Ethan Suplee kicked off the new year by revealing his weight loss transformation on social media, leaving fans stunned at the change.
The 43-year-old actor opened up about his weight loss journey in a new podcast, in which he talks to guests and experts on various health and fitness topics.
In the debut episode of his podcast, “American Glutton,” Suplee went into detail about his personal weight gain and weight loss over the past 20 years and how he has made it to where he is now.
The “My Name is Earl” actor revealed that his unhealthy relationship with food started around the time he was 5 years old, when his grandparents began to limit the food they gave him.
By the time he was 10, Suplee weighed more than 200 pounds, prompting his father to put him on a diet. Eventually, Suplee's mother pulled him off the diet but this sparked more years of weight gain. Suplee said on the podcast that he estimates that he's gained and lost nearly 1,000 pounds and "done all the diets."
“I had this idea now that food was something that people didn’t want me to have,” he recalled, after his grandparents expressed concerns about his weight. “So if I wanted to have more, I needed to do it privately, and it became something that I was withholding from people.”
Suplee’s binge eating habit followed him into his adolescent years.
“I kind of didn’t think about weight loss again until I was 20,” he revealed. “It just wasn’t something I thought about.”
By the time he was in his 20s, Suplee said, "I was numbing myself out with food, alcohol and drugs."
The “Boys Meets World” actor revealed his weight gain posed challenges, particularly when it came to flying in airplanes. "I remember once I got a seat belt extension and even with the seat belt extension, I couldn't get it closed. I'd always buy two seats."
After being set up with a Beverly Hills doctor by a friend, Suplee said he started a new diet, eating small cans of tuna with a single cracker and only drinking water.
“I guess I enjoyed having lost weight, but it wasn’t my decision, so it was just something I was doing,” he revealed.
Suplee got sober in 2002 but his weight continued to fluctuate. At his heaviest, Suplee said he was 530 pounds and at his lowest, he was 220 pounds.
Despite his dramatic weight loss and dropping hundreds of pounds, Suplee said he it hasn't been easy to book more acting jobs after "My Name Is Earl" was canceled in 2009.
“At some point I was like, ‘Well f---, I’m just gonna get fat again because maybe it’ll be better for work,'” he revealed. “And honestly, it was.”
But this year, Suplee isn't interested in gaining all of his weight back. Now, his goal is to reexamine his perspective on food and get a six-pack. "I have my vain goal. I'm going after that. I want to dead lift twice my weight."
Fans can follow along as he chronicles his journey on the "American Glutton" podcast and discusses trends with health and wellness experts.