Lizzo knows nothing comes easy, but anything is possible with hard work. During a TikTok Live on Tuesday, April 22, the singer, 36, candidly opened up about the weight loss journey she's embarked on since 2023. In January, Lizzo revealed on Instagram that she had lowered her body mass index by 10.5 and had lost 16% of her body fat. The "About Damn Time" hitmaker told her followers that one of the things she focuses on is keeping close tabs on what she eats. The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! Lizzo makes sure to avoid "sugary stuff" in the morning, and instead opts for being "super savory," she said. "I do something sweet. It's gotta be with some sort of like carb. I'll have like almond butter and toast. So, everybody's body is different. Find out what works for you," she said, noting that she believes the only thing that "works across the board, science-wise, is calories in versus calories out." "That's just how the human body works," she said. The performer recalled a time in her life when she would drink "two to three" large Starbucks drinks a day, noting that she ultimately stopped when she discovered the number of calories she was consuming. She projected to have been drinking up to 1200 calories and said that she stopped drinking coffee to also help "regulate my nervous system." Lizzo said she "had to start applying a calorie deficit, because I was prone to binging." According to Healthline, a calorie deficit is when you burn more calories than you consume. While the musician said that she doesn't believe it's healthy to count calories, she uses it "as a tool to fight against the American food system." Elsewhere on her TikTok Live, Lizzo opened up about her anxiety and how it impacted her weight loss journey over the years. "I've been working to get my anxiety under control for years. And then I decided that I want to release and I'm ready to stop waiting to be myself like fully and be happy," she said. "And I meditated. I calmed myself down. And I isolated a little bit, but not like made myself lonely, not the way I used to when I was depressed. I isolated myself in a mindful way where I had no distractions," continued Lizzo. "I loved to distract myself with people. I loved to distract myself with food. I loved to distract myself with drinking. I loved to distract myself with problems that I would create. I would love to do that. And I stopped doing that," she said. "And I just focused on me." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The "Love in Real Life" singer said she ultimately "felt lighter, energetically and emotionally" after changing her mindset.