Jelly Roll looked slimmer than ever as he achieved a dream of appearing on the cover of Men’s Health after dropping nearly 300 pounds.
At his heaviest, Jelly Roll once tipped the scales at 540 pounds – but now, after a years-long health kick, the star is down to 265 pounds, and enjoying a more fulfilling love life with his wife.
Jelly, 41, – real name Jason Bradley DeFord – detailed the diet and exercise he embarked on as he marveled at just how life-changing his weight loss has been.
The weight loss has impacted not just his waist line but also his sex life – Jelly said that prior to his health kick, he was ‘struggling’ to get it on with his wife Bunnie Xo.
Wellness clinic Ways2Well was brought on to help Jelly achieve his health goals, and a blood panel done prior to his weight loss revealed the singer had low testosterone levels – a trait connected to obesity and one which impacted his ability to be intimate with his wife.
‘You can’t get it up without T,’ he candidly told the outlet. ‘I was married to a smoke show, and I was still struggling.’
Jelly Roll showed off his nearly 300-pound weight loss as he achieved a dream of appearing on the cover of Men’s Health
Jelly, pictured 2021, weighed 540 pounds at his heaviest
During his health kick, he learned he suffered low testosterone – an issue which affected his sex life with wife Bunnie XO – pictured April 2024
Jelly then started hormone therapy: ‘I’ll be on testosterone replacement therapy probably for the rest of my life,’ he said.
Things have dramatically changed since then.
‘Now it’s a totally different thing. I’m chasing her around the house, you know what I’m saying?’ he said of his wife. ‘I’m like a teenage kid again! I’m like the Pink Panther: I bust out of every corner. And she opens the cabinet and I go, “Hi!”‘
Prior to his transformation, Jelly said he was a ‘prisoner’ to his own body, with his entire life revolving around the size of his body.
‘It was never-ending sadness,’ he said. ‘And anger. I was a prisoner to my own body. Dude, wiping my a** was a problem.
‘Washing myself properly was a problem. Getting in cars. Every decision I made in life had to be based on my weight. If it could hold me, facilitate me, or fit me — people don’t think about every facet of “I still want to be able to do that and I can’t.” I was so inspired by that kind of stuff.’
Jelly really started getting serious about his weight loss back in 2021, a goal he achieved by from the inside out.
The country star enlisted Ways2Well, a chef and sports nutritionist, and even a therapist – who helped him tackle his food addiction – after tipping the scales at an estimated 540.
Jelly achieved his goals with the help of diet and the wellness clinic Ways2Well
Prior to his transformation, the singer said he was once a ‘prisoner’ to his own body
‘I’m like a teenage kid again!’ Jelly said of his relationship with wife Bunnie Xo since shedding the pounds; pictured May 2025
Jelly said, ‘Every decision I made in life had to be based on my weight’
The scale wasn’t designed to measure weight above 520, meaning the 540 pounds is just an estimate.
‘The needle went past 520, but it didn’t blow it down,’ he explained. ‘And I would play with it—I would teeter the foot up, like, how low could I get it? I was mad optimistic. So it could have been 560, it could have been 528.’
Jelly also admitted to briefly trying a weight loss medication, despite previously denying having ever tried a GLP-1 medication like Ozempic.
An editor’s note reveals that Jelly clarified that he had been on a weight loss medication for two weeks after the publication first said he had not gone on it.
‘Editor’s note: After MH went to press, Jelly clarified that he did briefly try weight-loss meds very early on his journey, but stopped after two weeks,’ the note said.
Jelly marveled at losing ‘a whole human’ as he reflected on his weight loss; pictured 2021
Now Jelly is reveling in his improved health and slimmed down body.
His Men’s Health cover marks the realization of a dream he had long wanted to fulfill – not only had Jelly been vocal about wanting to appear on the cover, but he was inspired by the stories featured in the magazine while serving time in jail years prior (he faced troubles with the law for a robbery and drug-related offenses).
During a fitting, Jelly was reminded of just how much bigger he was at the Country Music Awards in 2024.
‘Your waist was a 65. And you’re close to a 42 now,’ his stylist told him.
‘That’s crazy,’ Jelly said. ‘That’s a whole human.’
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