Adele will forever be known as one of *the* most successful British singers ever – and with a huge personality to rival her talent, she’s one of the world’s favourite stars. The superstar has nabbed the title of richest British musician under 30, is best friends with Harry and Meghan, James Cordon and Lizzo, who she’s partial to drinking tequila with. Not to mention, she is hilarious on Instagram Live.
While she’s always stayed true to her Tottenham roots, she has also changed a lot over the years – hardly unexpected, given Adele found fame at just 19 years old. She’s swapped side buns for bouffants and bobs, adopted the kind of perfectly winged eyeliner that we can only dream of and her incredible dresses kill it every. Single. Time.
She’s also given her lifestyle a shake-up, and in recent years has spoken about prioritising her health and fitness. So we’ve rounded up *all* the changes she’s said to have made, from way back when to right now.
Adele has taken up strength training
In a heartfelt and honest interview with Oprah in 2021, to celebrate her album 30, Adele opened up about all aspects of her life, from her divorce to her son and writing songs. One of the conversation points that caught the most attention was when she spoke about her new workout routine – in particular, her love of strength training.
She took up lifting weights after experiencing panic attacks which left her feeling as though she had “no control over her body”, she told Oprah. “Lifting my weights is like my favourite place to be. I love it. When I was at my peak, I felt like I could have been at the Olympics… my deadlifts we were getting up to 160, 170, but it started at 10 lbs,” she said. “I’m also a very good boxer, I’ve got a left hook that could kill you.”
She’s cut back on alcohol
“Once I realised I had a lot [of work] to do on myself, I stopped drinking,” Adele told Oprah in the same interview. She said she has always been “fascinated” by alcohol, but it seems cutting back on booze has been useful for her to be her happiest, healthiest self.
Adele’s started hiking, too
We all know that getting outdoors can do wonders for our health and fitness, and Adele seems to agree. Talking to the audience at her Vegas residency, she reportedly said: ‘I’ve started hiking. I really like it. I put my headphones on and get on with it. I’m out of breath.” Her reason? Because she’s performing in a stadium-sized theatre, “and it’s quite a walk”.
She’s protected her mental health
Speaking to Vogue in 2021, Adele said that exercise was about finding time for herself. “I realised that when I was working out, I didn’t have any anxiety. It was never about losing weight. I thought, If I can make my body physically strong, and I can feel that and see that, then maybe one day I can make my emotions and my mind physically strong.”
It’s that mental transformation that means the most to her, adding that she was disappointed with how people reacted to her unintentional weight loss. “My body’s been objectified my entire career. It’s not just now. I understand why it’s a shock. I understand why some women especially were hurt. Visually I represented a lot of women. But I’m still the same person. The most brutal conversations were being had by other women about my body. I was very f—king disappointed with that. That hurt my feelings.”
In her conversation with Oprah, she also added that “the process of losing weight contributed towards me getting my mind right.” If there’s anyone who knows that exercise is about so much more than just aesthetic changes, it’s Adele.
She fuels her workouts well
Online, you might read that Adele has tried all sorts of diets. In particular, she’s been associated with the sirtfood diet, which has become all the celeb rage recently and involves eating foods high in ‘sirtuin activators’ which protect the cells in our bodies from dying or becoming inflamed.
However, it seems Adele isn’t one of those people who overthinks her nutrition, which we are so happy to hear. She told Oprah that all that weight training means she has a big appetite (she clearly understands that you need a lot of fuel to build muscle) and loves eating a Chinese takeaway and McDonald’s.
Adele quit sugar
All the way back in 2015, Adele said she had been looking after her health by changing her hot drink habits. “I used to drink ten cups [of tea] a day with two sugars in each so I was on 20 sugars a day,’ she told The Sun. ‘Now I don’t drink tea anymore and I have more energy than ever.”
She has a great balance
The healthiest thing the superstar does? Has a balanced routine. While Adele received concern for admitting she became “addicted” to exercise, doing three workouts a day, it seems she’s luckily managed to weave her way out of that phase of life.
In her interview with Oprah, Adele explained that she doesn’t care if her body changes over time as her workout routine fluctuates, and she also said that she has been body positive no matter what her physique looks like.
She’s long had this balanced outlook on fitness – in the same 2015 interview with The Sun she said: “I’ve never had a problem with the way I look. I’d rather have lunch with my friends than go to a gym. I enjoy being me; I always have done. I’ve seen people where it rules their lives, you know, who want to be thinner or have bigger boobs, and it wears them down. And I don’t want that in my life.” Amen.