Aretha Franklin: Losing Weight, Giving Up Pigs' Feet And All Things Pork For Diet

R-E-S-P-E-C-T the diet Queen Aretha is taking this gastric bypass surgery, diet serious this time.  Aretha Franklin, who says she's back at "150 percent," is planning to return to the stage in May for her first post-surgery performance.

The Grammy Award-winning singer will also release an album that month with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. More personally, she's working on losing more weight from her frame, which is noticeably slimmer since her December surgery.

Aretha seen at recent Piston Game With Rev. Jessie Jackson

"I want to not only maintain the weight I am at now, but better it, by one dress size," the Queen of Soul said Wednesday in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

The 68-year-old Franklin underwent surgery for an undisclosed ailment in December. She calls it "more than minor surgery."  Since her surgery, Franklin has been working out and walking on a track three times a week for at least a mile.



But she said her biggest health change has been in her diet: She's given up her beloved chitterlings, pigs' feet and ham hocks in favor of a Whole Foods-type diet, and she hopes to get down to a size 16.