You’ve seen the photos. One month, Selena Gomez is on a red carpet looking "fuller," and the internet loses its collective mind. Fast forward to the 2024 Emmy Awards or her recent 2025 public appearances, and suddenly she’s "snatched." The side-by-side comparisons are everywhere.
But here’s the thing: the Selena Gomez before and after weight loss narrative isn’t a simple story of hitting the gym and eating salads. It’s actually a medical timeline masquerading as a fitness journey.
Honestly, the obsession with her body is kinda exhausting. For most people, weight loss is about calories. For Selena, it’s about survival, steroids, and a kidney that isn't hers.
The Lupus Factor: Why the Scale Lies
Most people don't realize that Selena’s "before" wasn’t about being "out of shape." She was diagnosed with Lupus in 2014, an autoimmune disease where your body basically goes to war with itself. This led to her life-saving kidney transplant in 2017.
When you have Lupus, you’re often on medications like prednisone. If you’ve ever taken steroids, you know. They make you hold water like a sponge. Your face gets rounder—often called "moon face"—and the weight comes on fast.
"When I'm taking [the medication], I tend to hold a lot of water weight, and that happens very normally. When I'm off of it, I tend to lose weight," she shared in a TikTok Live.
She isn't choosing to "gain weight" any more than she’s choosing to have a flare-up. When her Lupus is active or her medication dosage is high, she looks different. When the disease is in remission and the meds are tapered down, the "weight loss" happens naturally. It’s not a miracle. It’s a biological shift.
The 2024-2025 Transformation: Is It Ozempic?
By late 2024 and heading into 2025, the rumors hit a fever pitch. People saw her slimmer frame and immediately jumped to the "O" word. Everyone’s on Ozempic these days, right?
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Well, Selena has been pretty blunt about this. She’s credited her recent look to a combination of "boring habits" and fine-tuning her medical regimen with her doctors. She’s been working with a trainer on low-impact movement—think Pilates and light strength training—rather than punishing HIIT workouts that can actually trigger an inflammatory response in people with autoimmune conditions.
What Her Routine Actually Looks Like Now
- Consistent Pilates: It builds core strength without the joint stress of running.
- Anti-Inflammatory Eating: Focus on salmon, turkey, and leafy greens. Basically, things that don't make her Lupus flare up.
- Mental Health First: She’s been open about Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). When the brain is stable, the body follows.
- The "No-Scale" Rule: She’s gone on record saying she doesn't weigh herself. Her measure of success is her energy levels, not a number.
The Emotional Toll of the Public Eye
Can you imagine having your inflammatory flares tracked by paparazzi? It’s wild. Selena has admitted that the comments make her "a tad bitter." And who can blame her? She’s navigating a chronic illness while the world treats her body like a "before and after" marketing campaign.
Her weight shift—reportedly around 30 pounds depending on which tabloid you believe—isn't just a physical change. It’s a sign of a woman who has finally found a medical balance that works. It’s about her kidneys functioning, her inflammation staying low, and her mental health being protected.
The real "after" isn't her being skinny. It’s her being healthy enough to work on Only Murders in the Building, run Rare Beauty, and actually enjoy her life with Benny Blanco without being stuck in a hospital bed.
What We Can Actually Learn from Her
If you’re looking at Selena for inspiration, don't look at the dress size. Look at the boundaries.
- Prioritize Health over Aesthetics: If a medication keeps you alive but makes you puffy, take the medication. Period.
- Understand Your "Why": Selena’s movement is about stamina for her job, not burning off a cookie.
- Audit Your Feed: She stayed off social media for years to protect her peace. If looking at "perfect" bodies makes you feel like trash, hit unfollow.
- Listen to Your Body's Seasons: Some months you'll have the energy for a gym session. Some months, a walk to the mailbox is a win. Both are okay.
The Selena Gomez before and after weight loss story is really just a story of a human being doing her best to manage a complex illness in front of a billion people. Let’s stop looking for the "secret" and start respecting the struggle.
If you want to support your own body similarly, start by focusing on anti-inflammatory habits like consistent sleep and hydrating, rather than chasing a rapid "transformation."