Doja Cat (aka Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini) shut down the 2022 Grammys red carpet when she showed up in a see-through Atelier Versace gown that had everyone raving. She then kept the glamor coming when she accepted her award for Best Pop Duo Performance for “KISS ME MORE” with SZA in a second Versace number. This one had a thigh-high slit and, as Women’s Healthgushed, it showed off her “endless” and “super toned” legs and was a hit with fans who dubbed her a “queen.”
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It wasn’t the first time the rapper’s figure got folks talking. Back in 2021, she had people chattering about her visible weight loss. While some criticized her for losing too much weight, others were all for it. One fan even launched a Reddit thread in the hopes of finding out how the Grammy winner lost all that weight.
The consensus was that Doja Cat’s weight loss could be attributed to a mix of factors, namely her body type, diet, and exercise. As Doja Cat herself has since explained, she reached her fitness goals by focusing on a healthy balance of working out and eating healthy.
However, she has also stressed that her overall goal is to feel happy with herself, not to achieve unrealistic beauty standards.
Doja Cat’s Weight Loss Journey
Back in 2019, Doja Cat had her first Billboard Hot 100 hit with “Juicy,” an ode to plump booties which encouraged fans to love their bodies, cellulite and all. Breaking down the meaning behind the song’s lyrics with Genius, Doja Cat honed in on one particular line on the track — “I eat that lunch” — and explained that she keeps trim not by starving herself but rather, by enjoying a mix of healthy and indulgent food. “To keep my figure looking the way it does, I have a diet of two two-pound lobsters, Chick-fil-A, chicken kale Caesar salads, Oreos, and Capri Sun,” she shared.
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Seeing as Doja Cat is all about self-love, it may be hard to believe that the outwardly confident rapper has struggled with body image for most of her life. In 2020, she spoke candidly to Cosmopolitan Middle East, revealing, “Growing up, I definitely had body dysmorphia. Without a doubt. And I’ve had it since,” she said, explaining, “It started in my teens, which I think is where it starts for a lot of people. I started really growing and I never really thought I looked good in a lot of the stuff I wore.”
These days, she’s still working to get to a happier, healthier place of acceptance but as she told the mag, it’s not about weight loss at all. “I just try to focus on eating well, but I definitely still struggle with body dysmorphia a bit now,” she shared.
Something else that helps is music. Speaking of “Juicy,” she mused, “I feel like that song was therapeutic for me. I kind of made it for myself – well, the meaning behind it, at least. I was kind of doing it for my own happiness and I feel like other people can definitely pull some joy from that, too,” she said.
The Doja Cat Diet
Doja Cat’s super-fit physique has left many wondering about the secrets behind her weight loss journey. Above all, fans of her new look have been asking what Doja Cat ate to lose weight and, thanks to her social media, we have a pretty good idea of her diet plan.
As it turns out, a healthy diet is a key part of the rapper’s fitness regimen, as she demonstrated during a 2020 Instagram fridge tour. Going through all of the food inside, she showed fans she had a box of quinoa, a box of Mediterranean tuna, a whole slew of sauces and condiments, and some bottles of wine. There was also an entire box of “wellness shots” from Erewhon, all packed with nutrients and antioxidants.
However, despite eating healthy most of the time, Doja Cat still makes sure to indulge and doesn’t forbid herself from having the treats she loves. That was made evident in 2021 when Postmates shared Doja Cat’s order history, giving fans insight into what she likes to eat most.
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According to Postmates, she’s been using the service since 2015 and her top three go-to merchants are Jack in the Box, Tsuri, and Panera Bread. While she sometimes uses the service to order healthy snacks (think blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes), she knows how to spoil herself with a Shack Burger and fries from Shake Shack or a bean and cheese burrito and cheesy roll up with Fire sauce from Taco Bell.
The one item she has ordered the most, though, is broccoli cheddar soup from Panera Bread. She’s also obsessed with seafood. For her birthday in 2020, Doja Cat spent over $400 on a massive order from Catch LA, which included king crab tempura, grilled Spanish octopus, and grilled jumbo prawns.
Meanwhile, when she cooks for herself, she keeps things as healthy as possible. As she tweeted in December 2020, “I eat two eggs and spinach tortilla [with] caramelized onions, pepper jack cheese, and hot sauce and roll it up. I also eat a lot of seaweed.” But she also knows how to get fancy. Doja Cat often posts videos of herself cooking to Instagram and has made everything from a mega fancy lobster and beet dish to a mushroom soup with egg and maple syrup-dipped dates.
However, her all-time favorite food is lobster. As she told Kidd Nation in 2021, “I love lobster. A steamed lobster. Not grilled, not poached.” Asked if she dips it in butter, she shared, “I like to kind of go the healthier route cause that's a lot of cholesterol, so I just eat the lobster with my bare hands with a little bit of lemon.”
It’s clear that good food is a big key to her weight loss and she may soon be sharing all of her fave dishes on TV because she’s actually planning a cooking show. As Rolling Stone learned in 2021, she especially loves making French dishes, like classic fondue, but also blending cuisines (think Wagyu sandwiches with Gruyere truffle cheese).
Apparently, her love of cooking started thanks to an “insanely French” ex-boyfriend and now, she’s obsessed. As her manager, Lydia Asrat, told the outlet, “Amala loves to cook. You’d think she just wants to be a housewife. If Amala could stay at home and cook for a month, she would,” she mused. “That’s her in her element. But Doja can’t.”
The Doja Cat Workout
In addition to eating healthy, Doja Cat’s secret to weight loss includes a rigorous workout regimen. As she revealed in a 2021 Instagram Live, "it used to be rehearsals for award shows" that kept her fit but now, when she’s not putting on shows, she hits the gym.
Opening up about her workout routine, Doja Cat shared that she does loads of weight training exercises on upper body days, including shoulder presses and bicep curls. “I do push, I do pull,” she explained but admitted she’s not good at naming the actual exercises because “my friends and I are working out together so they tell me what to do.”
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Meanwhile, on lower body days, her go-to's include kettlebell exercises and jump squats. "I love doing squats," she gushed. "Don't know why but my bottom half responds to it a lot and you can see it immediately." The same can’t be said about her upper body, though. "I've just always had noodle arms my whole life,” she quipped.
While her workout routine is made up of simple, classic exercises, it’s anything but easy. Watch the clips she shares of herself at the gym and you’ll see Doja Cat always gives it her all, whether she’s doing resistance band running, kettlebell squats, leg curls, working with weights, or dancing.
Doja Cat Shut Down Body Shamers
While lots of fans loved Doja Cat’s new look following her recent weight loss, others worried she had lost too much weight. Some even wondered if she had undergone any sort of weight loss surgery. Well, the rapper had enough of the critics and clapped back at people saying she was too skinny via Instagram Live in June 2022.
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“It's literally my f****** choice to eat more healthy and work out,” she slammed. “I'm really f****** sick and tired of y'all talking about my body." Addressing those hating on her new figure, she continued, “I used to be thicc and that's forever going to be your problem. Your problem. Not mine. So you can keep suffering about how my body looks because, b****, I'm living my best life. I'm happy.”
The rapper then said it was “hella creepy” that people were talking about her body so much and concluded, “You wish I was thicc 'cause you want to f*** me. It has nothing to do with my health or my happiness 'cause I don't even look underweight."
As Doja Cat shows us, embarking on a weight loss journey should always be a personal choice fueled by personal goals – not ones set by the outside world. Instead of striving to achieve someone else’s definition of beauty, you should only ever lose weight for your own personal happiness and, of course, your health.
