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- Fat Joe is a celebrated rapper, who signed tons of rappers to his Terror Squad label and released a slew of his own hits.
- Fat Joe has been very open about his weight loss journey, losing over 200 pounds since the early aughts.
- Fat Joe revealed that he battled depression amid his weight loss journey.
Fat Joe is one of the most beloved rappers of all time. Born Joseph Antonio Cartagena in the Bronx, the rapper, 52, has been very open about his struggles with weight loss. His rap name was even inspired by him being a bigger guy. While he’s kept the moniker, Fat Joe has actually been on a weight loss journey, which has spanned over a decade. Joe opened up about his weight loss, and the death of his friend Big Pun in 2000 as one of the moments that he decided to make a change in a July 10, 2023 Men’s Health profile.
Fat Joe has spoken plenty of times about his strategies to lose weight over the years, and he has been a strong advocate for living a healthier lifestyle. Find out everything you need to know about Fat Joe’s weight loss journey over the years here!
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Fat Joe Before His Weight Loss Journey
Fat Joe is seen earlier in his weight loss journey at an event in 2002. (Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock)
Fat Joe has long been one of the most adored and popular rappers to come out of New York, spanning generations. His stage name was originally Fat Joe da Gangsta, before shortening it to just Fat Joe, before releasing his 1993 debut Represent. His 1995 sophomore record began to earn him mainstream recognition, and he eventually signed to Atlantic in 1997, releasing his major label debut Don Cartagena the following year. Through the late 90s, he appeared alongside many other stars, including his pal Big Pun and was even featured on one of Jennifer Lopez’s songs.
Joe’s early songs embraced his weight. In 1993, he dropped the single “Livin’ Fat,” where he showed off his rapping skills with a chorus of “I’m livin’ fat.” It was said that he weighed 300 pounds in a 1996 New York Times profile of him. Joe revealed that at his heaviest, he weighed 470 pounds in the Men’s Health piece.
Fat Joe After His Weight Loss Journey
Fat Joe revealed he lost 215 pounds in a new interview. (Suzi Pratt/Shutterstock)
Joe’s weight loss has been an ongoing journey for over a decade. Joe has had profiles written about his weight loss in the mid-2000s. As he began to slim down, the rapper also let his changes influence his music, and he celebrated how far he came in the 2011 tune “Drop a Body.”
As of July 2023, Joe has shed 215 pounds, and he’s been very open about how he plans to continue to keep his fitness goals going. He revealed that he doesn’t have an end goal to achieve before he stops in the aforementioned Men’s Health piece.
Despite shedding so much weight, Joe has stayed true to his roots, and he said he has no plans to ever change his stage name. “Although I’ve gotten health conscious on another level,” he told the magazine. “It wouldn’t make sense to change it. Now it’s my brand. It’s what I built.” Though, he has flirted with the idea of changing it for fun. “Maybe I’ll change my Instagram for a month and call myself Slim Joe,” he told the outlet.
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Why Did Fat Joe Decide To Lose Weight?
One of the driving factors for Fat Joe to lose weight was watching friends pass away after struggling with weight. Joe said Big Pun’s death from a heart attack at 28, as well as other’s passings, influenced him to want to get in shape. “Like, I seen me. And I’m looking at his little daughter. She was the same age as my daughter. I said, ‘You gotta lose weight; otherwise you outta here,’” he told Men’s Health.
While it may have motivated him to lose weight, Joe revealed that Pun’s death, and the loss of many others close to him, including his sister, led him to a deep depression. “I lost a lot of people, and unfortunately I can’t sit there and dwell, because I know that’s something that takes me down that path. So I gotta push forward,” he said.
Fat Joe’s Diet & Exercise
Joe has never shied away from sharing his weight loss methods through the years. He revealed that “education” was a key factor in learning what was healthy for him in a 2011 interview with VladTV. He admitted that he had a fondness for sweet potatoes, but he avoided pasta, rice, and bread. He said that he’d avoid carbs after his morning meals, and he went for proteins with sauteed vegetables or a salad. “Not only do I feel better, I’m not missing nothing. I still eat steak. I still eat my lobster,” he said. “I just don’t eat it with that rice and beans. I don’t eat it with that pasta. I don’t eat it with all that bread.”
Aside from his dieting, Joe has also been open about his fitness routines. He often bikes and rides the elliptical. He has also said that he starts the day with a few minutes of cardio, and he gradually builds his time up. He’s also shared videos of him hitting a track and working on his fitness on his Instagram.
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