Believe it or not, this is a photo of rapper Missy Elliot. She looks completely different than she did last year. Missy tweeted this picture backstage at the Alexander Wang H&M launch shot in NYC. She’s wearing a baggy sweatshirt, but there’s no disguising that slimmer frame. Look at her smile! She’s having a blast.
The Mail says Missy has lost 70 pounds over the past year, which is a dramatic difference. Missy does suffer from Graves’ disease, and one of the side effects can be weight loss. But she’s been battling the autoimmune condition since 2008, and the slimdown is recent. This weight loss seems like it’s a result of diet and exercise. Then again, I could be wrong. One of my friends has the same condition, and he lost tons of weight immediately before diagnosis. He thinks Missy lost this weight by working it at the gym. Every case is different though. Thyroid conditions are very complicated.
E! Online points out that Missy hasn’t revealed her weight loss method. Yet. Timbaland recently teased a new Missy album, so maybe she’ll talk about it soon. She once revealed to People (in 2011) that she took medication for a few years but stopped taking the pills. She decded to “completely manage the condition through diet and exercise. That’s understandable. Thyroid meds have so many side effects.
Here’s a photo of Missy in 2013, plus some more pics of her in 2010 and 2007.
Photos courtesy of Missy Elliot on Twitter & WENN
Whoah! She looks at least a decade younger. Good for her; this probably makes Graves a lot easier to fight, and I’m sure she’s enjoying the added energy.
Why would weight loss make Graves “easier to fight”? Do you have Graves’ disease or know anyone who does?
Your weight has nothing to do with how well you fight Graves. I treated it for twenty years in Nuclear Medicine. I then wound up with it myself and my thyroid is now diagnosed as Hashimotos. I lost a ton of weight before my diagnoses, but now have to eat 1000 calories or less per day just to maintain my weight, plus working out at least 5x a week.
I can’t imagine trying to manage a raging case of graves on their own. Diet won’t do a darned thing, it may help a bit, but Graves’ disease is serious business and synthroid and its ilk are the most prescribed drug in the world. Ignoring this disease is a really big no. Which reminds me, I really need to find a good endocrinologist now that I have moved.
Why the angry answers? None of you know her struggle, each case is different and this may well be helping her. There is more to fighting a disease than medical fact, the mental side is often just as key.
You can’t fight Graves Disease with just diet and exercise. Going untreated can kill you.
She looks greta but all I want to know is when she’s coming back to show the Minajs and Azalias what the word ‘rap’ really means.
YES, please.
I KNOW!
THIS.
Word!
YES!
Totally agree! +1.
+10000000000
THIS.
A-freaking-men!
A+ comment
+1
You said a mouthful!! That would be awesome!
Indeed!! Who cares about her weight?! The music industry needs Missy back!
Yes!
Amen gurl!!
Hells yah!
Fudge yeah I hope so!!
Good for her and her health. But all I can see is “big head syndrome”. I have the same with Jennifer Hudson and the others who were naturally fat and then lost a lot of weight.
Lol, I think the same when I see Jennifer Hudson! I’m wondering if that hat is causing Missy’s head to look bigger though.
Reminds me of the debates we used to have about Luther Vandross, i.e., who sounds better Big Luther or Skinny Luther (as if he were two different people).
Glad she is doing well and can’t wait until she puts out some new music. Now, if only Lauryn Hill could make a sustainable comeback . . . all would be right with the world.😄😊
Love Lauryn. That would be amazing.
I don’t see a big head. I just see a big hat.
She lost only 30, and by doing Shaun T.’s T25:
https://mobile.twitter.com/MissyElliott/status/523686363338911744
Very skeptical of ANY celebrity who claims it was all due to “diet and exercise.” This tweet just sounds like an advertisement.
Eh, after having done several of Shaun T’s workouts, I can attest that they really change your body. Whether or not it was ALL T25 + diet, I don’t know – but I know it’s best to report on what she actually said she lost and did than quote a tabloid with incorrect info.
I’ve done several rounds of Insanity and the difference is beyond anything I’ve ever achieved through diet and constant exercise at the gym. it’s a total transformation and i can believe that it really has changed her body a lot especially if she committed to the diet plan and exercised as per the workout schedule. Shaun T changes lives lol
He does! I haven’t done it (too much lol) but my friend lost loads of weight doing it. She barely managed a few minutes at the start but now she’s a workout maniac and ripped! Another friend who is naturally slender just wanted to tone up. With Shaun T, she did it in less than a month and had to go from 5 to 2 workouts a week because she was getting too muscular. And this was somebody who was already hitting the gym regularly. I would advertise Shaun T based on my friend’s experiences alone.
