Ed Sheeran Details 50-Pound Weight Loss, Talks Being Pressured by Trolls

Ed Sheeran at Nordoff Robbins O2 Silver Clef Awards on July 5, 2019 in London, England. JM Enternational/Shutterstock

The shape of Ed! Ed Sheeran revealed his recent weight loss was partly due to "external pressure" he felt from the public to look like other male singers.

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The "Shape of You" singer detailed his 50-pound weight loss in a "Behind the Medal" podcast interview that was posted in December and revealed how he first got into running.

"I didn't run, I didn't even touch exercise for a long time," Sheeran, 28, told the podcast hosts Gary Damer and Dean Smith in the September interview that was released on December 20.

He noted that he used to play sports but once he started music and smoking, he stopped working out. He's now three years smoke-free, which lines up with when he started to work out again. "I started just to clean my lungs out," he explained.

In the beginning, the British singer explained that he would "literally run for three songs" and then he'd be done. "Now, I do, like, 45 minutes in the morning and then maybe have a swim or [do] sit-ups," he said.

The singer would eventually like to do a marathon now that he's healthier and enjoys running. "I think it's all about training," he said. "I think for me it would be doing a 10k first." If he were to start training, he noted, "I would have to do it somewhere where a lot of people aren't watching."

Ed Sheeran at The NRJ Music Awards on November 7, 2015 in Cannes, France. Laurent Vu/NMA2016/SIPA/Shutterstock Celebrity Runners: Stars Who Jog for Fitness

When on tour, the "Put It All on Me" crooner doesn't have as easy of a time maintaining his weight and workout regimen, however. "I had to make a real effort on this tour," Sheeran explained on the podcast. On the Multiply Tour he said he "ballooned" and it's all thanks to the food in the U.S.

"It's always America that gets me. America in buses," the "Perfect" singer admitted. "You finish a gig in America [and] you get a tray of chicken wings, sit in the back of the bus, watch The Simpsons, drink a couple bottles of wine. Then that's every single day so it just piles on you."

Before he got into running and cycling, the "Beautiful People" musician — who married Cherry Seaborn in 2018 — revealed that he didn't think too deeply about his size, until other people started to compare him to his fellow male musicians.

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"Whenever I've been big, there's always online trolls or newspapers or comments," the musician said. "In terms of actual pressure, internal pressure of, like, of record labels being, like, you have to be slimmer, no. The music industry is music first and then image second. I think there's definitely a lot of external pressures. You kind of get it in your head that you need to look like everyone else."

He added:  "I never once had any insecurities really about myself until people pointed them out."