Fans of Shinedown may notice that frontman Brent Smith has lost some serious weight recently, and now drummer Barry Kerch reveals that Smith started a diet and exercise program after he was compared unfavorably to a certain overweight rock legend.

“He looked in the mirror one day and just said, ‘Hey! I can’t be a frontman and look like this,”’ Kerch tells Alternative Addiction . “Some people even called him Meat Loaf and that stung his soul, but he weighed 210 pounds and all he was doing was eating and drinking with no exercise. He woke up one day and decided that was it.”

Kerch added that Smith’s new healthy lifestyle has helped the band’s live performances. “He can breathe now,” notes the drummer. “He can move around the stage now and he doesn’t just stand there trying to make it through a set. Not only that, but it’s improved him as a person, and as a result, Shinedown is the strongest that it’s ever been in ten years.”

While Shinedown is currently on tour overseas, you’ll get your chance to check out the newly-slender Smith when the band kicks off the next leg of their North American tour at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville on July 29.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio