Eminem Weight Loss: How Did The Rapper Lose 81 Pounds After Overdose? [Photo]

At his heaviest weight, rapper Eminem, 42, ballooned to about 230 pounds. That was in 2007, a time when the award-winner artist was also highly addicted to Vicodin and Valium.

He told Men's Journal in its September 2015 issue that he believes his weight gain was due to the pills. "The coating on the Vicodin and the Valium I'd been taking for years leaves a hole in your stomach, so to avoid a stomachache, I was constantly eating — and eating badly."

Then he overdosed. "When I got out of rehab, I needed to lose weight, but I also needed to figure out a way to function sober," he said in the interview. "So I started running. It gave me a natural endorphin high, but it also helped me sleep, so it was perfect."

His addiction to pills turned to an addiction to running. "I think I got a little carried away. I became a fucking hamster. Seventeen miles a day on a treadmill."

From running, Eminem, who is Marshall Bruce Mathers III in real life, also became conscious of his calorie intake, burning at least 2,000 calories daily. Not long after that, he weighed 149 pounds.

The constant running, however, caused some injuries, as the rapper tore his hip flexors. Deciding to scale down, Eminem turned to "Insanity" workout DVDs by Shaun T. "When I first started the Insanity workout, I alternated my routine, running one day and doing the Insanity the other. Then I stopped running altogether because it was too much to do them both. The Insanity won."

The "Slim Shady" hitmaker was a gym buff before the addiction got the best of him in his early days. He also trained with American boxer, Emanuel Steward, but he admitted he was not motivated then due to drugs and alcohol.

In 2009, the rapper admitted to his addiction during an interview with Vibe Magazine. He said that he got hooked on Valium, Ambien and methadone. "My doctor told me the amount of methadone I'd taken was equivalent to shooting up four bags of heroin. Even when they told me I almost died, it didn't click," he told Vibe, according to MTV.

In overcoming his weight problems today, Eminem also battled his addiction, which made his efforts to be physically fit a success.

"Once you're at a place where you've made progress and you've got some time invested in it," the rapper says, "you don't wanna quit and give up what you started."