Jennifer Hudson's Top Weight Loss Tips

Singer Jennifer Hudson dishes on her inspiring weight loss success in her new book, 'I Got This,' and offers a few of her top tips to help you slim down like a star.

“Are you insecure about being a big girl in Hollywood?” Jennifer Hudson was asked, just when she thought she’d made it big on American Idol. The story the singer and actress, 30, recounts in her new memoir is heart-wrenching to any woman who has ever worried about being too curvy.

“Surely, she wasn’t addressing me that way,” Hudson writes. “I had the height of a supermodel, breasts that were naturally big and real, and a God-given shape. Why would I feel insecure about that?”

But as it turned out, the question was asked her. And Hudson, a Grammy award-winning singer and Oscar-winning actress who got her start on season three of American Idol, was in for a surprise. Throughout her shining career, she was constantly hounded about her weight, a struggle she candidly details on every page of the book. A chronic yo-yo dieter, Hudson reveals that she actually gained twenty pounds for her Oscar-winning role in the 2006 movie Dreamgirls. When it came time to lose it and get back to what she calls her “comfortable size 10,” she did what she always did whenever she wanted to lose a few — she followed a firm plan of nothing but brown rice, broccoli, and grilled chicken and two running workouts a day. But time after time, Hudson’s restrictive crash diet didn’t transfer into long-term weight loss — or health.

“That way of eating is effective for quick weight loss,” Hudson writes. “It’s a total setup for failure because eating that way forever just isn’t realistic.”

After the birth of her son in 2009, Hudson says she tipped the scales at 237 pounds and knew it was time to make a change: “It was time to think about how I was going to lose the excess baby weight and then put that plan into action.”

And of course, we all know how that story ends: A few months later, she signed as a spokesperson for Weight Watchers and has since shed 80 pounds on the plan, inspiring hundreds or even thousands of men and women to try the same. Throughout her book, her signature warm tone shines through, making readers feel like they are really getting a behind-the-scenes look at her life.

This “realness” is what has won her many fans over the years, including Tina Jensen and Alex Gonzalez, who joined Weight Watchers about the same time Hudson did.

“It just feels like Jennifer Hudson has been on this journey with us,” Gonzalez, 27, who has lost 43 pounds with Weight Watchers, says while waiting in line at a New York Barnes & Noble for a signing of Hudson’s new tome. Jensen, who has lost 42 pounds on the program, agrees. “She’s a perfect inspiration because you got to see such a clear before and after with her,” she says. “She’s so down to earth, and it feels like I can really trust that she’s doing the program with us.”

Here, we share some of that Hudson's very beneficial advice:

1. Find a diet buddy. Hudson’s Weight Watchers coach, Liz Josefsberg, has been very important to her success. “Liz lost 50 pounds and had kept it off, which gave me a big amount of self-trust in her,” Hudson writes. “She knew what it was like to lose that much weight, so I could really open up to her along the way.” Whether your weight loss buddy is a coach like Liz or a friend who wants to lose weight, sharing your experience with someone who can relate is key. Plus, you’ll be more likely to stay on track if a friend is holding you accountable.

2. Create a flexible plan. “I had been so mistaked with believing that dieting meant excruciating limitations that I had denied the principles of the Weight Watchers program,” Hudson writes. Whether it’s Weight Watchers or another system, it’s crucial to create a plan that will work for your lifestyle — and allow a little indulgence from time to time.

3. Watch your portions. Hudson says before she started Weight Watchers, she was a pretty healthy eater for the most part. “What I didn’t realize was the amount I was eating was actually harmful,” she says. Now, she knows what a portion really looks like, and that helps keep her on track.

4. Get your family on board. Hudson’s family quite literally joined her weight loss efforts — inspired by her success, her sister, aunt, and cousin have all shed weight, too. Hudson’s husband has also been a huge support. “It’s such a blessing to have a partner who shares your same beliefs in getting healthy, as opposed to sabotaging your efforts,” Hudson reveals about her husband, pro wrestler David Otunga.