Kelly Ripa has revealed she put on 12lb after she quit drinking alcohol in 2017.

During an episode of Live With Kelly And Mark on Wednesday, the 54-year-old talk show said eliminating booze from her diet transformed her figure.

The revelation came after Andy Cohen, who was filling in for Kelly’s co-host and husband Mark Consuelos, said he was not drinking this month as he took part in Dry January.

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Sobering struggles: Kelly Ripa said she put on weight after she quit drinking in 2017

 Andy said: ‘Usually a little weight loss comes my way after I stop drinking,’ but added that this time around it’s ‘not really happening’.

That’s when Kelly chimed in to add: ‘I told you when I quit drinking, I expected there to be this windfall of weight loss because everybody’s like, “Well, you are going to get too skinny, and you can’t afford to lose it”.

‘I gained 12 pounds and thought, “I don’t understand this magical weight loss that people apply”.’

‘I think I just took to eating the sugars. Because apparently, alcohol is a lot of sugar, which you don’t really realize because when it goes in it tastes kind of bitter.’

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Stunner: Despite saying she gained weight after giving up booze, Kelly still maintains a killer figure

 Kelly first opened up about her decision to cut out alcohol in 2020, telling her morning show audience that she was nearly three years alcohol-free at the time.

She was discussing a drop in wine sales in 2019 with her then-co-host Ryan Seacrest when she said: ‘They’re saying that Americans bought less wine last year.

‘It’s the first drop in a quarter of a century. Now, I believe this is because I quit drinking, that I caused this dip. I have influenced the market.

‘I’m not saying I’ve driven people out of drinking alcohol, I’m saying I stopped buying wine and there’s a dip.’

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Special guest: Kelly made the revelations during her show on Wednesday, when Andy Cohen was filling in for her usual co-host, Mark Consuelos

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Staying in shape: In 2015, Kelly said she had a ‘primarily vegan diet’ and would occasionally do an alkaline diet to ‘cleanse’

Kelly previously told People magazine before quitting alcohol: ‘I like to drink coffee. I occasionally will have fish. The alkaline diet is primarily a vegan diet, but I like cream in my coffee. I like to have a glass of wine.

‘So I don’t adhere to it strictly, but when I do a cleanse, it will be seven days, and then I go back to my normal life. But my normal life, like I said, is not that different than the alkaline cleanse.’

During the episode of her long-running show on Wednesday, Kelly also revealed that she was disengaging from using social media as a sort of New Year’s resolution.

She said: ‘I’m not spending time on things that don’t serve me.’