Mama June Weight Loss (Diet and Exercise Routine)

June Shannon aka Mama June, the infamous American reality television star was born on August 10, 1979. She was born and brought up in McIntyre, Georgia, USA.

She became famous for being the mother of Honey boo boo who is the reality television sensation.

Relationships and Family

She was born to mother Sandra and father Melvin Shannon, who got divorced when she was just two years old. June also has an older sister who is called as ‘Doe Doe.’

She revealed about her relationship with Mike Thompson aka ‘Sugar Bear’ in 2004. They got married in 2013 but got separated in 2014. They both have a daughter Alana aka ‘Honey boo boo’ who was born in 2005.

Besides Alana, Mama June has four other daughters from different men, Anna Shannon aka “Chickadee” born in 1995, Jessica Shannon aka “Chubbs” born in 1997 and Lauryn Shannon aka “Pumpkin” born in 2000.

Read More: Rebel Wilson Weight Loss Journey

June Shannon’s Career

She began her career with the reality show “Toddlers and Tiaras”. The show was all about the family’s personal lives. But the show was dragged into controversy because of the way the children got dressed and treated.

“Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” was her next reality show that started in 2012 and ended in 2014. The show was about the mother and daughter’s relationship. This too received a lot of negative comments and it was shut down after the season 4.

June started another reality show “Mama June: From Not to Hot”. This show tells about how June decides to go on a weight loss routine to lead a better and healthy life.

Amazing stuff about June is that she is legally blind. She had cataracts in her childhood that were not treated properly. She has also been arrested in 2008 for theft and contempt of court.

Mama June’s Weight Issues

June Shannon surprised all of her fans by her stunning transformation from 460 pounds to size 4. She shed this much amount of her weight for her reality show “Mama June: from not to hot”.

June Shannon carried her oversized body for several years before turning into the sexy siren. Mama June Weight Loss journey was brought in a reality show by her and portrayed it to the world.

She was not just into the exercises and diet routine but also she underwent bariatric surgery for her weight loss. Her eating habits, laziness, and her genetic functions lead her to such a huge body size. And not to our surprise she lost the extra fats really well.

She also accepted that after the reality show “Mama June: from not to hot” she started gaining her weight again. This time she blamed her cataract problem, due to which she wasn’t able to do the activities. Her cataract issue has made her legally blind. Only one of her eyes is somewhat on the working side, the other, however, is losing its sight.

Criticism for Her Weight and Body Shaming

Unlike other celebrities, June wasn’t that criticized or body shamed when she was 460 pounds. Fans loved her as such she was. Though, she was criticized after she lost her weight. Yes! You read it right.

She was criticized for losing too much of upper body weight basically her breast size. Shannon underwent breast augmentation surgery which reduced her breast size too much. She was deprecated about her size in the public while she was out with her kids in an ice-cream parlor.

Not much time went after her weight loss; she started regaining her weight due to some other health issues. According to sources, she has regained approximately 25 pounds.

An inspiration for Weight Loss

If you people are up to your conclusions that it might be health issues or media criticizing her or someone from the family that inspired June for shedding her weight, then you might be going on the wrong direction.

Everybody else kept talking about her transformation for her new reality show “Mama June: from not to hot”, but before the show was premiered, June promised to undergo a complete change in her physical and emotional aspect over the course of series.

She transformed to 350 pounds firstly and then vowed to look “completely different” after her transformation. She promised to turn to size 4 before her ex’s wedding, the same “Sugar Bear” guy, in the name of revenge for adultery and unfaithfulness.

Here is a video from The Wendy William’s Show

Although after her several surgeries, it was her dietician Kenya crooks who kept her motivating to shred her fat away. He raided her kitchen and changed it into a healthy one.

He says, “The reason I kept June motivating was that I knew she can do a lot better.” Crook asked her, “Why are you doing this?” Shannon replied, “I am trying to lose weight for Sugar Bear’s wedding because my ex is getting married. I’m trying to rebrand myself as, like, the skinnier Mama June.”

