When it comes to slimming down, Cynthia Bailey prefers doing things the old fashioned way.
In fact, The Real Housewives of Atlanta star revealed she recently began a weight-loss journey after putting on a few extra unwanted pounds last year.
"I don't know if it was the stress of shooting season 16 of Housewives that had me eating everything that I could find and definitely drinking everything I could find," Cynthia exclusively told E! News cohost Justin Sylvester. "I gained a lot of happy weight. I've been in a relationship for the past 10 months now and I started not to be able to fit in my clothes anymore. I'm on the other side of menopause. It's like a lot of reasons." (Watch E! News tonight, Jan. 15, at 11 p.m. for more of our exclusive sit-down with Cynthia and RHOBH alum Crystal Kung Minkoff.)
Like many of her fellow Bravolebrities, Cynthia first turned to injectable Type II diabetes drugs like Ozempic to kick-start her weight loss.
"I did want to take the shot initially because all my friends look great on the shot without question," the 57-year-old admitted. "I tried it for a month. Honestly, for me, it didn't work because I still like food and I found I just had no interest in food. Food is like something that I enjoy and I just didn't like the way it made me feel."
But despite not being fond of the drug's effects, Cynthia holds no judgment towards anyone using the appetite-suppressing medication for weight loss.
"Shout out to everybody else that is thriving on, Ozempic, semaglutide, whatever," she continued. "But for me it did not. I didn't enjoy it because when I get my crab cake and my salad and my oysters and my BBQ ribs, I want to enjoy it. I was just literally looking at the food like, 'What is this? What am I supposed to do with this?'"
Plus, the former super model noted, "I didn't want to have to depend on the shot. If I decided I didn't want to be on it, I didn't want to gain the weight back."
So, she turned to a more traditional method of getting into shape.
"I actually reached out to WeightWatchers because I needed a support system to help me," Cynthia shared, "because I couldn’t do it by myself. I kept trying to do it by myself, but it just wasn't working. So it's been great working with them and I'm actually 10 pounds lighter already."
In the end, it's not just about a number on a scale for the reality star
"As a woman of a certain age, health is always a priority for me and a focus for me," Cynthia told E!. "I said, 'This is not my healthy weight. Let me scale it back down and get back to the weight that I feel comfortable.' Although I do have these supermodel cheekbones still, I'm not trying to be skinny. I just want to get back into my clothes."
Watch E! News tonight, Jan. 15, at 11 p.m. to hear more about Cynthia's journey and to get all the scoop on her and Crystal's newly launched podcast Humble Brag, available wherever you get your podcasts.
And keep reading to see more stars who have weighed in on the Ozempic weight-loss trend.
