Ed Sheeran Lost 56 Pounds After Being Called “Chunky” By Trolls

Sheeran is a suitable guest for this podcast because he took up running and cycling while on his weight loss journey, which resulted in him dropping 56 lbs (or four stone, if you’d like to use the English unit of measurement like he did). The singer admitted that his desire to shed some weight stemmed from trolls making fun of him. “I never had insecurities and people pointed them out – your brain starts thinking about them,” he said. “It all stems from other people’s insecurities. So many people have things they’re insecure about so it makes them feel better to point out someone else’s. Because half the people that would point out that I’m fat are probably fat themselves.”

Sheeran detailed the unhealthy lifestyle that led to him being deemed “chunky” online. “My problem was I’d go to the pub, have bangers and mash, a pie, maybe a pudding and then loads of pints. And then not exercise. My friends used to call me Two Dinners Teddy.” His beer-belly was cited as one of the reasons that Sheeran didn’t want to appear in his first few music videos. “I wasn’t in my first three or four videos. I was the same sort of age as the One Direction boys and Justin Bieber and all these people who had six-packs and I was kind of like, ‘Oh, should I look like this?'”