The Reallife Diet of Jason Derulo, who Drinks Salmon Smoothies and Deadlifts golf Carts

The pop star has always been a fitness devotee, but his newest challenge is staying in shape while he’s stuck at home – and rapidly becoming one of the biggest stars on Tiktok

JASON Derulo, A MAN whose Most FAMOUS REFRAIN is his own name, is nothing if not Confident . A life-long athlete, he’s been fine-tuning his workouts for years to maintain those washboard abs. (It’s especially important given that they spend the large majority of his public appearances exposed.) Last year, he whipped up a media frenzy about his own bulge, goading fans on with a Photoshop job. After making an enthusiastic acting debut in Cats, one of the most gleefully panned flops in Hollywood history, he unabashedly maintained that he expected it to be a home run. And then, in March, he caught the Tiktok bug, his star rapidly rising on a platform infamous for roasting the over-25 set. The guy is simply impossible to embarrass.

Derulo says he’s never been the type to take himself too seriously. Then again, it’s pretty difficult to be bashful when you look like Jason Derulo. The looks, he says, are where the real work lies, the result of a full decade of dance-heavy performances, rigorous workouts, and ceaseless diet-tinkering. On top of his six-day-a-week workout schedule, Derulo turns every so often to pulling cars, lifting golf carts, and running football routes to stay motivated. Usually, he’d be doing that in between a relentless global touring schedule that had him sweating out backflips and hip thrusts most nights of the year.

Now that the Covid-19 pandemic has derailed his tours, Derulo’s pivoted to branding himself as a kind of Tiktok uncle, rapidly accruing followers by picking up viral dance challenges and hosting the younger stars of the platform at his home in LA. For every million followers he gains, he makes a “Milli Meal”, usually a super-sized dessert concoction straight out of a kid’s sugar-induced fever dream. He’s still adjusting to missing out on the cardio he used to get on tour, which means he’s had to return to two-a-days and intermittent fasting to get in shape for an upcoming role that he developed – where else? – on Tiktok. Aside from that, he spends most of his days planning and filming his videos, which now include elaborate editing, special effects, and collabs with the likes of Will Smith and Charli D’amelio.

Derulo Zoomed GQ to tell us how he’s getting his fitness game back on track.

GQ: As a musician, you would typically spend a good chunk of the year touring and performing. How have you adjusted this past year to be at home?

Last year, I was home for about 60 days out of the entire year.

I tour a lot more than the average artist, always doing shows across the world. I do a lot of spot dates, a lot of festivals. So being at home for months at a time is pretty crazybecause I haven’t been home like this since I was a kid.

My rehearsals are pretty vigorous, which takes a toll on your body, but also, it makes you lose weight, which I don’t want, so I usually lift pretty heavy during that time and eat more, because I’m not really into the skinny vibes. That’s something I always really struggle with when I’m on tour.

Being at home, I gained weight like crazy. I was like, ‘Oh shit I gotta slow this down. now, I’m starting to look like a bodybuilder.’ It’s because I’m so used to getting all of that cardio. So now it’s about trying to dial that back. I find that my body is only at its optimum when I’m doing two-a-days, which is cardio and lifts. When I’m not doing the cardio,

I get too big, and I can lose too much weight if I’m only doing cardio.

GQ: What’s your workout routine these days?

I get up around 11:30am or 12am and work out. I try to get seven hours of sleep. It doesn’t always happen. I usually work out fasted. I do about an hour in the morning and then about 45 minutes in the evening. What I can do when I’ve just woken up and what I can do when I’ve had a full day is worlds apart. Getting up with that fresh energy – you can’t beat it.

I like cardio less in my 30s, I think. It’s just kind of become less and less of my thing. I like my bigger stature, and as soon as I do too much cardio I get too slim. It’s a tough balance for me because I like to be strong. I like to at least be able to work out with 140kg off my chest bench. As soon as I start slipping from that, I know I need to eat more and get back on it. I’m trying to be the best version of myself.

GQ: Does working out in the morning help stimulate your creativity for the rest of the day?

I think I would have good ideas if I didn’t work out. But it’s important for your mental health. And the better you feel, the more proactive you can be. When I work out, I feel really good for the day.

GQ: Do you take off days?

I try to tell myself to work out every day and then the off days end up just end up happening because of circumstance. But I usually at least end up working out five to six times a week.

GQ: Do you work out with a trainer?

I work out with my cousin, who acts as a trainer. We have this really competitive relationship, so it works well for me. When I work with other trainers, I just don’t get the best out of myself. He pushes me hard. When he goes hard, I’m gonna go harder, and vice versa, so it ends up being the best kind of workout. And the most fun.

GQ: Last year, you posted a video of yourself pulling a car on Instagram. What kinds of workouts do you do when you get bored with cardio or weightlifting?

I like to have fun and do different things, whether it’s beach workouts or running soccer routes. I love boxing. I love pulling shit. Lifting carts, all kinds of like weird things, especially being at home, where

I can be a lot more creative. I have an eight-seater golf cart that I do deadlifts with. And I pull a Jeep. Those are more like speciality days, which are even more fun. But

I box regularly, and I lift weights every day.

GQ: What do you eat to fuel all these sessions?

My diet changes pretty often. I’ve done everything under the sun. I used to blend my salmon and have a salmon shake. I did all kinds of crazy shit. Sometimes I would literally just eat loads of eggs.

Eggs and veggies. I went vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian. What works the best for me is when I intermittent fast and just do a high protein diet.

Right now, I’m doing mostly protein and intermittent fasting.

I’m cutting back a little bit because I kind of went off the rails, just really enjoying quarantine [laughs].

I was living frivolously for a couple of weeks. I’m doing a bone broth soup that has a bunch of veggies and beans and all the essentials, and is just packed with protein. And then one other solid meal, maybe grilled salmon or grilled chicken and veggies.

My diet ain’t about taste. I mean, it’s cool, but, like… it’s broth. It’s not like having a burger or anything in that good world. I would much rather just eat fries.

GQ: Do you have designated days for burgers and fries?

I stay pretty strict and then if I really want something I’ll just have it. I try to follow a diet that’s about a lifestyle as opposed to a time. Unless there’s something coming up that I need to be shredded for. I’m about to shoot something from this character that I just created, so I really want to shred up right now. I’m going pretty hard, which I’ll probably do for about two weeks.

‘I like to have fun and do different things. I love pulling shit. I pull a Jeep. Those are my speciality days’

GQ: Every time you gain a million Tiktok followers, you make a Milli Meal. How do you dream those up?

I just create them off the top of my head. Crazy ass desserts that I would’ve loved to have as a kid, that we all could be, like, ‘Holy shit… I wonder if that’s good or not.’

I’ll take a couple of spoonfuls of them, maybe three or four, depending on how good it is. Sometimes I can’t stop. They’re just so full of sugar, so I can’t go too crazy. If I’m going to cook a

Milli Meal I’m intermittent fasting, making sure my kilojoules are low for that day.

I don’t know that I could ramp up my workouts anymore, so it’s just about keeping track of my kilojoules. If I know I’m doing a Milli Meal, I keep it really strict that day.

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