Khloe Kardashian’s heart broke when things went south between her and hubby Lamar Odom. Strangely enough, however, she wound up in the best shape of her life as a result of it. While some people turn to alcohol, food, or even drugs to ease the pain of a broken heart, Khloe Kardashian turned to workouts at the gym.

“When me and Lamar were having issues, I decided to channel my energy into working out,” she says in the most recent issue of Cosmopolitan Body. “If I went out with my girlfriends, I would be hounded by paparazzi and made to feel more humiliated.”

“The gym was my only refuge. I could put music on and dance around with my girlfriends and be silly,” she adds.

Khloe Kardashian not only looks healthier since her split from Lamar Odom–she seems like her emotional state is healthier, too. She insists that her healthier body is for herself and definitely not for her Keeping Up With the Kardashians fans.

Less than a week ago, Khloe shared the following workout shot on Instagram.

“No pain. No gain,” she captioned it.

A video posted by Khloé (@khloekardashian) on Apr 23, 2015 at 12:41pm PDT

“Now on my Instagram page people comment saying ‘I liked you better when you were bigger,'” Khloe shares in the magazine interview, “and I think, ‘Thank God I don’t live my life for other people because I’d be in a constant tug of war.'”

Even though Khloe Kardashian has an abundance of money and could afford to have cosmetic procedures done to further enhance her new, slimmer look, she prefers to do it all on her own.

“I’m not against plastic surgery–if you want to do a tweak, I’m all for it, but you have to love yourself first because no surgery is going to change your heart,” the reality star says. “It would have been so easy to get liposuction or whatever, but you have to be healthy to maintain that. I’ve always felt, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to accomplish that on your own?'”

Kudos to Khloe Kardashian for her healthy new body and for not succumbing to the lure of plastic surgery. She is naturally beautiful and healthy from her own hard work and diligence. If she had to seek refuge following her split from Lamar Odom, this was probably the most constructive way to do so.