- Jelly Roll began his fitness journey by simply walking to his mailbox.
- He transformed his lifestyle through small, steady changes to food and movement.
- Support from a wellness team helped him sustain a routine without burnout.
Following some dramatic weight loss, singer, rapper and songwriter Jelly Roll recently did a short documentary for Men’s Health that chronicles his recently scaled up fitness routine.
The short film is titled A Year for a Life, a play on the common phrase, “a year in the life,” because Jelly Roll says living longer was one of his main motivations for losing weight. The film begins with clips of the singer commanding concert stages and accepting awards, but Jelly Roll quickly adds that his life was not quite as glamorous as it appeared. “I was killing myself–literally,” Jelly Roll says. “I was eating myself to absolute death.” He decided as he approached his 40s that he could not safely maintain a body weight of around 540 pounds, and he made significant changes to his life.
Instead of succumbing to shame about his body and his diet, Jelly Roll decided to ask for help. He looked into GLP-1s and ultimately decided they weren’t the right fit for him, partially because he was worried about maintaining his voice. Besides the huge emphasis on exercise, Jelly Roll says his healthier body and lifestyle is due to changes in his food choices, including incorporating seasonal fruit and vegetables into his diet. He estimates he ate 6,000 calories a day before making those changes.
The first step for the musician was getting to the root of the emotional reasons for his eating. He said he was “so misunderstood” that he was “closet eating.” He began using the alcoholics anonymous framework to help him with his relationship to food.
He also prioritized exercise, too. Since his routine before his weight loss journey included very little physical activity, Jelly Roll started small. He asked Gary Brecka, a wellness podcaster and the founder of The Ultimate Human, for help. Brecka recommended he start by walking to his mailbox. Then, the next day, walk to a neighbor’s mailbox, and the day after that, aim for the next house down. After building a foundation, Jelly Roll was able to add on more physical activity.
With professional guidance from a team, he scaled up his exercise routine from slow, flat walks to more challenging exercises such as longer walks and stairs. Touring around arenas meant those stairs weren’t in short supply—with friends, he’d climb the steps up to the upper bowl of the arenas where he was performing.
His run coach said there was an emphasis on building muscle. Jelly Roll says that, over time, he felt like his heart and lungs were getting stronger. The focus was on maintaining a routine that didn’t wear him out to the point that he couldn’t keep going. Being too sore to exercise the next day wouldn’t do him good.
“There’s the magical thing that happens when you start exercising,” he says. The video shows him walking, boxing, playing basketball, running in a race and doing pushups. He said being willing to “pound the pavement” and get his heart rate up made all the difference. The recovering addict was used to discipline when it came to his health, but broadened his focus to include exercise and diet.
He hired a chef and several other food and exercise experts to help him balance a calorie deficit that kept him energized. His new “reset diet” included a lot of fiber and plenty of flavorful sauces, which masked the flavor of some of the vegetables that Jelly Roll disliked. Eventually, Jelly Roll came around to some of the vegetables he’d avoided and says he even became a fan of looking for seasonal fruit to try as he toured around the country. While Jelly Roll says he’s happier with his new routine—even feeling younger and more energetic—like his alcoholism, his diet is “an everyday struggle for me.” He has his team remove foods from sight that he doesn’t think will help him.
“I wish I could bottle up what I’m feeling right now and give it to everybody who’s struggling right now,” he says. He no longer avoids looking at himself in the mirror. Next steps include meeting with skin surgeons to help with the loose skin that comes with such a big weight loss.
While Jelly Roll definitely has resources that not all of us have access to, his “start small” approach to exercise and weight loss is one we can all borrow. If you’ve gotten out of the exercise routine you used to enjoy, try aiming for a little movement each day as you get back into it. Gradually expanding your goals can be a great way to ease back into physical activity without getting overwhelmed.
If you want some guidance on how to walk for weight loss, try this weeklong plan from certified trainers. Walking can be great for other health reasons, too, so consider trying our plan for lower blood sugar and a plan for lower inflammation even if you don’t have weight loss on the brain.