Issa Rae Talks Getting In Shape With 'Women's Health' Magazine

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Issa Rae Talks Getting In Shape With ‘Women’s Health’ Magazine

In a new interview with Women’s Health, Issa Rae talks about dealing with unexpected weight gain and how she’s been keeping the pounds off after not liking how she looked on her hit show Insecure. In a very real moment, she tells the publication that with success came more access to good food and voila, thickness.

When the Web series started, I was very, very broke. Then more opportunities began to come,” she explains. “I was gaining New Money Weight.” As Issa saw it, the seemingly unlimited access to good food was one of the perks of her hustle. “When you get a good job, you’re like, ‘I can afford to eat at restaurants all the time!’ That adds up in weight.”

While she was enjoying all that good food, Issa tells Women’s Health her “New Money Weight” started messing with her self-esteem and so she decided to get healthy.

“Time to work out is so limited, but when I first started seeing myself on TV, I was like, ‘I gotta make time.’” she said.

Like many of us, Issa was full of excuses at first, but now she’s found a routine that works.

“I was a big excuse person when it came to exercising and eating right. I’d have spurts of trying to work out and being good. Then once I fell off, I’d be like, ‘Well, there’s always next year. Let me make it my New Year’s resolution.’ But even then, I would still be eating wrong while exercising vigorously.” (Issa is more “paleo-leaning” in her eating habits now, having rediscovered bacon after being a vegetarian for 15 years.)

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“Let me not put extras on it,” she says, lest I think she’s about to detail some sort of extreme CrossFit-inspired routine worthy of a superhero flick. “I exercise for, like, an hour each day. My neighborhood has a bunch of hills, so it’s walking up hills. Then I alternate between walking and jogging. I hate jogging—you’re going in circles, but I recognize that it helps.”

Check out a behind-the-scenes clips on the flip, plus her full interview with Women’s Health here. She goes on to talk about her friendships with Debbie Allen and Ava Duvernay, her favorite musicals, and the one piece that keeps her puzzle together.