Country star Jelly Roll has been open about his struggle to maintain a healthy weight over the years. At one point, the singer and rapper weighed over 500 pounds and was determined to make a change.
Jelly Roll has long been vocal about his efforts to make healthy lifestyle changes since the start of 2024 and they are paying off.
Ahead, read everything Jelly Roll shared about his recent weight loss and health goals.
How did Jelly Roll lose weight?
Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason Deford, began his weight loss process with running. He stunned viewers at the Academy of Country Music Awards in May 2024 when he looked noticeably slimmer on the red carpet. This appearance came just two weeks after he ran his first 5K race in recent years (and perhaps ever) – the 2 Bears 5K in Los Angeles on May 7, 2024.
Speaking about completing the 3.1-mile distance, he said it was “really emotional” because he “wasn’t able to walk a mile” in January, when he started training for the 5k.
“So the fact that we got the three points no matter what happened today, I feel really good about that. “I left here feeling really motivated,” he added.
Training for a 5K race has been a big part of helping Jelly Roll lose weight. After completing the 2 Bears run, he told Entertainment Tonight that he lost “50 to 70 pounds. I had to check back — I was way overweight.”
Jelly Roll on Netflix is the Joke Fest 2 Bears 5K at the Rose Bowl on May 7 in Pasadena, California. London Entertainment / JC Pictures
Jelly Roll said the race was tougher than he thought. “I feel good, man. I’m just a little tired,” he laughed. “It’s a little harder than I thought, but it’s cool, man.”
He added that the most amazing part of the 5K race is watching other people complete the race, some of whom have set personal records.
“I think the coolest thing is the amount of people who have stopped to tell us that they motivate us, the other big guys,” he said. “It was really cool to see – what an eclectic group of people. There was a guy running around in a bear suit.”
In mid-April, while he was still training, he told People magazine that he “does two to three miles a day, four to six days a week. I do 20 to 30 minutes in the sauna, six minutes with a cold.” I’m drowning every day I eat healthy now.
“I was really kicking – man,” he added. “I probably dropped 70 pounds.”
“I feel really good,” he continued. “I was thinking, ‘I’m planning on losing 100 or 100 or something (pounds).’ If I feel this good with this weight, I can only imagine how I will feel when I go for a ride.
He has now surpassed his weight loss goal by 100 pounds
In an update shared to Instagram on October 22, 2024, Jelly Roll’s nutrition coach, Ian Larios, celebrated the milestone and shared some of the recipes that helped Jelly Roll achieve this during the tour.
“You won’t recognize me,” Jelly Roll says in the video.
On the road, Larios has been swapping out some of his favorite Jelly Roll snacks for some healthier options while the artist continues his workouts. “He would walk the yards and play basketball and box,” Larios shares. “He just surpassed his 100-pound weight loss.”
Before the show, Larios will prepare a banana jelly roll bowl made with banana slices, Manuka honey and some stevia-sweetened dark chocolate grated over the top.
Once the singer is off stage, Larios says he tends to eat protein-rich meals. In the video, the singer makes Nashville hot chicken without the oil and dough. Larios’ version is air fried and seasoned with potatoes and rice flour. The french fries he serves on the side are simmered in bone broth for extra protein.
Jelly Roll is overweight
Jelly Roll has opened up in the past about living with obesity and addiction.
In a 2018 Instagram post, he shared that he weighed more than 500 pounds, describing the day he realized this as “one of the most embarrassing days” of his life.
“I’ve been obese since I was a little kid. All I’ve known is that I’m fat, and I’m so miserable. I want to skydive, bungee jump, ride a bull, and parasaily. I want to ride a rollercoaster. I want to live a normal life and have a normal relationship,” he wrote. “With food, I fight addiction and alcoholism every day.”
In the same post, he shared that in 2016 he lost 200 pounds, but then started overeating again in 2018 and regained 60 pounds. At the time, he said he was committed to living a healthier lifestyle.
In February 2023, he posted on “It feels like real time.”
In January 2024, around the same time that Jelly Roll decided he would train for a 5K, he took a break from the internet due to comments about his weight.
“My husband went offline because he was so tired of being bullied about his weight and it makes me want to cry because he’s the most beautiful angel baby,” his wife, Bunny XO, said in April. An episode of the “Dumb Blonde” podcast.
Bunnie XO has defended her husband’s weight in the past. In January, she responded to a TikTok commenter who described her stepdaughter and husband as “significantly overweight.”
“For you to even come on my page and say something about my underage daughter’s body, it shows the kind of human being you are, and I just hope you get the day you deserve,” she said in a TikTok video.
Although he recently achieved a major health milestone with a 5K run, Jelly Roll didn’t stop there.
“Next year, a half marathon. We’re saying that now,” he told ET. “I’ll speak for them — we’ll do the 2 Bears 5k again, but we’ll have run the half marathon before.”
