Usher has more confessions: He doesn’t eat on Wednesdays.
In a recent interview with WSJ Magazine, the award-winning artist dished on his wellness routine, including why he fasts on Wednesdays and why yoga is his jam.
“I fast, not for religious purposes, but it’s something my grandmother practiced,” Usher told the outlet. “I fast on Wednesdays. I typically try to start around 11 p.m. the previous day, then go the entire day on Wednesday just drinking water.”
And if you’ve ever wondered how Usher takes his eggs in the morning, the “Good Good” singer has an answer.
When it’s not Wednesday, “I sometimes eat eggs scrambled with cheese. For the most part, I like them poached or over easy.”
As for coffee, “It all depends on how I ended my night before. Sometimes a coffee martini is appropriate,” joked Usher, who’ll receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 BET Awards on Sunday, June 30.
“Typically, I wake up and drink celery juice. I’ve been doing this concoction of lemon, ginger, water and cayenne pepper. I drink it hot.”
Mornings are also Usher’s favorite time to have a “moment of reflection” and prioritize his well-being. “I try to wake up early enough to have a moment of reflection. Some days, I may grab a book and read to stimulate my mind. I may sit quietly and meditate.”
The eight-time Grammy-winning artist also incorporates fasting into his exercise routine. When his fitness routine is all physical, Usher waits until after he’s completed his workout to have a meal.
“I don’t like to eat breakfast before I’ve worked out or done something physical,” he said. “Taking a walk, stretching or doing yoga, sitting in the sun, and raising my body’s natural heat levels. Then I eat.”
When he does “make his move” into his workout regimen, Usher mixes it up with low-impact activities.
“Normally, my workout regimen starts with either walking or with certain knee activations and reverse walking that I do to really engage my quads, my knees, and glutes,” Usher shared.
“Other than that, swimming is a really good thing to get me going, and bike riding. Weightlifting, don’t do a lot of that.”
One frequent practice, though, is yoga. “It really does help to activate my organs and get my mind moving in the right direction—as Tony Robbins would say, ‘make my move,’ you know what I mean,” he added.
But Usher isn’t the only star letting it burn.
In 2022, Marvel’s Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani shocked fans with an almost unbelievable transformation. And while a solid fitness routine was his secret, Nanjiani credited intermittent fasting for his impressive weight loss.
“I do an 18/6 fast day,” he told Men’s Health at the time.
“So, I won’t eat for eighteen hours, and then I’ll compress everything into six hours of the day. If I’m doing that, then I don’t eat breakfast.”
In 2023, actress Rachel Wilson talked about the benefits of dancing, saying: “I’ve been doing a lot of dancing in my apartment. I’ll turn on some music and just go. Sometimes, it’s more structured, and sometimes, it’s interpretive. Sometimes, I twerk. Also hiking!”
Other celebrities, such as Kourtney Kardashian and Chris Pratt, have also shared their fasting routines.
“Intermittent fasting is probably the most effective technique I’ve ever discovered,” celebrity trainer Jorge Cruise told ET in 2018. “It’s the hottest thing in Hollywood.”
