Lizzo has a new lease on self-love as she shows off the fruits of her work to get healthier from head to toe.

Lizzo simply figured it was about damn time to start feeling better.

So though part of her platinum-selling, Grammy-and-Emmy-winning Big Grrrl brand was being proud AF of how she looked, sounded and moved through the world exactly as she was, the artist born Melissa Jefferson knew she had to make some adjustments to improve her health, from head to toe.

“Once I started working out for mental health, to have balanced mental health or endorphins, so that I don't look at myself in the mirror and feel ashamed of myself, and feel disgusted with myself,” she explained in a May 2023 TikTok, “exercise has helped me shift my mind, not my body.”

Yet Lizzo’s shape inevitably shifted as she got into Pilates (initially to heal her back before it became a must) and strength-training along with taking regular walks.

“I like to walk,” she noted in a February 2024 TikTok, “because any stress, any anxiety, any tension, any anger that I've had in my body, I kind of forget about it by the time I'm done walking.”

But, as Lizzo, who’s turning 37 on April 27, pointed out years ago, it’s not as if she wasn’t exercising before her fame reached a new level when her 2019 album Cuz I Love You blew up.

“So I’ve been working out consistently for the last five years, and it may come as a surprise for some of y’all that I’m not working out to have your ideal body type,” she said in a June 2020 TikTok. “I’m working out to have my ideal body type. And you know what type that is? None of your f--king business.”

However, as her star rose ever higher, Lizzo became painfully aware that scrutiny—of her body and her business—was unavoidable.

And just as strangers picked apart her appearance before, she also faced headwinds from critics who thought that embracing weight loss was at odds with her body-positive persona. (Adele went through the same thing, with fans crying foul after she lost 100 pounds over two years. “I understand why some women especially were hurt,” the “Hello” singer told British Vogue in 2021. “Visually I represented a lot of women. But I’m still the same person.”)

But Lizzo eventually got a little tired of having to carry that weight. “I’m not going to lie and say I love my body every day,” she told the New York Times in March 2024. “The bottom line is, the way you feel about your body changes every single day. There are some days I adore my body, and others when I don’t feel completely positive.”

Which is why, she explained, she felt that “body neutrality” was a more modern approach to being happy in one’s skin.

“I’m taking the time every day to put some love into my body,” she added. “There is never a day when I regret taking a walk or doing some Pilates.”

Lizzo’s ongoing fitness odyssey has indeed been something to root for, the rapper-singer-flautist showing in real time that prioritizing mental and physical health is the ultimate form of self-love.

"I've gained a sense of self," she said on the April 7 episode of Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast. "I've gained a lifestyle that I actually really love and I'm like, 'I can maintain this.' I've gained new perspective on nutrition and the science behind cardio and weight-lifting."

And Lizzo acknowledged that she had been on “an intentional weight release journey” for about a year and a half.

In fact, she shared in a January TikTok that she had lost 16 percent of her body fat and felt good as hell about it. But, she noted in the video, “Even at the end of my weight loss journey, I'm not going to be considered thin by any means. I will still be considered morbidly obese on the BMI and little bros on the internet are still going to call me 'big backed.' But I will be happy."

The 5-foot-10 artist has certainly looked happy, modeling pieces from her Yitty swim and shapewear line and sporting all manner of body-con looks as she gears up for the release of her fifth studio album, Love in Real Life.

Though she may be done using that other L-word.

"The weight that is no longer on me is not just fat or physical," she told Shetty. "I released so much to get to this point and I think people can see that and I don't want to describe anything as loss. People aren't going to understand this right now, but it's the most body-positive way to experience what I'm going through. I don't want to use any negative terms."

Source:
courtesy of E!ONLINE

by Natalie Finn

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