Nicknamed the "Velvet Teddy Bear" for his soothing, soulful voice and lovable personality, season 2 "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard has decided to make a reality television comeback, but this time, he's focused on his health and shedding pounds, the Daily Mail reports.
Studdard will be competing on the upcoming 15th season of NBC's "The Biggest Loser," trying to lose weight and get in shape while aiming for the coveted $250,000 prize in the process.
The 35-year old singer packed on an extra 100 pounds after his "American Idol" win, reaching 455 pounds. Studdard has long struggled with obesity and has tried many ways to lose weight to no avail, including an intense workout regimen and 1,200-calorie diet back in 2006.
"I was losing weight, but I was exhausted. It was making me sick," Studdard told People at the time. "I'm a big man. There was no way to do those workouts on that amount of food, so everything was contradicting itself."
He quit the super-strict diet and went vegetarian, which when coupled with regular exercise helped him lose over 70 pounds in '06.
"Every week we would start by writing out a meal plan and calories," Studdard explained to People. "The people at the vegetarian store in Birmingham are like, 'What's he doing in here?'"
Studdard has said that he's "never had an issue with weight, but his family has "a history of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart-related issues" and other things he doesn't want to deal with down the road.
"I just wanted to basically combat those issues at an early age. They've never been an issue for me, but I wanted to do it while I was still young and felt like working out and looking great."
Last year the singer spoke to the Huffington Post about his desire to finally get his weight under control. "It took me to be in my thirties for [good health] to become somewhat of a mission for me, because I grew up in the South," he said at the time. "So we used to eat everything. And still to this day I have a problem with sweets, which is something that I hope I can get control over in the near future. But everyone has different obstacles that they have to conquer and I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to conquer mine."
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