This weight loss comes after Jackson has discussed the decades of difficulty he has had with his weight. He revealed that his first attempt to seriously lose weight came around American Idol’s second season in 2003, when he had gastric bypass surgery. In his 2008 book Body With Soul, meanwhile, the bandleader discussed his Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, which he received in the early ’00s.
Before his bypass, Jackson weighed 350 pounds, something he has discussed in numerous interviews over the years.
Speaking of his health journey while promoting Name That Tune on the Today program, Jackson said: “I started on this health regimen many years ago while I was on American Idol… Lost a ton of weight, started gaining it back. Then, [I] went on my own journey to try and discover, ‘How do I keep it off? What do I do?’”
In his book, Jackson said of his diagnosis: “It’s a curse to be saddled with a disease that’s life-threatening and that you can’t completely get rid of, though you can certainly manage it, but it’s a blessing to get that huge wake-up call. After that day in the ER, when my doctor burst the bubble I’d been living in, I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. Right then and there, I began my journey toward better health.”
Speaking to Health.com in September 2012, Jackson revealed that he started his health regime by finding time to walk, starting with just 10 minutes when he could find time and adding on a few minutes every day. “I needed to start with something I could do that was simple,” he said of this.
From this, he became a regular gym-goer. Speaking to WedMD in 2009, meanwhile, he said he also kept a treadmill next to his bed, which at the time he would use for around 40 minutes a day. “It’s right there staring at me, going, ‘Come here. You know you need this,’ [and] that makes the ugliness worth it,” he said of the device.
In a WebMD interview, he revealed that portion control and forgiveness were central to his weight loss journey. He said: “I now know so much about food that I can look at a piece of chicken or fish and have half. I am very attuned to knowing when I have had enough.
“If you make a mistake, change it the next day. Never say ‘I will never have another piece of chocolate,’ because it won’t happen, and as soon as you say never, there is a binge coming.”
Before this more measured approach to weight loss, Jackson revealed he tried a number of fad diets, none of which worked. He said, “liquid fasts. Bee stings. Urine of pregnant women. You name it. I have tried it. The problem is that those diets don’t work for people who have the disease of obesity.”
Name That Tune airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT on Fox.
