Jackée Harry is as well-known for her groundbreaking work on shows like 227 and The Women of Brewster Place as she is for maintaining her sculpted physique well into her 60s.
The first Black woman to win an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, there’s no shortage of interviews in which Harry discusses her successful acting career. She’s less forthcoming when it comes to her fitness regimen, however. Though her career spans several decades, Harry has discussed her secrets to managing her weight only once, in a 1997 interview with The Los Angeles Times.
How has Jackée Harry maintained her physique?
Harry shared the fitness plan she follows to “maintain her size 10 figure” for the newspaper’s column on celebrity workouts. Disparaging comments about her appearance aside, Harry’s workout and diet hold up well over two decades later. She takes a more balanced and nutritional approach when it comes to her meals, choosing tuna, Caesar salads, or fish for her lunches. Dinners are “lots of greens,” rice, and different meats for protein. “And I will splurge at lunch more than at night,” she told the publication.
That approach may work for Harry, but experts disagree on whether eating a bigger lunch leads to significant weight loss. Most do agree that eating bigger meals late in the evening isn’t good for anyone, dieting or not. A piece from the Washington Post refers to a study positing that humans crave filling food at night as it was once more beneficial to store energy for the next day, but that eating late is no longer beneficial in modern society.
Patrick Okolo III, Executive Medical Director and Chief of Gastroenterology at Rochester Regional Health, told Huffpost that a large dinner can lead to sleep issues, acid reflux, and unwanted fat tissue. A 2022 Cell study found that eating a bigger breakfast or lunch did not lead to more weight loss in its subjects, but it did lead to participants feeling less hungry throughout the day, potentially aiding with weight loss.
Harry also shared the two things she credits to staying fit. “Lots of water. Water does great things for my skin. Also, my biggest thing that I haven’t told you is I take naps. I’ll take one at 11 when we have a break in the morning at the studio and then around 3. That’s my biggest secret. Water and naps.”
Of course, water and naps alone aren’t going to tone your muscles like a good workout routine. “I get on the floor and do sit-ups, crunches, leg lifts. The bottom is easy for me because of my dance background.” She admitted to struggling with working out her upper half, but finds switching between five-pound and eight-pound weights effective for achieving her goals. Harry isn’t opposed to taking supplements to aid her workouts, like fat burners or pills advertising increased fat loss. A supplement promising quick weight loss is tempting, but it’s important to note that there is little evidence that fat burner pills are effective.
Harry’s weight rarely fluctuates, but fans have noticed she appears particularly svelte as of late. “How do you look better than you did in your 20s???? We need an answer,” writes one Instagram follower. That answer, some commenters suggest, is Ozempic. Ozempic, and medications like it, has become ubiquitous in conversations about celebrity weight loss, but not every celebrity admits to taking it. Whether or not she’s on weight loss medications, Harry is stunning at any weight.