I admire Jennifer Hudson and her remarkable recent weight loss.
Coming off the most impossible of years, she looks fitter, healthier and happier than ever, and I’d give anything for that girl’s pipes!
In this week’s People, she says she is happy and doesn’t want to lose any more weight.
But reading the comments below the article, there are certainly mixed feelings. Some readers think she looks wonderful. Some think she looks “too thin for her” and others implied she hit a plateau and that’s why she is done losing. (To that I say “Whatever! The girl’s teensy!”)
My take? I think she looks great. She’s clearly thin and lean, but not bony or “scary-skinny.”
But I do think (and this isn’t necessarily a negative) that she looks very thin “for her” — in the same way at one point I probably looked very thin “for me” back at goal in 2004.
Looking at JHud’s trajectory to thin-dom, I am reminded of my own journey.
My goal weight was a weight that, once I hit it, was not maintainable for me … and therefore it was something I couldn’t keep up without a significant amount of work and calorie-cutting (I didn’t have the luxury of a personal trainer or chef like many celebs do).
Still, I remember being annoyed when people would say I was getting “too thin” because they never knew me as anything but heavy; how could they classify me as “too thin”? They were comparing my old body to my new body … much in the same vein as how JHud is being compared. Her former plus-sized self being compared to her current size-6 self (and I’d say she looks about a 4 now … but that’s neither here nor there). She’s still JHud, just in a smaller, fitter package. And it’s hard for people to grasp.
I don’t know if she’ll be able to keep it off. I look back on that time recognizing I probably was “too thin” for me; obviously — I couldn’t maintain it and wasn’t about to go to any extreme measures to do so. (In fact, my disordered habits began only as I tried to maintain my loss; not while losing … interesting, no?!)
I wasn’t bony or anything, but I had gone from a 12/14 (depending on the store) to a 6/8 in a matter of 8 months. Though done in a totally healthy manner, it was still pretty dramatic, even though at the time it didn’t feel that way. I just felt good. I remember feeling confident, strong, lean and proud … much like Jennifer talks about feeling today. Weight loss does crazy things to your psyche; of that I am sure.
I personally think the biggest gift of weight loss is not only if you can be healthier and keep it off but if you can, as I did, gain some back (or heck, all!) and still love yourself just the same. Still feel good about yourself, confident in yourself. Recognize you’re more than just a body.
With respect to Jennifer … only time will tell — but I know one thing for sure: she has my support as she works to maintain her loss. It’s not easy, that’s for sure …
How about you? What do you think about Jennifer’s new body? Is it maintainable?
Let There Be Light 
I love this article. I too lost 100 pounds through weight watchers and a strong committment to exercise. I remember feeling powerful. But yet I still felt fat too (I wasn’t, I am 5’10” and was 155# then). I have gained 25# back. I know I should lose 10-15# to be back in the healthy range. BUT I have made great changes: stopped exercising too much, stopped counting each calorie, etc. My point is……. I don’t know if JHud’s bod is maintainable. If it is, I hope she is truly enjoying it and not hating herself for every minute she Didn’t workout and every calorie she eats. That’s my two cents worth.
Thanks for this post! I’m not sure if this is a “happy” weight or not for Jennifer Hudson, but it’s certainly weird to see her this thin, probably just because I’m used to seeing her in her “before” state. .
Thanks for your Friday Musings post too…it’s so interesting to read about the different stages of pregnancy and the accompanying feelings you have! What a cool thing, growing a teeny human. :0)
I know exactly what you mean. I doubt I’ve ever been considered “too thin,” by conventional standards, but I have definitely been too thin for me, personally, to live a sane and happy lifestyle. Maintenance became impossible unless I was a calorie-counting, bitchy freak. The weight I am at now might not be as thin, but it’s a hell of a lot more sustainable 🙂
I like what Laura said. I’m a petite girl, but I’m sort of “thick” — I’m naturally muscular and built more like a swimmer than a gymnast. For me, a BMI of 19-20, even though it’s still in the healthy range, just doesn’t look right. When I’ve been that thin, you can see my bones sticking out, I’m cold all the time and I can’t maintain the weight without eating less than 1200 calories a day. Yet on someone else, a BMI of 19 is perfectly healthy.
If Jennifer is healthy and feels good, body AND spirit, then I’m glad for her! I found it strange in the interview though when she said, “I don’t want to lose any more weight, and you’re never going to see me skinny.” Like a size 6 isn’t skinny? Maybe she means “skinny” skinny…I don’t know. I hope she doesn’t think she is big.
I don’t know what Jennifer Hudson looked like before the transformation (really…not so into celebrities, me…), so to me she just looks good. Not ‘too thin’ or anything. Completely right for her frame. However, I don’t know if it is her happy weight. Only time will tell. I think people are probably shocked if she used to be a lot heavier, and that’s where the reaction comes from…especially if they didn’t see a lot of her in the transitional period of weight loss.