Jelly Roll is well aware that setbacks are an inevitable part of his weight loss journey. Despite his relentless dedication to his fitness goals over the past few years, having lost an impressive 300 pounds according to his estimation, he recently suffered a setback not long after landing the cover of Men’s Health in the fall.
"This is where the game gets a little ugly," Jelly said in an April 17 YouTube vlog. "We hit the goal right before the holidays. So, I thought, 'You know what, man? I've been working hard for the last three years to lose this weight. I'm going to enjoy the holidays.'"
And in addition to indulging in his Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, Jelly also broke his collarbone in December. "That set me down where I had to quit running, quit walking, quit exercising for some extended period of time," he explained. "I say all that to say that I have to some degree lost my way."
But despite landing the cover of Men’s Health, which was a goal Jelly had set for himself years earlier, he still wasn't at the weight he wanted to be for maintenance at the photo shoot. After having to take some time off training, the "Wild Ones" singer estimated he was still 40-60 pounds off that benchmark.
"I haven't weighed in," he admitted. "I've been avoiding the scale. I'm afraid to see what the scale is going to say from what my actual goal is."
But to help him get back on track, Jelly has set an ambitious new goal: run in the 2026 New York marathon in November and then land a shirtless magazine cover. "I want to get these last 40 or 50 pounds off and then eventually cut my skin," he said. "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."
He added, "I know this is getting real silly now, but I don't know. I just believe there's this story that a guy can go from 560 pounds to a shirt off picture."
Jelly Roll first shared insight into his collarbone injury back in March, revealing he’d suffered the break while riding an ATV. "Y'all just took this thing out for the first time since I flipped it," he shared in a March 1 Instagram video. "I broke my collarbone. I was so scared to get back on this thing. I just knew if I didn't get back on it sooner than later, I was just going to be more and more afraid of it."
But the injury did more than just affect his workout routine—Jelly also had to navigate some pain while at the Grammys in February. "I was out there running all over the Grammys with a broken collarbone," he recalled. "Every time I hugged somebody that week, I wanted to scream. I just didn't say it, but every time somebody squeezed me, dude, I thought I was gonna cry."
Thankfully, he was able to get back onto the proverbial saddle. "Sometimes, the machine does more than the user thinks it can, and this was all user error," he concluded. "Anyways, moral of the story: get back on that pony, baby."
