How Jennie Garth lost 30 lbs after splitting with Peter Facinelli

Following her March split with Peter Facinelli after 17 years of marriage, Jennie Garth cut a noticeably slimmer figure.

Now Jennie Garth has revealed the full extent of her weight loss.

Jennie Garth, 40, says that she has lost a staggering “30lbs of dead weight” from her frame.

In a new interview with People magazine, Jennie Garth says her body transformation came when she realized she had became a shadow of her former self.

The actress explains that her union with Peter Facinelli was suffering long before they announced their break-up in March, and it was deeply affecting her appearance.

“I spent a couple of years lying in bed being depressed,” she tells the magazine.

“It was that <<I can’t breathe>> pain.

“Physically I didn’t look my best, and mentally I didn’t feel my best. I was doing everything I could to be a good mom, but that was all I could handle.”

Jennie Garth says she was finally motivated to do something about it when she saw a home video of herself.

“We were dancing to Wii and I didn’t know I was being filmed by my nephew,” she explains.

The actress says she was “stunned” by the “depressed person” she saw on camera.

“I didn’t even know that person. I’m such a different person now.”

Following the end of her marriage, the actress hid herself away on her Californian ranch in Santa Ynez, with her three girls Luca, 14, Lola, nine, and Fiona, five.

But after celebrating her 40th birthday, Jennie Garth realized that she could no longer be a hermit.

“I just looked at it like there’s no way I can hide out in the country and never work again, never love again and never laugh again,” she says.

It was then that Jennie Garth, famous for her role as Kelly Taylor on the hit Nineties TV series Beverly Hills 90210, moved back to Los Angeles and got busy.

With the help of a personal trainer and a healthy diet, Jennie Garth dropped 30 lbs.

She credit her weight loss to a combination of eating smaller portions, consisting of a diet of Greek yoghurt, salads, salmon and coconut water, and an exercise regime of lightweight gym training twice a week, hiking and personal training sessions.

And she says that she didn’t push herself, gently losing 1-2 lbs a week over the course of six months.

Staying focused, Jennie Garth also tried not to think about the emotional things going on in her life.

“Sitting around on the couch eating Pringles all day is not going to help anyone,” she laughs.

While she is enjoying her new life and “not pining” for Peter Facinelli, she admits that her heart still sinks when she sees happy couples and families out and about.

“I go out, and I see happy families – and men and women out on dates – and there’s a part of me that’s like, <<Ouch!>> But you have to pick yourself up and say <<Let’s go!>>” she says.

The actress has recently just plunged back into the dating pool, and despite being spotted out on a date with handsome photographer Noah Abrams, she reveals that she is still single.

She admits that the whole dating game is nerve-racking.

“Sometimes it feels awkward, and sometimes it feels really natural. I just want to love and be loved,” she explains.

Jennie Garth just recently wrapped The Eleventh Hour, a Lifetime movie adaptation of CNN correspondent Nancy Grace’s novel.