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Sharing his recent weight loss journey, Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, said he used to be a “550 lb zombie.” However, now that he’s put in the work, the American rapper and singer has shed about 140 lbs naturally. The 40-year-old “Winning Streak” artist has gained newfound motivation to lose another 100 lbs in the new year. Highlighting how lethargy still consumes him on his walks, Roll remarked, “I’m still morbidly obese. But I’m gonna lose the weight.”
On December 16, the singer came out for an appearance on his wife Bunnie Xo’s podcast “Dumb Blonde,” where she proudly announced how he was investing in his well-being by setting the weight loss issue as a priority.
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While Hollywood and numerous high-profile celebs have fallen back on Ozempic, Roll’s dramatic transformation was all fuelled by natural factors. “We’re not against Ozempic or any of that stuff,” Jelly Roll pointed out. “Every doctor I’ve talked to is for it. They said it helps. I just was afraid of it.”
Why Jelly Roll was against taking Ozempic for weight loss transformation
Roll’s apprehensions about Ozempic were tied to its well-documented side effect of acid reflux. He said, “As a singer, few things scare me more than acid reflux. Like, you’ll watch me get up out of a bed, I’ll burp and wake up panicked and go take something for it. You know? Because that stuff will just rip the vocal cords.”
Roll doubled down on how he “could not afford any acid reflux” as a singer. “I want to be very clear that I’ve done it naturally, but it wasn’t out of stubbornness or trying to prove a point. If it helps you, go get it. But for me, I was just petrified of the side effects of it,” he confessed during the podcast outing. According to the Cleveland Clinic, “Acid reflux occurs when stomach juices (including acid) rise from your stomach into your oesophagus (swallowing tube).” As a result, the symptoms often affect one’s lower oesophagus. Those struggling with Laryngopharyngeal or LPR, a specific type of acid reflux, are susceptible to it rising higher up into the voice box and throat.
Jelly Roll’s weight loss goals
Outrightly admitting that though he has fallen behind on his workout regime since returning from his Beautifully Broken tour, DeFord’s future weight loss goal is set: “I wanna be on the cover of Men’s Health by March of 2026.”
Estimating that he’s lost around 140 lbs so far, he joked, “That’s a human. I lost a whole human.”
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Battling food addiction publicly
Jelly was also forthright about keeping his transformative journey public for a reason. He went on, “I wanna be honest about my struggles with it with people. I wore it for so long. I think that people that become as big as I became, when they lose the weight, they’re kind of ashamed. They’re so ashamed that they go hide and lose the weight, and then they come back out and they don’t really know how to interact with the world looking different or feeling different.” He further asserted that he wants to lose weight “in front of everybody” and “bring people along.”
Taking a hard look at his “food addiction,” he said, “I used to feel like it was such an injustice to real addicts to call food something you could be addicted to, because I’ve seen people fight for their life on heroin. But I’ve seen people fight for their life in their own body.” He eventually mapped out the same bad pattern he had towards drugs or alcohol developing with food.
