Lizzo knows that her body transformation journey has become the subject of one too many conversations lately—and that’s why she’s being extra careful with how she speaks about it.
During an appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast on Monday, April 7, the “Still Bad” singer opened up about the changes her body has experienced over the last year, revealing that she doesn’t actually view her weight loss as a loss because she “[doesn’t] want to use any negative terms.”
“The weight that is no longer on me is not just fat or physical. I released so much to get to this point and I think people can see that, and I don’t want to describe anything as loss,” she explained. “I’m not experiencing any loss. I’ve actually gained so much.”
Lizzo added that, instead of loss, her journey transforming her body has caused her to gain more of a sense of self and “a lifestyle that I actually really love.” The Grammy winner’s boyfriend, comedian Mike Wright, is who she credits for this change in perspective on her body. She told Shetty that, once she shared the initial news with Wright that she’d lost five pounds, he responded asking, “Where did it go?”
“I was like, ‘Ah, interesting,’” she said. “I don’t think I want to lose anything. I think I want to win. I think I want to gain.”
A big part of the reason why Lizzo chooses to be intentional about how she discusses her body is because she knows what she says can have an effect on others, specifically young people.
“They’re applying it to their own experience and their own life just like I did when I was a kid,” she said. “I saw how the media treated people who gained and lost weight and how that affected my brain chemistry.”
That said, Lizzo noted that even she still gets caught up in thinking about “toxic diet culture” every now again, though she made clear that she brings herself back to reality by swatting those thoughts away “like a fly.”
Being a positive voice for a generation that’s constantly bombarded by toxic beauty ideals is a very heavy burden to carry, but Lizzo happily accepts that responsibility.
“Me releasing the weight has affected people, and I take that seriously,” she said. “I take that responsibility, and because of that, I want to transmute it into something that makes those people feel comfortable and less afraid of it.”