#1644 - Ethan Suplee

Joe Rogan (0:14)

So what's up, man? Dude, if I didn't know who you were, and I ran into you, I would have no idea that you're the same guy.

Ethan Suplee (0:21)

It's crazy.

Joe Rogan (0:22)

You're a fucking completely different human.

Ethan Suplee (0:24)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (0:25)

You went from this guy that looked like you were really in bad shape to a guy who looks like a guy out of Void in Jiu Jitsu. I'd be like, fuck that guy. Let me get away from him. He's too big.

You look fucking great, man.

Ethan Suplee (0:36)

That's awesome. This is the greatest compliment I've ever gotten. Thank you very much. By the way, all I want is to look like a big dude who's not just gigantic and fat. That's all I want.

Joe Rogan (0:46)

Dude, you look like a gorilla. You look like a dangerous human being. Like, how did you do it?

Ethan Suplee (0:53)

Well, over the past 20 years, I've gone back and forth with dieting. I've lost a shitload of weight. I've gained a shitload of weight back.

How did I do it? I think that the thing that I've done that has been sustainable is undoing kind of... Look, a lot of diets come in and say, just do this and you'll lose weight. But we're not focused at all on how we got to whatever point we were at that we consider nonoptimal that we wanna change.

And so, undoing the bad habits that I had that I would associate with allowing myself to get up to 550 pounds is really more important than anything that I could say, this is what I did to lose weight. Does that make sense?

Joe Rogan (1:40)

Yes, yes.

So, when did the process start? So you kind of went back and forth, but you've obviously been on a very steady course. For how long now?

Ethan Suplee (1:50)

20 years. 20 years, 19 years, 2002 was the first time I thought I really want to change my life, and I started then.

Joe Rogan (2:02)

And how much weight have you lost since then?

Ethan Suplee (2:05)

2002, I went from 550, I did a liquid diet for two months and lost 80 pounds.

That 80 pounds I've never dipped back into. But so I was 450, and I went down to close to just under 300, then went back up to 400, then went down to 200, then back up to 350 And for the past five years, I've been around the weight I'm at now. So I've really gotten that under control.

Joe Rogan (2:39)

And what are you at right now?

Ethan Suplee (2:40)

270

Joe Rogan (2:41)

That is incredible.

That is so incredible. So you've lost more than 200 pounds.

Ethan Suplee (2:49)

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan (2:50)

Solid.

Ethan Suplee (2:51)

I mean, I've lost 200 pounds a couple of times.

Joe Rogan (2:53)

But you've also put on muscle.

Like, you're a different... You're unrecognizable.

Ethan Suplee (3:00)

Yeah. Listen, the other strange thing about weight loss is when you're building fat and you're storing fat, your body is naturally building lean tissue, too, just to support that fat. So under every obese person, there's a person with more than average muscle.

So...

Joe Rogan (3:19)

Because they have to carry around all their weight.

Ethan Suplee (3:21)

Yeah, you're naturally building muscle just by, like, raising your heavier arm.

Joe Rogan (3:25)

I used to always say that to Ralphie May. Ralphie May was so heavy, and I was like, look at your legs, dude. I go, you'd be able to kick someone through a fucking wall if you just lost weight. Yeah.

Like, just to be able to carry around.

Ethan Suplee (3:37)

I have gnarly calves.

Joe Rogan (3:39)

I bet you do, dude.

Ethan Suplee (3:41)

Yeah, that's one of the few things that, like, I train sometimes with bodybuilders now, and my coach is a professional bodybuilder, Jared Feather. Shout out to him.

And he has a lot of calf emphasis, and I'm like, I don't really need to do that, bro. My calves are good.

Joe Rogan (3:58)

Yeah, you carried around 500 pounds for years. Let's go to... Can you show me a photo of Ethan when he was at his heaviest?

So find me... So has this affected your work, because, you know, you were getting roles for so long as an actor when you were large?

Ethan Suplee (4:16)

Yeah.

I think so, yeah. It has. There was a time, if we go back to, like, 2015, and I had been really thin, and when I say really thin, I mean 200 pounds, but for me, that was extraordinarily thin.