Ree Drummond Shares Her Secrets to Keeping Weight Off After ‘Fluctuations’ Following 55-Lb. Weight Loss

Ree Drummond is being open and honest about her weight loss journey and the “fluctuations” that have come with it.

“It’s been almost four years since I wrote this post, and boy has it been an adventure since then!” the Pioneer Woman star, 56, wrote in an April 30 blog post, linking back to a 2021 blog post titled “How I Lost Weight (More Importantly: How I Got Healthier!)”

“I am, after all, a woman and a human person, and as such, I’ve had natural fluctuations since this original post was written — but much more so in the past year-plus. Bottom line, starting at the end of 2023, I stopped exercising and kinda stopped paying attention to what I was eating. (Again, uh, this happens!)” she continued.

Ree said that, in February, she “decided to jump back [on] the plan I’d found success with in 2021,” but “not quite as high a gear as the first time.”

“Long story short, I have found that it all still holds true, and FOR ME, it is working again like clockwork, or science, or whatever the word is. The very hardest part was the first week to 10 days. Today it’s not that hard at all, and in fact, it’s actually rewarding as I’m feeling better and better all the time,” Ree wrote.

The cookbook author added that the “game changer” for her was “two-fold.”

“First, I’m building muscle again, which is crucial. I do lunges, squats, deadlifts, and floor exercises with ankle weights. Second, I’m eating more protein and keeping it a higher percentage of my calories,” she continued. “This time, I am not weighing my food and counting calories. I feel that after doing that for four or five months back in 2021, it really gave me more of an awareness of portion sizes and general calories.”

Ree also admitted that while she did not consume alcohol “for four months or so” during her weight loss journey in 2021, this time around, she will “generally have a little white wine then top off the glass with cold Topo Chico sparkling water, so it’s kind of a wine spritzer type of thing.”

Ree also suggested using the Happy Scale app and said that she “didn’t use it very often” during the year that she was gaining weight back.

“I’m using it again and forget how helpful it is!” she added.

Ree concluded, “I can’t emphasize enough (just to repeat) how important it is to build muscle. And how important protein is as a part of that goal. In February, the scale was pretty stubborn until I bit the bullet and started doing all the leg/butt exercises. Within a week, it kicked in.”

Ree revealed in 2021 that she had lost 43 pounds by changing her diet and increasing her exercise.

“I definitely needed to lose weight for my own preference based on where I thought I should be, but it’s more about how I feel after a few months of regular exercise, more moving and more mindful eating,” the chef wrote in her weight loss blog post. “Feeling good is really all that matters, and because of that, the weigh ins are becoming less and less important to me. I’ll keep weighing in every day to have all the information I need going forward, but the number isn’t what I’m paying attention to now.”

In February 2022, Ree shared in another post that she had lost a total of 55 pounds.

“The months I spent doing squats, lunges and deadlifts early in my weight loss process really laid the foundation for a summer and fall of more efficient calorie burning,” she wrote. “I’m not a physician or trainer, but I can tell you that as I watched the number on the scale continue to decrease through the summer and fall, I knew without question that it was largely due to the muscle I’d built.”

The television personality also shut down rumors that she used a weight loss drug to shed the pounds.

“I did not take Ozempic, Wegovy, or similar medications,” she wrote on Facebook in 2024. “I know this has been a big topic in recent years, so I thought I’d add this paragraph. I support anyone who has success using the above medications. I know they have been an absolute godsend for so many people; I have friends who’ve experienced incredible results.”