Queen Latifah made a big splash at the 2013 Oscars when she debuted her new slimmed down figure. And she’s not the only celebrity who’s shocked us with their sudden weight loss. How do they do it? We’ve got the answers here. Read on to find out the secrets behind the most dramatic celebrity weight loss stories to date.

Image Source: WENN.com

Vegetarianism

The good reverend Dr. Sharpton transformed himself from a heavy 214 lb. man to a slim 167 lbs by banishing meat from his diet in 2010. Sharpton told Vanity Fair “I was a chicken junkie. I used to eat chicken three times a day.” So he cut The Kernel out of his diet along with refined sugar, starch and all other meat. Now he’s taking his healthy eating habits to the community by encouraging African American churches to offer healthier options to their parishioners.

It seems as if every week a Hollywood star gives birth then pops up on a magazine cover or runway a few months later flaunting their slender frames and sleek abs. Although some women lose baby weight faster than others, here are 15 celebs that snapped back to their pre-baby bodies in no time.

WENN

Mariah Carey

Diva and R&B singer Mariah Carey shocked the world when she announced she married her husband rapper, actor and entertainer Nick Cannon. After struggling to conceive, the happy couple surprised everyone one more time when it was revealed that Carey was pregnant with twins. Once Monroe and Morocco were welcomed into the world, the “Butterfly” singer went to work right away to lose the baby weight. Because she gave birth via Cesarean, Carey was unable to exercise right away. The current “American Idol” judge signed on to be the spokesperson for Jenny Craig and ended up dropping 70 lbs. in six months. “I realize that 90 percent of losing weight is my diet,” Carey said in an interview with Shape magazine about how she lost the extra pounds.

Losing weight is hard work. You have to eat healthily, exercise, and avoid tempting foods. Whether it’s counting calories, carbs or points-there are countless diets and weight loss programs for you to choose from. And it’s no different for our plush-sized celebrities looking to shed a few pounds. Indeed they have the extra cash flow to splurge on a personal trainer and chef, but they have to put in the work as well. Whether dropping the pounds for a diet endorsement deal or just to be more marketable, celebs are cashing in (cha-ching) on their weight loss.

“WENN”

Jennifer Hudson is the face of Weight Watchers, belting out inspirational, skinny girl songs to match her trim physique. Hudson lost over 80 pounds after signing on with Weight Watchers  in 2010 and went from a size 16 to a size 4.

Source: Instagram

We’ve all been missing Jazmine Sullivan since she gracefully exited stage right via her Twitter page in 2011, announcing that she would be backing away from the spotlight because she wasn’t “having fun anymore”.

“I promised myself when it wasn’t fun anymore I wouldn’t do it and here I am. I love you all and appreciate you soooooo much. You have no idea how much you’ve inspired me and fed my ego but the truth is that I have to believe in me whether you all do or not and that’s what I’m lookin for. That belief in myself. Me. I love us. Thanks for being here for me and riding with me on this journey,” she tweeted.

Slowly, but surely she appears to be making her way back to center stage, though. The “I Need You” singer has reappeared the social media scenes of Twitter as well as Instagram where she recently shared a photo of herself rocking a chic black evening gown from the Marquette Collection while on her way to a holiday party.

We don’t even have to ask what she’s been up to during her hiatus because her new slim body tells the entire story. Jazmine looks amazing!

We’re hoping that her reappearing act means that she’ll be blessing us with some more great music soon. If her recent tweets revealing her aspirations of receiving a Grammy someday serve as any indication of this, then we definitely don’t mind waiting.

“Work isn’t too bad if u have a goal!! Work with Intention!! Mine is to win grammy’s… What’s urs?” she tweeted.

Welcome back, Jazzy. We’ve missed you!

What do you think of Jazmine’s trim new figure?

Jazmine Denise is a news writer for Madame Noire. Follow her on Twitter @jazminedenise

Source: Life & Style

Former Real Housewives of Atlanta star, Kim Zolciak is looking absolutely fabulous to say that she gave birth to her fourth child less than six months ago. The 34-year-old is showing off fantastic post-baby body in the latest issue of Life & Style  Magazine. The reality star revealed that she’s lost 30 lbs so far and that she intends to go down to a size 2.

“I’m a size 4 right now, and my goal is to get down to a size 2. I’m accepting that I’m going to have to hit the gym — my girls laugh and say there’s no chance, but I really think I’m going to have to,” she expressed to Life & Style.

Kim also revealed that she’s less than 10 lbs heavier than she was when she first got pregnant and that she believes breastfeeding may have helped her to shed a few pounds.

“I think breast-feeding helped me lose some weight, and I was really busy as soon as I got home with Kash. I went straight into filming my spin-off show, Don’t Be Tardy and I’m sure that helped. I just never sat still!”

Her slim-down doesn’t appear to be all luck though. The mom of four also dished on some of her healthy dieting habits.

“I don’t eat red meat or pork or much dairy, and I always eat in moderation.”

In case you were wondering, she also briefly touched on her departure from Real Housewives of Atlanta.

“I will be forever grateful for some of the moments that occurred on the show, but I couldn’t deal anymore. Being pregnant puts a whole new spin on everything, and what happens on the outside affects what happens with the baby on the inside, and that was my priority.”

