Jelly Roll Says His Weight Loss Went Off the Rails — Here’s How He’s Getting Back on Track

Jelly Roll just got honest about hitting a wall in his weight loss journey — right after the glow-up moment of landing the Men's Health cover in 2025. Holidays, a busted collarbone, and some very human backsliding. He laid it all out in a new YouTube video, and now he's recalibrating with some very big, very public goals.

What went sideways

In a video posted Friday, April 17, the 41-year-old artist (real name Jason DeFord) said he hit a big milestone right before the holidays and decided to actually enjoy them for once. That meant Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthday food — and, in his words, things "kind of got off the rails."

Then, a few days before Christmas, he broke his collarbone. That sidelined him from running, walking, and basically all exercise for a while. He admitted he "lost [his] way" during that stretch and even started dodging the scale because he didn't want to see how far he was from his target.

Where he's at now

He eventually stepped back on the scale on April 10 and filmed the result: 276.2 pounds. He called it being "up 12 pounds" from where he wanted to be — not a catastrophe, but not where he planned to land after that Men's Health moment. He also said he's currently more than 40 pounds above his personal goal weight.

The new plan (and yes, it's ambitious)

Jelly Roll made it clear: that magazine cover wasn't the finish line. He's aiming to shed another 40–50 pounds, then look into removing excess skin (what he bluntly called "cut my skin"). And because thinking small isn't really his thing, he's now chasing two very loud benchmarks: the 2026 New York City Marathon in November, and a shirtless magazine cover — he name-checked GQ, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Forbes, even Time.

"I just believe there's this story that a guy can go from 560 pounds to a shirt off picture. It's absurd."

• The snapshot: weighed 276.2 lbs on April 10, said he's up about 12 lbs from his previous low; says he's 40+ lbs over his goal
• Short-term: get back on plan after the holiday/collarbone setback
• Mid-term: lose the next 40–50 lbs, then consider excess skin removal
• Big swing: run the NYC Marathon in November 2026, land a shirtless cover (GQ/Rolling Stone/Vanity Fair/Forbes/Time)

How he got here

He's talked openly about his weight for years, but he says he really locked in back in 2022. In December of that year, he told Music Mayhem he was spending early 2023 focusing on family and health, using the first half of the year to tighten up the album and put in the work before touring. Fast-forward more than three years, and he's down over 275 pounds from his peak — which is why this latest stutter step stings, but also why it's not the whole story.

Bottom line: it's a detour, not a derailment. The guy who went from roughly 560 pounds to a Men's Health cover isn't done. And if he actually shows up on a marathon course next fall — and then on a glossy cover with his shirt off — that&aposll be one for the highlight reel.