Backstreet Boys singer AJ McLean reveals he has lost 27lbs in just eight months

Backstreet Boys star AJ McLean has embarked on a fitness journey and managed to lose a whopping 27lbs in eight months.

He began focusing on his health more when he competed on Dancing With The Stars approximately two years ago, he told People.

‘I was doing a TV show in South Africa this past February. So between February and now, I’ve lost 27 lbs,’ the 44-year-old revealed in a new interview.

AJ was in South Africa to film the competition reality show The Fashion Hero: A New Kind Of Beautiful, where he was serving as the host.

He reflected to People that ‘the health kick started’ for him on Dancing With The Stars, which he began competing on in September 2020.

‘Then the holidays came, and obviously everyone goes a little harder during the holidays and whatever, and doesn’t exactly stick to a diet,’ he confessed.

Eventually, however, he was able to return to his fitness routine – and he is determined to stick to it now.

‘And once you get into a routine, and you start to see results and you start to feel better, you sleep better, your mental state of mind is better, your focus is better. You just want to keep that up. You don’t want to go backwards,’ he shared.

AJ even got a cosmetic procedure that tightened up the loose skin from his weight loss with a combination of liposuction and radiofrequency waves.

Lately he has been on tour with the Backstreet Boys, and the grueling physical exertions he goes through onstage have also helped him retain his figure.

‘I’m not saying we’re Michael Jordan or we’re Tom Brady, but we are like athletes,’ argued AJ, who is currently on Europe doing road gigs with the band.

He compared ‘what we put our bodies through’ onstage to ‘what athletes go through during a season, or during a preseason. And on top of that we’re singing.’

AJ has had a rollercoaster relationship with alcohol, having gone to rehab multiple times over the past couple of decades, but he is now over a year sober

While appearing on the Today show last month, he recalled: ‘Drinking caused weight gain, but it also weighed down my mental state.’ 

At the start of September he posted an Instagram collage showing his impressive progress from his previous ‘dadbod’ to his current sculpted physique.

‘Found the pic on the left from a year ago on vacation and wow it’s amazing what a little dedication and setting goals can do for a person,’ he wrote. ‘The journey is far from over though. This is just the beginning!’