UPHILL BATTLE

Country Star Reveals Secret Reason for 30-Pound Slimdown

The singer headed up the mountain to prove a point.

Country music superstar Luke Combs headed into the Utah mountains with unfinished business—and 30 fewer pounds weighing him down.

The “Beer Never Broke My Heart” singer revealed his dramatic slimdown in a hunting vlog uploaded Sunday to the Leupold Optics YouTube page, where he joined hunter Jason Phelps in pursuit of his first mature bull elk.

“I’m down 30 pounds since last time,” Combs said, joking, “Probably can’t tell because the camera adds 30 pounds.”

The 36-year-old said getting healthier was the main goal, but preparing for the demanding hunt had become one of his biggest motivators.

“I got up and down with the guys in New Mexico last year enough to get by,” he said. “I can always be better, I feel like. But I just really wanted to be able to hold my own out here.”

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That New Mexico trip had left Combs with some “unfinished business.” It was his first elk hunt, and although he had opportunities, he returned home without filling his tag.

This time, he wanted to finish the job—and he did.

After passing on smaller animals, Combs eventually took a mature six-point bull.

The country star was visibly shaken after making the shot.

“I don’t know, man. That’s wild,” he said. “I mean, perfect shot…I can’t believe it.”

Combs then gathered the group for a prayer, thanking God for the day, their friendship, and the animal that would provide meat.

He later FaceTimed his wife, Nicole Combs, to share the news, signing off with, “I love you and I miss you, babe.”

The successful hunt gave Combs a fitting benchmark for a weight-loss journey he has talked about publicly for years.

After becoming a father for the first time in 2022, the “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” singer said his priorities shifted.

“This having a kid thing has really messed up my head on this thing in the best way,” he told Zane Lowe on Apple Music that year. “I want to be around, dude.”

Combs has also been candid about struggling with his weight since childhood.

“I think my physical fitness and my appearance and my size has always been something that I struggled with,” he said on The Joe Rogan Experience in 2023, describing it as a “mountain” he kept trying to climb.

But his motivation was not just about the number on the scale.

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“I wanna be runnin’ around the yard with my children,” he said. “I wanna take my son on an elk hunt when he’s 16 years old and hike up a mountain when I’m in my late 40s.”

That goal has only become more personal as his family has grown. Combs and Nicole are now parents to three boys: Tex, Beau, and Chet.

His push to be healthier for them also led him to rethink what he was eating. In 2024, Combs said he went gluten-free after a food sensitivity test showed he had a “really high sensitivity” to gluten.

“Surprisingly, this is the least country thing I’ve ever said: [I’m] gluten-free now,” he told ABC News, adding that eliminating it had “changed my life mentally.”

Still, Combs has repeatedly framed the process as long-term.

“Longevity is the goal,” he told the outlet. “Every day you get to spend with those guys is really fun and tough, and you need to be your best self to take care of them the way that you feel like they deserve to be taken care of.”

Now, 30 pounds down, he has already checked one mountain off the list.

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Tamilore OshikanluContributor

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