In the fourth season of VH1’s hit series, Celebrity Fit Club, the unexpected happened.  Bone Crusher, the rapper best known for his inescapable 2003 hit single, “Never Scared,” crushed the competition by setting the record for the biggest individual weight loss against smaller competitors less than half his size. It was a feat of courage, determination, and willpower. 

Bone Crusher is now sharing his experience with weight loss on the new fitness DVD, Battle of the Bulge.  The DVD is certified by none other than Dr. Ian Smith from Celebrity Fit Club, and it comes packed with advice and insight. 

Bone Crusher talked to Sixshot about how he’s maintaining his weight, why he feels no pressure to be the “big guy” in hip-hop, diet vs. lifestyle change, why he believes the plus-size market has been neglected by the fitness world, his upcoming album, and more.

How did it feel to set the record for biggest individual weight loss on VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club 4?

Great, outstanding!  It was a situation where I had to do it so I got it done.

What did you learn from that experience and did it inspire your fitness DVD?

I learned how to diet—change my lifestyle.  I do n’t like to say diet.  It definitely inspired the DVD.  I figured I could help out people my size and get them in a position to do something healthy.

Who did you work with to conceptualize the DVD?

My manager and I got together and came up with all the fitness ideas.  I learned a lot of stuff from the show.  Dr. Ian also contributed to it as far as the diet situation goes—the lifestyle change I like to call it.  He also did an introduction to the DVD.  So Dr. Ian endorsed it and we definitely appreciate that.  We all sat down at a table and figured out how we could make it happen.  Everybody sat around, laughed, and cried and made it happen to help people.

This is one of the few DVD’s that targets the plus-size market.  What are some of the main challenges to reaching this demographic?

For me it’s not that much of a challenge because I’m a big guy.  Most people that are trying to lose weight are big and that situation helps me out.  I’m up late at night and see the infomercials.  Most infomercials are about losing weight, and most of those people that are on those things are small.  When you’re already there and you’re here in this stage you see the end-results.  They don’t tell you how to get that way.  They tell you how to tighten up your abs.  When you’re big there are no abs to tighten up, you got to get yourself down to a certain size to get tight abs.  So this whole thing is about showing people that I’m in the fight with you and I’m just like you.  If I’m out here doing it you can do it.

Why do you think the plus-size market has been ignored for so long when it comes to fitness products?

People don’t really understand that there are more big people now than little people in the world.  This is America—we’re based on gluttony.  In Europe there’s not a whole bunch of buffets or fast food joints.  In America we got plus-size sodas, plus-size drinks, plus-size food, big cars, and  big houses.  It’s a capitalist society but no one addresses that.  They want you to be little but they want to be able to serve you all the fast food on TV. I think this market has not been touched because no one has ever thought about it.  I always thought about it.  I think the last person that really did it was Richard Simmons.

Richard Simmons really touched that market because there’s a lot of people out there that need help.  I reach out to people.  I just started sending out my e-mail address to people so they can reach out to me.  I’m tying to help them get healthy—not just lose weight, but get healthy.  Clean up those arteries, get your cholesterol down, and get your blood pressure down. 

You mention this project as being about a lifestyle change.  What are the lifestyle changes that you’re advocating for people to make?

People have to understand something—when you say diet, diet means stop.  When you say lifestyle change that means gradually changing yourself into a new you.  I’m not trying to knock nobody else’s situation, but for me and for most people my size it’s hard to say diet to them.  Diet means I have to stop eating hamburgers all at one time.  I gotta stop eating doughnuts.  I gotta stop eating whatever I’m eating that’s put me in this position.

Food is a drug like anything else and it’s hard to get off of it just by doing it cold turkey.  So we change your lifestyle which means gradually weeding yourself off of the bad food.  Then your body starts to tell you that you don’t want no more.  When your body tells you that you don’t want it then you don’t crave it.  That’s the difference between diet and a lifestyle change.  I eat three times a day.  I eat every three hours.  So what I do is eat small meals every three hours and then I speed up my metabolism.  Binge eating and binge dieting is bad for your heart.  Your health you can’t go up and down like that, but anything you do gradually works.

With a lifestyle change also comes a change in one’s personal attitude as well.  What has been that change for you?

You know I’ve always had a great personality.  Not to toot my own horn—but I’ve always had a situation where if you make sense to me I’m with you one hundred percent. 

What was the moment for you when you began to look at yourself and take your weight issues seriously?

Well, I never really thought about it like that.  I've always been a healthy guy because I don’t do a lot of drinking and smoking.  Even Harvey from the show was like, “I can’t believe how your endurance is.”  I work out a lot but I eat a lot too.  So what I did was cut back on my eating and worked out as much as I did, and lost a lot of weight.  When I did finally see the results I was like, ‘Yeah man, I love it.  I love the way I look and feel!’ 

How have you been maintaining your weight?

I eat healthier than I used to.  I just try to cut back on certain things that I usually eat and that’s how I maintain it.  It works out.  I guess that’s the key to the whole thing—working out.  A lot of people don’t understand that.  If you’re gonna eat you gotta work out.  It’s a good balance.  It keeps the muscles nice and cleared out, it keeps the heart and arteries clear, and it keeps the cholesterol down.

Do you want to continue losing weight or are you satisfied where you are now?

I’m trying to get down to 280.  Right now I’m at 350 so I’m trying to lose 70 pounds

Ever since your debut you seem to have been placed in a box as the big guy in hip-hop.  Do you feel if you were to lose too much weight you might lose fans as well since that’s one of the things that set you apart to begin with?

No, I don’t think that.  I’ve always been big.  Even when I was smaller I was bigger than the average guy.  Most of the guys in the industry are short and little.  They look kind of normal sized because they’re on TV.  I’m 6’1 so even if I get down to 280 I’m still gonna look bigger than your average dude.  So it is what it is.  I don’t get all into the weight thing.  I like to have fun and that’s gonna be showing whether I’m big or little.

So you don’t feel pressure to remain Bonecrusher—the big guy in hip-hop?

No, not at all.

What more do you have coming up?

The DVD and the album.  It’s called Planet Crusher.  It’s gonna be on a new label so I can’t really talk about it, but it’s gonna be big.  The first single will be coming out, “Tell Me.” It’s crazy!  It’s me and my artist Young Stallion and Biza.  I’m about to go read for a movie that I’m about to be doing.  So it’s gonna be a pretty big year for me. 

For more information please visit:
www.battleofthebulgefitness.com