Oooooh – I’ve done one round of Insanity, but alas stopped and put on weight again… I loved it though, and I’m planning on working my way up to it again (via good old Jillian and 30 Day Shred).
Yup, lost 30 pounds in two rounds. No diet other than eating healthy and a little indulging every now and then. Feel freaking amazing too. My body looks like I lost more.
Just a quick public service announcement: not all thyroid conditions can be managed without medication. It’s not just about your weight or metabolism – your thyroid manufactures important hormones that regulate your entire system. If your thyroid is no longer making those hormones, you will need to take medication that simulates them. Diet and exercise won’t make up for that. If I were to stop taking my medication, I’d be dead in a week.
Depends on her condition.
For example. People with epilepsy. Some need medication. Others can manage all symptoms and keep it under control through only diet.
And i’m thinking she is on meds. Something to assist. Like how some without depression are given antipsychotics for many diseases/disorders.
I have under active thyroid and epilepsy and am on medication for both. Epilepsy is a neurological condition caused by a certain type of electric activity in the brain , I know of no way that diet can control it. Thank god for the right tablets…
Epilepsy isn’t a thyroid condition.
@ MSat
Me too. Although, if I stopped taking my thyroxin I would die, quite slowly and quite horribly. Certainly in my case the disease is kept under control by diet, exercise and medication.
Thank you, MSat! I wanted to say just that. Missy Elliott is such a public figure too…I hope she doesn’t proclaim “diet and exercise” the cure all for thyroid issues, because then many of her fans who dislike the side effects of their medications might stop taking theirs too.
Oops! I posted something similar below – my Synthroid has allowed me to lead a normal and healthy life for 34 years (my hypothyroidism is congenital). Definitely wouldn’t be here without my meds, nor could I ever go off them.
This.
I was going to write the same thing.
My thiroid does not work (hello Hashimoto disease!) at all, I have to take medications every day.
Since I’ve started my therapy my life has totally changed for the better, but it’s very tricky to find the perfect balance. And without my meds I wouldn’t even be able to wakeup in the morning.
I had thyroid cancer back in 2011. Two surgeries and radiation later my weight was going up despite all my efforts and I was extremely frustrated.
I did my research and I am on a combination of prescription medications as well as supplements which have helped me greatly.
Everyone is different I guess.
It’s good to see her happy and healthy but I know she had her thyroid removed with radiation and I wonder how she functions without those hormones.
If she’s happy, I am happy. Fan for life, I LOVE YOU MISSY!
She looks beautiful, but that smile looks forced.
Not shade. My smiles look forced too. But mine are. I’m not miserable, I just don’t like smiling on demand for photos.
I thought she had some kind of procedure to help her lose weight years ago. Maybe it didn’t take.
I hate her pants. Hate everything about them. But good for her. She looks happy and healthy. So many illnesses can be managed with diet and exercise. Not always treated, but managed.
Looking good Missy!
She looks great. Now, I want that cap.
Just chiming in on the thyroid meds – yes, some may have side effects, but the one I take (and have taken for all my 34 years) made/makes it so that I can live a normal, healthy life.
Oh my god, I couldn’t recognize her at all..
she looks like a totally different person, i wouldn’t have recognized her without a caption.
good for her – hope she’s happy and healthy.
My queen looks fabulous at any size!!! I ADORE Missy. Please let the new album be out soon-I need some new motivation for my runs! As long as she is happy and healthy and making music it’s all good.
It kind of bugs me that E! thinks she needs to reveal her weight loss method. Missy Elliott is genuinely, amazingly talented, and while I hope that she’s healthy and happy, talk like that reduces her to just a number on the scale.
+1 Glad I wasn’t the first person to mention it or think it 🙂
I have a low thyroid. When I went on booster, I lost 90 pounds in less than a year without trying. When I lost my insurance, I gained back 100 in a year after going off the booster. Perhaps she’s on dessicated medicine now. Hope she feels better.
I love Missy’s music, but I’m reminded of a line in a song she did after she lost some weight several years ago, “…lost a few pounds fo’ yaaa…” I always think to myself, Aw, Missy. Do it for you! I hope she wasn’t pressured by the industry to lose weight for record sales.
If she has graves (over active thyroid) and stopped her meds then losing weight would be an immediate effect. You can’ manage that through ‘diet and exersize’.