Eminem Weight: 81-Pounds Shed Off Rapper’s Frame After He Adopted Another ‘Addiction’

Eminem had a weight loss of 81-pounds following his stay in rehab for drug abuse several years ago. He best describes it by saying that he exchanged one addiction for another.

Eminem said that he had an on-again-off-again relationship with fitness. That regime included boxing and a series of workout sessions with Dr. Dre. Eminem weighed 230-pounds during rehab, according to Vibe.

In an interview the rapper gives to Men’s Journal, he shares in the September 2015 issue that he believes he got that weight in the first place because the “coating on the Vicodin and the Valium I’d been taking for years leaves a hole in your stomach, so to avoid a stomachache, I was constantly eating — and eating badly.”

This all happened in 2007 when he overdosed and was admitted into rehab. Eminem’s weight loss of 81-pounds amounted to ceasing his bad habits of driving to the nearest fast-food restaurant to elude the stomach aches he was feeling.

Eventually the music star used running as a substitute for addiction. He overdid it on the treadmill by running 17 miles a day. He defined his habit as becoming “OCD about the calories.” As a result, his hip flexors were getting injured and he had to opt for other types of workouts. He eventually got his weight down to 149-pounds by working out to DVDs, Shaun T’s Insanity workout, Tony Horton’s P90X, and Sagi Kalev’s Body Beast routine.

Eminem says of the 81-pound weight loss that he simply replaced one addiction for another.

“It’s easy to understand how people replace addiction with exercise. One addiction for another but one that’s good for them. I got an addict’s brain, and when it came to running, I think I got a little carried away. I became a f***ing hamster.”

The motivated rap sensation works out sections of his body at a time. He’s likes the progress he sees when it comes to the endurance he can maintain.

“I do the Body Beast workout with free weights, bench, and pullup bar at home. It’s just me, so it helps that the Body Beast dude is over-the-top. The routine is pretty intense, too. The first time I did the legs, I couldn’t walk for two days. Now I’m doing arms one day, chest the next day, legs the next, and I’m still functioning throughout the day. And I can finally do it without pausing the DVD.”

The 43-year old adds that he hates pullups, but does them anyway. He further states say that he doesn’t like having too big of a break in his workout schedule.

“I feel like if I step away from it for too long, if I have a crazy week and take a five-day break, it’ll be like starting over. I’m afraid that if it goes beyond that, I might lose the motivation. Once you’re at a place where you’ve made progress and you’ve got some time invested in it, you don’t wanna quit and give up what you started.”

Read more about Eminem’s 81-pound weight loss at Men’s Journal.

[Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images]