Credit: Alamy

Fat Joe got his stage name because, as a young kid growing up in the Bronx, people would poke fun at him being of larger proportions. When he first broke into the mainstream in the late 1990s alongside Big Pun, by his own admission, the rapper was overweight. Although he wasn’t as heavy as his Terror Squad crewmate, Big Pun, he was still large, and it took a tragic event to make him change his ways.

In an interview with Us magazine, the ‘Lean Back’ rhymer explained how he has managed to lose over 150 pounds since the turn of the millennium and explained that it wasn’t easy but also changed him for the better.

Speaking to the publication, Joe unveiled that the trick to keeping his weight low was changing his diet and, in small doses, using Ozempic. Opening up about his family’s eating habits he began, “We just try to eat everything with the least carbs as possible…so we try to stay away from the bread, the pasta, the rice. That’s the smartest way to eat.”

At his heaviest, the ‘John Blaze’ emcee weighed 470 pounds and snacked a lot. Still, he has lost a lot of that weight and credits Ozempic with controlling his cravings. Speaking about how it weened him off his sugar addiction, he stated, “Ozempic says you may only have two pieces of your favourite stuff.”

The FDA-approved drug has been quite controversial over recent years as it has aided many celebrities on their weight loss journeys. However, many were quite petite to begin with. The drug is mainly prescribed to those with Type-2 diabetes and, along with the well-known drug Wegovy, is one of the most effective at affecting satiety. As such, it has become a trendy weight loss tool.

Although he has lowered his carb intake, the lyricist admitted hasn’t eliminated the food group from his diet, explaining, “This morning I ate breakfast, I had this toast. I cut the corner off, ate it and kept it moving. Normally I would’ve ate the whole thing. But you know, that’s what we do. We cut carbs and try to be smarter.”

In a previous interview with Men’s Health, the ‘All The Way Up’ artist unveiled that he began his weight loss journey after the death of his close friend and frequent collaborator, Big Pun, who died at age 28 from a heart attack in 2000.

Fat Joe admitted that it shocked him and that he felt he would die if he didn’t change, recalling, “I went to his funeral, and I felt like Ebenezer Scrooge. 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.’”

Although he’s 200 pounds lighter than he was when he first emerged, Fat Joe said he doesn’t plan on dropping the “Fat” from his stage name, laughing, “My wife would kill me. She likes me being a big boy. “She hallucinates like I’m still that big boy. She loves that.” Joe married his wife, Lorena Cartagena, in 1995.