Photo: Getty Images
Jelly Roll shared an update on his health and fitness journey — including how he recently “lost my way,” new goals and more — in a recent vlog.
The Grammy-winning artist revealed at the beginning of the YouTube video that he plans to run his first marathon, the New York City Marathon, in November. “I’ve never ran a marathon or thought about running a marathon, and I kind of screamed out I was going to run one next year,” Jelly Roll said. He’d aimed to run a half marathon earlier this year; however, a broken collarbone meant a change of plans. “So now I’m training to run a marathon, which is different.”
Jelly Roll said he’s been working with a trainer, strategically embarking on run-walk intervals, tallying 16 miles in one week, pushing through pains, and more. “Ultimately, y’all, this is going to be quite a journey,” Jelly Roll said. He pledged to document the process, including his weight loss, because he predicted, “there’s no way I don’t lose another 30, 50 pounds trying to train for this thing.
“I had a goal that I had set back to walk my first 5K with the first 5K in May, and I began the journey to walk that 5K and somewhere in that process, I started getting crazy in my had at 480 pounds and 500 pounds talking about, ‘I want to be on the cover of Men’s Health,’ and a lot of y’all followed that journey,” Jelly Roll continued. “And I got on the cover of Men’s Health. It actually happened. I never thought I would buy into my own delusional dream in that moment, but we did it and we made the cover of Men’s Health.
“This is where the game gets a little ugly,” he continued. “We hit the goal, and it was right before the holiday. So I was like, ‘you know what, man? I’ve been working hard for the last three years, losing this weight.’ I said, ‘I’m going to enjoy the holidays.’ I had a big Thanksgiving meal, and I had a big birthday meal, and I ate a big Christmas meal, and I kind of got off the rails. And I broke my collarbone about a week before Christmas, a few days before Christmas. And that set me down where I had to quit running, quit walking, quit exercising for, you know, an extended period of time. I said all that to say that I have, to some degree, lost my way.
“Men’s Health was not the goal,” Jelly Roll said. “It wasn’t the weight that I wanted to get to, to be at ‘maintenance.’ That’s not my ‘maintenance weight.’ I’m still about 40 or 50 pounds, maybe 60 — I don’t know. I haven’t been weighing in. I’ve been avoiding the scale. I’m afraid to see what the scale’s going to say — from what my actual goal is. So, we set the new goal of training for the New York City Marathon in November. I want to get these last 40 or 50 pounds off, and then I eventually want to cut my skin, and I eventually want to be on the cover of something crazy, like GQ or Rolling Stone or Vanity Fair or Forbes or TIME with my shirt off. I know it’s getting real silly now, but I don’t know. I just believe there’s a story that a guy can go from 560 pounds to a shirt-off picture. It’s absurd. that was all said to say, this week’s vlog, we’re taking y’all on that journey. I’m getting on the scale. first time I’ve weighed in, in a while. When I weighed in the day of my Men’s Health cover, I was 265. I would guess I’m somewhere between 280 and 260. So, just keeping it real, y’all.”
Jelly Roll weighed in on Friday, April 10, he showed in the video. He weighed 276.2 pounds.
The Beautifully Broken artist said on an episode of his wife’s podcast, Dumb Blonde, in December 2024 that he wanted to “be on the cover of Men’s Health by March of 2026.” He achieved that goal when he appeared on the cover of the publication in January 2026. Jelly Roll has since shared insight into his weight loss transformation, including when he told Extra earlier this year that he feels like “a whole different human.” He said at the time that his health journey has changed him “in every way,” including in his spirituality and being “more present” with his children. Jelly Roll admitted he used to hate running, but now, he credits his transformation to a healthier diet and “a lot of running, man. I love running.”
Watch Jelly Roll’s update on YouTube here (warning: language).