‘The Pioneer Woman’ Ree Drummond Reveals How She Got Healthy This Year While Eating Her Famous Recipes: ‘Skinny Is Not My Goal’

Ree Drummond has been enjoying a year of healthy living with plenty of healthier habits, mindful eating, and exercise. As a result of making these changes, The Pioneer Woman star also lost 48 pounds. Drummond shared the secret of her healthy success with fans in a fun TikTok rundown of all of her do’s and don’ts.

Drummond has been filling her TikTok account with an equal mix of recipe demonstrations and fun Q&A moments and her Sept. 8 TikTok video had The Pioneer Woman star explaining how she has been getting healthy this year.

The Food Network host posted her latest health update, playfully noting in the caption, “Follow me for more 52-year-old redhead cooking show host fitness tips. j/k don’t, but here’s what has worked for me!”

“It’s been a little while but I’ve been getting healthy this year and I thought I’d give you an update,” Drummond explained. “I’ve lost 48 pounds (since January) and here’s how I tackled it.”

Drummond’s voiceover explained what she’s been up to while she pointed out some of the highlights:

• Calories & portions: “I paid attention to calories and portion size.”
• Higher protein percentage (35%): “I ate more protein every day.”
• Exercised and built muscle: “And I exercised and built muscle and overall I paid attention to just moving more.”

“Now here’s what I did not do,” she continued. “Keto, paleo, intermittent fasting … listen, those things work for a lot of people but they just stopped working for me after a while.” The caption added, “no special foods” and “no fad diets,” which she gave the thumbs down sign to.

Drummond continued, “On the exercise front, I did the rowing machine probably five days a week, I went on long walks with my dogs, and again I built muscle in my legs and butt, which are the biggest muscles and burn the most calories (hand weights, lunges, squats, straight leg deadlifts … pilates too!).”

While the screen caption read “I feel so much stronger,” Drummond admitted, “Honestly, I didn’t expect to feel this good at age 52 but I’m loving it. And while skinny is not my goal, I’m glad my jeans fit better.”

Many of Drummond’s fans felt inspired by The Pioneer Woman star’s healthy journey, with one person commenting, “You look fantastic! I need to follow your lead and get healthy! Thank you for the inspiration!”

One fan wondered if Drummond was able to see these results by eating her Pioneer Woman recipes. “Yessss, I did (eat Pioneer Woman food)! Just balanced it with exercise and kept portions reasonable,” she explained. “A Rhode Island size piece of chocolate sheet cake rather than Texas.”

There were plenty of comments about how “amazing,” “fabulous,” “fantastic,” and “glowing” Drummond is looking these days. “You look amazing!,” one fan commented. “I’m 53 and am struggling due to menopause. Thanks for the inspiration.”

The Pioneer Woman star admitted, “It’s definitely not as easy as when we were in our 20s and 30s, is it? The weights/muscle building really made a difference for me over time.”

When a follower said they had adopted healthier changes in their life except for counting calories, Drummond shared that she only counted calories the first four months. “I really needed to get a grip on what I was eating,” she wrote. “But don’t really do it regularly anymore.”

Another fan thanked Drummond “for promoting a healthy approach and focusing on sustainable lifestyle adjustments.”