Well, whatever she’s doing, it’s working for her. I know Kim probably isn’t our favorite person in the world, but we’d be haters to not give credit where it’s due and truthfully, she looks amazing.

What were some of your tricks and tips for shedding post-baby weight?

Jazmine Denise is a news writer for madamenoire.com. Follow her on Twitter @jazminedenise

Source: fitperez.com

I don’t really listen to Drake but I had to borrow a line from his “Stay Schemin’” verse directed at Vanessa Bryant (“You wasn’t with me shooting in the gym”) because it perfectly illustrates my point in the ongoing did she or didn’t she have weight loss surgery debate. I don’t usually walk around defending celebrities either, considering they can always go cry in their money as one of my old editors used to say, but the celebrity weight loss shade is real—real ridiculous that is.

As I was reading over Chaka Khan’s interview yesterday I was surprised she mentioned people thought she had weight loss surgery. When she first made her big 60-pound reveal, Chaka hadn’t been seen for a hot minute so it wasn’t as though one day we saw her at a certain size and she was significantly lighter the next. Plus, most noted how fit she appeared to be and that’s not characteristic of people who have just gone under the knife. She’s since mentioned that she went vegan and credits her dramatic loss to the absence of meat from her diet but many are still assuming a surgeon was also present somewhere in this.

Fast forward to the post on Jennifer Hudson’s new clothing line and there was all kinds of shade unraveling about how her entire Weight Watcher’s 80-pound weight loss is a hoax. I expected side eyes at the thought of people wanting to dress like her but I thought all the nonsense over her having gastric bypass surgery was dead. Like Chaka, J-Hud didn’t pull one of those overnight size 16 to size 6 moves. It took her somewhere around a year to get those results, which is hardly how long it would take had she went the surgery route. In fact, she’s pretty much a model for healthy weight loss which should be achieved safely at two pounds per week.

What’s crazy to me is how people are calling her a fraud for being a Weight Watcher’s spokesperson and claiming that’s the only way she shed pounds. Um, how many of ya’ll were with her in the gym? Better yet, the hospital or the operating table where she supposedly had this surgery? People have gone so far as to say that she’s false promoting because she doesn’t acknowledge the exercise aspect of her plan that brought her to those results. I think everyone knows diet and exercise go hand-in-hand. Her job isn’t to sell treadmills, ellipticals, jump ropes or basketballs, she’s pushing the portion of her success story that relates to food which is the Weight Watcher’s meal plan. What’s fraudulent about that? And the point that she probably had a trainer whip her into shape (either in lieu of or in addition to surgery) is null and void as well because I’ve seen many an average woman shell out cash to have someone kick her butt into shape during 5 am workouts.

What’s even more crazy to me though is how people will see a random overweight black woman and say she needs to lose weight as if it’s as simple to do as letting the words come out of your mouth. Then when they see a celebrity who worked out and used a food program to drop pounds they assume it’s not possible and that she must have had surgery. And then when they hear Beyonce say she dropped 40 pounds in a few months eating lettuce and running on a treadmill they believe it and celebrate it as if that’s healthy. Where’s the logic in that?

On some level, I blame Star Jones for this. Her notorious denial of weight loss surgery has made every other weight loss success story after hers suspect from the gate because she kept up the charade for so long. But this is also just a classic case of people contradicting themselves and dare I say it, hating. Why is it women like J-Hud get beat on so hard for assumedly not being healthy and needing to lose weight, and then when they do it through sweat, tofu, and rice cakes, it’s assumed they took the easy way out? You can’t try to beat diet and exercise into one person’s head all day long as the magic pill for weight loss and then when another person gets the results they should from doing what was suggested, all of a sudden it isn’t possible? What’s so difficult about accepting and celebrating someone else’s triumph, and silencing the need to steal their shine?

The most interesting part is the critics are always people who’ve never known what it’s like to have to drop weight themselves. They’re speaking from facts they’ve heard or read, not from personal experience which is why they suggest someone just start walking 30 minutes a day as if that’s going to add up to a 3,500 calorie deficit that would yield them a one-pound weight loss. It’s the same reason they assume any celebrity who has gone from plus-size to average couldn’t have done it without a medical intervention: they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Speculating on celebrity weight loss is no different than commenting on other rumors about who they’re dating, sleeping with, or beefing with. We weren’t there, so we don’t know. Therefore there’s no reason to throw shade and assume the worst. If you hate celebs when they’re fat and find a whole new reason to hate them when they’re thin, how do they ever win?

Brande Victorian is the News and Operations Editor for MadameNoire.com. Follow her on Twitter @Be_Vic.

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With the scrutiny of the world on their shoulders, it’s no wonder that a celebrity’s weight gain and weight loss can make the cover of every magazine.  Whether too skinny or too large, their weight is constantly talked about. Although some fluctuations are minor, several celebs choose to get healthy and lose a significant amount of weight, and some are lucky enough and focused enough to keep it off!  Check out these eight celebs who, with healthy eating and strict exercise regimes, lost the pounds in a healthy way and are keeping them off too!