stronger." The singer explained:

"100 per cent (exercise) gave me focus, it gave me somewhere to get rid of my energy — good or bad — and it made me feel like I was getting stronger mentally by getting stronger physically."

The artist has reportedly credited weightlifting and circuit training for her weight loss. She claimed that she exercised three times a day and got quite addicted to working out.

The Rolling in the Deep singer also revealed cutting out caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes, and all “spicy, citrusy, and tangy” foods for a time.

While Adele has denied being on any kind of diet, many believe that the singer followed a Sirtfood diet.

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What is a Sirtfood diet?

The diet was created by nutritionists Aidan Goggins and Glen Matten, who co-authored the book The Sirtfood Diet. Sirtfood is a way of eating that claims to activate a family of proteins called sirtuins, or the “skinny genes”.

The diet is supposed to mimic the effects of exercise and fasting.

Sirtfoods are items high in a micronutrient called polyphenols, which can activate the sirtuin pathway.

The Sirtfood diet proposes that people eat a diet rich in polyphenols, which will supercharge fat loss. Food items like dark chocolate, red wine, green tea, strawberries, coffee, walnuts, soy, onions, celery, parsley, arugula and kale are usually included in the list of Sirtfoods.

Meanwhile, the diet excludes all kinds of processed and sugary foods and fish that are deemed to be high in mercury.

Michelle Lau, founder and principal nutritionist at Nutrilicious in Hong Kong, explains the drawback of the diet by saying:

"This diet plan follows a seven-day cycle of just 1,000 calories a day for the first three days and 1,500 calories a day for days four through to seven. But a daily caloric intake of 1,000 to 1,500 calories is far too low for many healthy adults. One might feel fatigued, light-headed and always hungry."

However, she believes the core of the diet can be helpful for people to use as a base. Eating natural food, with the exception of processed food, can be beneficial for people looking to lose weight in a healthy way, Lau says.