“Mama June” Shannon transformed From Not to Hot, and she has no plans of going back.
The former Here Comes Honey Boo Boo matriarch embarked on a 300-pound weight loss journey in 2016 and despite the challenges, she plans to stay committed to maintaining her goal weight.
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“People think that I’m going to gain the weight back,” Shannon told In Touch. “But hello, I’ve almost been at this [weight] for a year and a half and I’m not gaining.”
The 38-year-old admits her weight fluctuates from the size 4 she achieved to slip into her red revenge dress for ex-husband Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson’s wedding, she vows never to be obese again.
“My current weight is like 165 to 170,” she said. “I just try to watch what I eat and exercise when I can. I don’t ever want to go back.”
Shannon admitted relied on the help of doctors to achieve her dramatic transformation, which was chronicled on her WE tv reality show, Mama June: From Not to Hot. In addition to working with a trainer and nutrition expert Kenya Crooks, Shannon underwent a gastric sleeve surgery in 2015.
She previously told PEOPLE she learned the hard way that portion control is essential after having a surgery like the gastric sleeve.
“I’m not going to lie to you: I have thrown up, because you can’t over eat with the gastric sleeve,” she said. “That’s not a thing that I recommend to somebody. You realize what you can and can’t do, and when you do it that one time, you don’t do it again.”
After shedding a significant amount of weight from her once 460-pound body, Shannon completed her look with a breast augmentation and skin removal surgery on her “turkey neck,” “bat wings” and stomach — where a combined total 9 pounds of skin was removed.
While plastic surgery played a significant role in her journey, Shannon says “hell no” to going under the knife for more elective procedures.
“I did what I wanted to do and that’s it!” she told In Touch. The reality TV personality has some serious complications and healing setbacks from her procedures, so she plans to keep her new figure the old-fashioned way.
“It’s all about portion control for me,” Shannon said. “It’s not easy to eat like you’re ‘supposed to’ and hit the gym all the time, but I’m just trying to maintain it the best I can.”
Among one of her secrets to success is hitting snooze on the morning alarm. Shannon admitted that she sometimes sleeps until 1 p.m., which helps her skip breakfast and avoid overeating.
She also admitted she loves to snack throughout the day, relying on grapes and cheese as a healthy option. The healthy choices continue into dinner, too, when she makes healthy meals like “baked chicken and quinoa.”
Following her weight loss, Shannon hasn’t been shy about sharing her size 4 figure, flaunting it on the red carpet and in lingerie for photoshoots. The mom has also slipped out of her role as pageant mom to daughter Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and has enrolled herself in an adult pageant.
Watch her journey unfold on season two of Mama June: From Not to Hot, airing Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on WE tv.