More About Inspiration

Crook expressed his concern over Shannon’s reasons that she doesn’t have to do it with her. He says “At some point of time, you have to make conscientious decision to start putting yourself first.”

Crook tells about how he changed her mind from Sugar Bear to her own self. He tells, ‘I told her, “I need for you to understand that this is about you.” So, I really tried to shift her thinking from, ‘I want to look good for Sugar’s wedding’ to ‘OK now, let’s really focus on June.’

Crooks says that people who lose their focus from themselves while there weight loss journey are more likely to regain their weight(2). And this guilt is the worst kind of motivation tools. The same happened with Mama June.

Mama June’s weight loss shocked the entire world by revealing her much slimmer and sexier version. Her transformation was unbelievable. She went size 4 from a huge size 18. Absolutely phenomenal!! Let’s see what was her secret behind losing those fats?

Mama Junes Diet Plan for Weight Loss

She hired Natasha Fett, a virtual trainer. She helped her make a diet plan and a workout regime for her. Fett created a diet regime for her without taking away her favorite food from her daily diet routine.

June took Carbohydrates on her earliest and later she avoided fatty foods. Carbohydrates are an important source of energy so it couldn’t be removed out from the diet. June started consuming healthy fats such as Avocado and almond butter.

For snacks, she started munching on celery and carrots with hummus dips instead of peanut butter. Slow digesting food such as beans, black beans, brown rice, sweet potatoes, and lentils was also introduced in her diet. Such foods are protein-rich and nutrient dense.

June’s protein shakes tea, and coffee was replaced with sugar-free sweetener. Despite all these diets and workouts, her cravings for food did not decrease. And she decided to have gastric sleeve surgery. It removed 80% of her stomach.

With less food consumption her weight reduced automatically. She no longer had those cravings for food as her stomach turned out to be much smaller.

Along with this she also underwent a tummy tuck and neck sculpting treatment.

Weight loss supplement: Fett also suggested June some of the weight loss supplement for rapid weight loss. This supplement was Garcinia Cambogia and apple cider vinegar.

Garcinia Cambogia is a medicinal supplement used for gastrointestinal problems(1).

Apple cider vinegar reduces the excess fat from the body.

No specific diet plan routine has been mentioned about June’s drastic transformation. But it is said by her that the surgery and the supplement helped her a lot to reduce the cravings.

Mama June Exercise Routine for Weight Loss

Her exercise routine was planned by Kenya crooks, her fitness trainer. Crooks started working out with her for two to three days per week. Crook mainly focused her on her core moves. She performed the following core exercise:

Bicycle Crunches:

It’s a type of crunches she performed, where knees were moved up to touch the elbows, (three sets of 20).

Bicycle Crunches

Reaching sit-ups (three sets of 20)

Credit: www.joanpaganofitness.com

Russian twists using a medicine ball (as possible for her to do)

Russian twists using a medicine ball

Other than the above she walked three miles every single day. Not alone the exercise but it’s the diet accompanied with workouts that worked.

June’s Message to People

Mama June talks about her maintaining the weight she has of size 4 frame. She says, ‘It’s not easy to eat like you’re supposed to and hit the gym all the time but I’m just trying to maintain it the best I can.

She insisted that it’s all about portion control. June accepts in an interview that she sleeps till 1 pm and skips her breakfast. She knows it is bad for health but that was one of her ways to avoid food.

June adds, “I don’t want to disappoint anybody and not be the skinny Mama June that everybody is looking forward to. But if I go through something that’s as serious as the next surgery- it cannot be about making everyone happy – it’s gotta be about me.”

There was that June who was shredding her weight just to look sexy in her ex’s wedding and then there ’s another June who got motivated to love her body and she started losing her weight and being healthy just for herself.

Well though it is said, ‘Love yourself first or else no one will do.’ Don’t do something just to show others that what you can do. Instead, understand your potentials and do things for yourself. Don’t please others but please yourself.

We can conclude from June’s story to love and prioritize your health over anything. As it is said, “Precaution is better than cure”, surgeries and supplements are one way to lose weight but it is always better to rely on natural methods.