Jelly Roll's Nearly 300-Pound Weight Loss Without Ozempic Actually Makes Medical Sense and Here's Why, Says an Obesity MD
GLP-1 medications are so popular right now when it comes to weight loss. In fact, whenever anyone loses a significant amount of weight, it's assumed they recruited prescription drugs, such as Ozempic or Mounjaro. But Jelly Roll lost nearly 300 pounds without using Ozempic—and it makes perfect medical sense. Instead, the country singer and rapper focused on sustainable lifestyle habits, including prioritizing his mental health, engaging in regular exercise, and making healthier dietary choices.
He Walked, Hiked, and Trained for a 5K
Jelly revved up his cardio efforts. The celeb enjoys hiking and completed his first 5K in May 2024.
"I couldn't walk a mile when I started trying to do this back in January," Jelly shared with Entertainment Tonight. "So the fact that we got 3-point-whatever it was, got it down, I felt really, really good about it."
Cardio Is an Effective Means To Lose Weight
Hiking, walking, and training for a 5K are some of the best things you can do if you want to lose weight.
"At a low-to-moderate intensity (which it sounds like Jelly Roll is doing), your body will start to use more and more fat for energy over time. Plus, it will help your body's sensitivity to insulin (the hormone that controls your blood sugar) improve dramatically," explains Dr. Roberto Valledor, MD, Collaborating Physician for Texas-based Nurse Practitioners within Mochi Health's telemedicine platform, who oversees GLP-1–based obesity treatment protocols and ensuring top-notch clinical care.
Jelly's Consistent Efforts Were Key
Jelly made healthy choices at home and on the road. During his Beautifully Broken Tour, the singer walked the arenas, shot hoops with the crew, and boxed (via Men's Fitness).
"Often, in obese individuals, you see insulin resistance, which means your body isn't responding well to the insulin. So your body has to pump out more insulin to deal with the same amount of sugar. Regular exercise can totally flip that around over time, so your whole metabolic system gets more efficient. And it sounds like he's gradually stepped up the intensity, so his body is continuing to respond," Dr. Valledor tells us.
He Prioritized His Mental Health
One of the first steps in Jelly's weight-loss efforts was participating in mental health therapy.
"I started treating my food addiction like what it was: an addiction," Jelly told Men's Health. "Once I started treating food like an addiction, it started changing everything for me. When I started really looking at the source of why I was eating. What was I eating for?"
He Got His Emotional Eating Patterns Under Control
According to Dr. Valledor, this is the most "overlooked piece" of the puzzle. You can absolutely lose weight by following a diet in the short term, but in order to maintain weight loss, you must address why you were eating in excess in the first place.
"Emotional eating is when you eat to cope with stress, boredom, sadness, anxiety, etc. If you don't address that, you will gain your weight back no matter what you eat," Dr. Valledor says. "For someone like Jelly Roll, who has been public about his emotional and mental health challenges, can get that under control, that is going to make a huge difference this time than all of his other attempts."
He Chose Healthier Food Swaps
Rather than following fad diets, Jelly recruited the help of chef and sports nutritionist Ian Larios to optimize his eating habits on tour and at home. Larios still prepares some of Jelly's favorite meals for him, but with healthier ingredient twists that prioritize nutrients like protein.
"When you lose a lot of weight, your body fights back. The metabolism slows down even more than it would be predicted to slow down for the amount of weight that you lose. This is called metabolic adaptation," Dr. Valledor says. "You get hungrier because your hunger hormones go up and your energy expenditure goes down and you tend to store fat more efficiently. So it's not like a moral failing, it's just your body. The way to counter that is with muscle preservation, by doing strength training, by eating protein, by not going on crazy diets. If you go on crazy diets, you'll lose more muscle mass and then that will contribute to that metabolic slowing. It's better to do this slowly."
His Routine Was Sustainable
All-around, Jelly's routine was incredibly sustainable, helping him lose a significant amount of weight.
"Medicine can help, but with a schedule like Jelly Roll's, routines are key. There are medications that will suppress your appetite, but once you're off of them, there's a chance you end up back at square one because you didn't learn how to do anything differently," Dr. Valledor explains. "It sounds like Jelly Roll has created a system that he can maintain no matter where he is. He knows how to be active every day. He knows how to eat even when he's not in an ideal situation. He knows how to deal with his emotional eating. That's the difficult part, but that's also the part that will always be there for you."
For more weight-loss success stories, check out Here's How Whoopi Goldberg Lost the Weight of "Almost Two People" on Mounjaro After 65.
