Ethan Suplee has revealed that only one approach to weight loss 'stuck' after trying every diet in the book.
The film and television star has been a staple on our screens for over 30 years in hits like Mallrats and Chasing Amy, and you’ll have noticed a dramatic change in his appearance.
He's previously credited his wife of 20 years Brandy Lewis for helping him lose the weight, having gone from 536lbs at his heaviest to the 200s.
After having tried to shift the weight for years, nothing was working for him until he realized one thing.
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The My Name Is Earl actor took to Reddit, saying: “My name is Ethan Suplee, I’ve lost 300 lbs and maintained my current weight for about three years. AMA [Ask Me Anything].”
He explained how he was 'first put on a restrictive diet in 1981’, he and his mom ended up doing the ‘Beverly Hills, blood type, Fit for Life, cabbage soup, Adelle Davis, Optifast, every ‘80s fad in circulation’ that never really stuck.
The actor wrote: “In the mid-90s into the early 2000s, I rebelled and stopped dieting altogether… and got a lot bigger.”
Then, in 2002, he described putting himself on a diet, such as ‘keto, paleo, Master Cleanse, a 3-shakes-a-day liquid thing loaded with vitamins and fiber pills, 1st personal diet, 4-Hour Body, Ideal Protein, HCG, gluten-free, lectin-free, blood type (again), Gundry, you name it’.
Until he was able to figure out the ‘only approach that actually stuck for me’.
He explained that what worked best for him, his situation and his body, was: “Counting calories, prioritizing lean protein, and taking intentional maintenance breaks to practice eating in a way that maintained my weight.”
For Suplee, ‘everything finally clicked’.
When asked if he recommends cycling due to his love of the activity, Suplee surprisingly explained why exercise for him wasn’t working.
“It took me a long time to really understand how inefficient exercise is for weight loss," he said.
"I'm not knocking exercise, I love to exercise, and it can compliment weight loss, but really the key is what you eat.
“Every time I tried to lose weight, with exercise as the major component, I wound up reverting very quickly, or I got injured, or exhausted to the point that I couldn't exercise anymore and the weight quickly came back.”
But all-in-all, he says that ‘movement and exercise is really beneficial, just that it shouldn't be the driving force in weight loss, diet is the primary driver for weight loss.’
Britt Jones