--- title: Kate McKinnon Helped Leslie Jones Lose 40 Pounds description: Leslie Jones says she's lost 40 lbs. in the last year by watching her diet and kicking up her exercise routine. canonical: https://time.com/4474529/leslie-jones-kate-mckinnon-weight-loss/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-31T17:19:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:16.736Z og:title: Kate McKinnon Helped Leslie Jones Lose 40 Pounds og:description: Jones says her Ghostbusters and SNL co-star made her walk to every dinner date og:url: https://time.com/4474529/leslie-jones-kate-mckinnon-weight-loss/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9a69c1b0dd57f6a/6988a45acf40a8c52ec44a80/leslie-jones-kate-mckinnon-weight-loss-ghostbusters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: ELLE Hosts Women In Comedy Event With July Cover Stars Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon And Kristen Wiig - Inside og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kate McKinnon Helped Leslie Jones Lose 40 Pounds twitter:description: Jones says her Ghostbusters and SNL co-star made her walk to every dinner date twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9a69c1b0dd57f6a/6988a45acf40a8c52ec44a80/leslie-jones-kate-mckinnon-weight-loss-ghostbusters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kate McKinnon Helped Leslie Jones Lose 40 Pounds by [Julie Mazziotta / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Julie Mazziotta / People Contributor Aug 31, 2016 5:19 PM UTC  WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - JUNE 07: Actors Leslie Jones (L) and Kate McKinnon attend ELLE Women In Comedy event hosted by ELLE Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers and Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Kristen Wiig on June 7, 2016 at Hyde Sunset in Los Angeles, California; presented by Secret Deodorant and emceed by Jane Lynch with stand-up performances by Michelle Buteau, Nikki Glaser, Iliza Shlesinger, and Ali Wong. (Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for ELLE) WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - JUNE 07: Actors Leslie Jones (L) and Kate McKinnon attend ELLE Women In Comedy event hosted by ELLE Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers and Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Kristen Wiig on June 7, 2016 at Hyde Sunset in Los Angeles, California; presented by Secret Deodorant and emceed by Jane Lynch with stand-up performances by Michelle Buteau, Nikki Glaser, Iliza Shlesinger, and Ali Wong. (Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for ELLE)Mike Windle—ELLE/Getty Images by [Julie Mazziotta / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Julie Mazziotta / People Contributor Aug 31, 2016 5:19 PM UTC Healthy living is paying off for [Leslie Jones](http://www.people.com/article/leslie-jones-hacked-katy-perry-ellen-degeneres-defend)! The [_Saturday Night Live_](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,MediaProductsTax:TVSaturdayNightLive,00.html) star says she’s lost 40 lbs. in the last year by watching her diet and kicking up her exercise routine. Jones, 48, says it all started after a nudge from her doctor. “The first thing is for your doctor to tell you that you need to lose 40 lbs.,” she told Kelly Ripa after Ripa complimented her shape [on _Live with Kelly_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vPK3V-i3Js) July 12\. “I got rid of soda and juice, that was the first thing I did. That literally was 20 lbs. right there.” Running around in the giant, supernatural-destroying pack she had to wear while filming Ghostbusters, helped, along with the support of her costar Kate McKinnon. “Every time we went to dinner she would make me walk to dinner, we would walk after dinner. And then it just started becoming – I would work out, I would do yoga, I really tried to watch what I eat. It’s not always easy because I do have a sweet tooth that’s a killer. But I do they best that I can.” “Well you look A-MAZ-ING,” Ripa told Jones. Jones [previously told PEOPLE](http://www.people.com/article/leslie-jones-talks-childhood-insecurities) that she struggled to accept her skin color and her 6-ft. height growing up. “People used to call me names so my mom had this beautiful African lady come talk to me. I was like, ‘Oh my God if I’m going to look like you then I don’t care what anyone says about me,’ ” said Jones. And her height wasn’t an issue until she was older – but now she loves it. “I never had a problem with it until I discovered boys,” Jones said. “Then I really became aware of it. It took me a while, but I’m totally into it now. I wear 6-in. heels.” _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/leslie-jones-weight-loss) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4474529/leslie-jones-kate-mckinnon-weight-loss/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4474529/leslie-jones-kate-mckinnon-weight-loss/"},"headline":"Kate McKinnon Helped Leslie Jones Lose 40 Pounds","datePublished":"2016-08-31T17:19:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:16.736Z","description":"Jones says her Ghostbusters and SNL co-star made her walk to every dinner date","url":"https://time.com/4474529/leslie-jones-kate-mckinnon-weight-loss/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9a69c1b0dd57f6a/6988a45acf40a8c52ec44a80/leslie-jones-kate-mckinnon-weight-loss-ghostbusters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julie Mazziotta / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte9a69c1b0dd57f6a/6988a45acf40a8c52ec44a80/leslie-jones-kate-mckinnon-weight-loss-ghostbusters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ELLE Hosts Women In Comedy Event With July Cover Stars Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon And Kristen Wiig - Inside","caption":"ELLE Hosts Women In Comedy Event With July Cover Stars Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon And Kristen Wiig - Inside","creditText":"Mike Windle—ELLE/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4474529/leslie-jones-kate-mckinnon-weight-loss/","name":"Kate McKinnon Helped Leslie Jones Lose 40 Pounds"}}]}] ```