The public is seeing less of Taylor Hicks these days – and the American Idol 5 winner couldn’t be happier. The Soul Patrol crooner has lost 22 lbs. since he won the world’s biggest talent competition last May. He is down to 193. According to People magazine, Taylor has ditched fast foods and fried treats.

Now, he’s eating salads, brown rice, fish and chicken noodle soup. He says “It's good for your throat. It's also comforting, but it's light."

Hicks, who’s currently on tour to promote his platinum-certified, self-titled debut CD, also runs 45 minutes every other day to keep his new shape and admits to using “a lot of the stage as exercise.”

The 30-year-old Alabama native admits that he’s not immune to cheating on his plan. In fact, he’s worked in a “sin day” each week where he looks “for chocolate cake.” As he says, “If you’re gonna do it, you might as well do it that way.”