How Fantasia lost all her weight

Fantasia | Instagram

Fantasia Barrino has been wowing us since her appearance on American idol at age 19. Now 34, the platinum selling songstress has since earned herself a large collection of accolades and now flaunts a smaller waist.

As our transformation feature of the day, we’re sharing what we’ve come to know about her motivation to lose weight and how she trains.

No doubt, with fame comes the pressure to live up to industry standards of beauty. Besides the gender inequalities within Hollywood, there’s an expectation for women to give birth today, be skinny the next day and look 20 when in fact they are 40! Fantasia tells People “in the industry I am in, you have the pressure of perfection- and I definitely gained a few pounds”

The commitment to lose weight doesn’t come easy for most people. It’s often said, a strong ‘why’ will keep you going on days you feel like giving up.

Her Why

For Fantasia, health problems in her family motivated her to get in shape. In an interview with Essence she revealed “A lot of my cousins who are my age or are in their 30’s are on high blood pressure pills and it’s like, c’mon, you’re too young for that,” says Fantasia. “I wanted to be the person in my family to stand up and say, okay we have to eat better and workout. I want to be around for a long time. I can’t travel like I do and not be healthy. You know how I move on stage. At any minute I could just pass out and that’s not good.”

With blood pressure you stand at greater risk if other members of you family have it. Fantasia wanted desperately to avoid the same fate and begun on her health journey to overcome her family history of blood pressure and set an example. Her decision was centered more around becoming healthy than looks alone.

She tells Hiphollywood “Of course we as women like to be fine. We like to look good…You know for me having to go to the doctors with my grandmother and young cousins that are my age and have high blood pressure…being from the south what we put in our mouth is good, but what we put in our mouth, what we season it with and all those things cannot be healthy. For me I want to be healthy. I want to be in the game for a long time like Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin. This is my temple. I have to protect it. I want it to look good, but I also want it to be healthy at the same time.”

Her Diet

Her commitment to lose weight meant she had to change her diet, and undergo (at times) vigorous training. she reveals to Bossip “I work out every day, and I watch what I put in my mouth” diet is a crucial part of any weight loss program where the goal isn’t just to achieve short term weight loss, but to maintain it over time. “The fried chicken, the collard greens with the fatback, it’s good when we eat them, but all of that stuff that we put into our bodies eventually breaks our bodies down” she tells Essence. People magazine revealed her weight loss program with Urban Skin Solutions – “1,200 to 1,400 calories a day diet that comprised of eating lots of protein and low carbs, drinking only water, and also eating every two to three hours to keep her metabolism boosted”

Her workouts

Fantasia has from time to time shared her workouts on Instagram. These have included strength, HIIT and cardio workouts like the the rowing machine, stair master and treadmill. Losing weight can be challenging- Fantasia used a personal trainer to help her along with her fitness goals.

Besides her consistent variation of cardio, she tells Essence she also enjoys Pilates, yoga, spinning and bootcamp classes.