Ethan Suplee’s Journey to Weight Loss and Self-Improvement
Back in 2001, actor Ethan Suplee was standing on a freight scale typically used to weigh trucks. It was an eye-opening moment before he checked into a treatment center for drug and alcohol addiction at 24 years old, where his weight was required for intake. The “My Name is Earl” star had to specially order the scale, which is how he discovered he had shot up to 536 pounds — a fact he had avoided for a long time.
“I spent years going to the doctors and telling them their scale couldn’t weigh me,” Suplee, now 49, told The Post. “But the scales in doctors’ offices back then went to 350 pounds. So I’d say I was 360, and I just had no idea.” After weighing in at 536 pounds before entering rehab, Ethan Suplee knew he had to make big changes for his health.
From Addiction to Weight Loss
After trying to lose weight his entire life while cycling in and out of rehab, he had finally hit a breaking point. Today, the actor known for his role in “Remember the Titans” has lost nearly half his body weight, and even shredded down to 11% body fat back in 2021. It wasn’t until he started dating his now-wife, though, that he realized sobriety wasn’t his only issue. He would have to address his weight head-on if he wanted to live a full life with her.
“There were a lot of things in life she wanted to do that I was like, just physically incapable of doing, like going to the beach or on a hike,” he said. “I have to also confront my weight, and I have more problems to fix.” Between trial and error with diets, landing on a keto diet and consistent trainer-led workouts, he eventually dropped a staggering 250 pounds by 2005 — nearly half his weight.
Non-Scale Victories and Self-Improvement
“I still look in the mirror in the mornings and often have to convince myself that I’m not a piece of garbage.” And he hoped that getting rid of the excess weight would heal his sense of shame, low confidence and eventually help him accept himself. But the “Boy Meets World” alum soon learned the scale could only provide so much satisfaction.
While he initially felt happy after achieving weight loss, he soon realized the non-scale victories mattered more. Even setting and meeting several physical goals didn’t quiet the negative voices in his head. “I wanted to be able to ride my bicycle 200 miles in a day, and I did that,” he stated. “I wanted to have visible abs, and I did that.”
“But I still look in the mirror in the mornings and often have to convince myself that I’m not a piece of garbage,” he went on. “And that’s just my condition that I have to manage day to day.” These achievements were merely the first steps toward discovering a much larger target of improvement every single day across all aspects of his life.
Rewiring Relationship with Food and Finding Balance
Throughout his journey, Suplee also learned he needed to rewire his relationship with food. Even after he got out of treatment, he still struggled with food, having been put on his first diet at 5 years old. Weighing more than 200 pounds by age 10, he used food, alcohol and drugs to “numb” himself throughout his teenage years.
“I learned how to sneak food and eat my way around the diets,” he recalled. “I was never super successful on any of these diets because I cheated every chance I got… and I got a lot heavier.” Regular workouts and healthy eating, along with spending time with his wife and daughters, are all staples of his life.
At the end of the day, Suplee knows his weight loss and health journey certainly didn’t come about easily — and they’re both far from over. “I had been looking for solutions that didn’t feel like they required a lot of effort,” he said. “When I finally looked at it and thought, ‘Well, this is going to require effort forever,’ and similar to sobriety that too will require effort forever. However, it gets easier.”
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Image Source: nypost.com
