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JoJo Reveals The Dangerous Diet That Had Her ‘Injecting’ Herself

Her previous employer asked her to ‘lose weight fast’

JoJo was only 13 when “Leave (Get Out)” skyrocketed her to fame. But as the years went on, that success came with a dark side.

“I was under a lot of pressure from a company that I was previously working with,” JoJo revealed on Thursday’s episode of PopSugar’s “Pretty Unfiltered” web series. “They wanted me to lose weight fast. So they got me with a nutritionist and had me on all these supplements and like, I was injecting myself. This is a common things that girls do.”

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The injections, she explained, tricked her body into believing it didn’t need a healthy amount of calories to function. She ate around 500 calories per day, far less than the recommended 1500 to 2500 per day. (The exact amount varies depending on your age, sex, height, and weight.)

“This was the most unhealthy thing I had ever done, and then I gained all the weight back. I felt terrible about myself, and I was upset that I even subscribed to the standard that they wanted me to be at.”

She was worried that if she didn’t lose weight, her record label wouldn’t put out her album. “It didn’t [come out anyway], so it's not like it even worked.”

Nearly seven years later, JoJo’s recovered from the “damage” that “weird diet” caused her, saying she’s gotten “a lot more comfortable” with herself. Now 25, she’s joining Fifth Harmony on their upcoming 7/27 tour, releasing new music, and working on a third record under a new label.

“Being strong physically, mentally, emotionally is really what I love,” she said. Listen to JoJo describe her healing process below:

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