After releasing a gold album and then a platinum follow-up, most singers would rest on their laurels – and their looks. Not Rihanna.

In time for the June 5 release of her new CD, Girl Gone Bad, the 5-foot-9 Rihanna, tells Us Weekly, “I wanted to make a complete transformation.” So after debuting a short, darker haircut in February, the Barbados native turned to her bod.

Replacing casual Pilates practices with focused strength work with trainer Cindy Percival and treadmill runs three times a week, she says, “I’m a lot more serious now.” And it shows! “I weigh less than I did last year,” says Rihanna, who recently dropped a size.

Now she is down to a size 2. As a side note, in 2006 Rihanna said this: “I wanted to make myself better physically as well as career-wise.” Fast forward to 2007, “I lost weight initially, but then I gained muscle weight back,” said Rihanna recently of amping up her fitness routine.

“My face is not as chubby and my arms are more chiseled. In the video for ‘Umbrella,’ my body was so great. I was like, ‘the work paid off!’” Not that it was easy. She is now splitting time between L.A. and NYC, but she hits the gym every day for two weeks and she has made major changes to her diet.

The self-professed “unhealthy” eater traded skipping meals for noshing every four hours and has banned a big vice: bloat-inducing salt. Her typical menu? Lemon water and pineapple in the morning, soup at lunch, a snack of egg whites, and chicken for dinner.

“I have to keep my eyes on the prize,” she says of her plan – but, she adds, there’s no doubt it’s been worth it: “My legs are leaning out and I love my … everything!” “My priority is my legs and abs, but I like my arms.” [via]