'I was huge star in 2000s now no one recognises me after massive transformation'

Daily Mirror

05-05-2025

Ethan Suplee was a regular fixture in TV shows and films during the 90s and early 2000s but the actor was often type-cast in roles that were dictated by his weight
Hollywood stars are often typecast in certain roles based on their physical appearance, but one well-known sitcom actor decided he'd had enough of being stereotyped as the "fat guy". He subsequently embarked on an incredible transformation, shedding nearly 20 stone in the process.
Ethan Suplee, a familiar face in popular sitcoms from the early 2000s such as Boy Meets World, My Name Is Earl, and Remember the Titans, made the bold decision to turn his life around.
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Back in 2001, Suplee struggled with a damaging relationship with food, leading to a constant weight gain. At the age of 24, he checked into a rehab centre for addiction, only to discover that the facility's standard scales couldn't accommodate his size.
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Instead, he had to use a freight scale at a shipping centre, which revealed a startling weight of around 536 pounds (approximately 37 stone). This excessive weight put him at risk of congestive heart failure.
Ironically, Suplee gained another 14 pounds during his recovery from substance addiction. In an interview with Today, he admitted: "I'd eat and eat. It's what I'd always done.", reports the Irish Star.
Reflecting on the root of his unhealthy habits, Suplee attributed it to his grandparents' well-intentioned but restrictive diet: "It was coming from a place of love and concern, but it had this terrible reverse effect where I was like, 'OK. I'm just gonna sneak food whenever I possibly can.' And that became my habit. I would binge when nobody was looking."
This quickly became a problem with the vast catering of film and TV sets: "I'd fill my pockets and go back to my trailer. Then I'd hit a drive-thru and buy enough food to feed a small family and sit in my house alone and eat it."
But following an extraordinary transformation, the actor has revamped his eating habits and lifestyle, dropping an astonishing 300 pounds along the way.
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Despite having experimented with various restrictive diets in the past and observing some success, he always found himself regaining the weight. His turning point came in 2018 when he stumbled upon a TED Talk by Mike Isratel, which suggested that carbs might not be the culprit but rather his overall relationship with food.
Starting with calorie counting, he adjusted his intake to create a slight caloric deficit tailored to his body's needs.
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Moreover, he switched to more nutritious options such as vegetables, chicken, and salmon, ensuring he could satiate his hunger without consuming excessive calories.
He explained: "As I became more calorie conscious, I started to binge less and fill up on healthier foods. After a few months of this, calories stopped being calories. They started being food."
Currently a grandfather and father to four daughters, the prospect of a long future with his family was a key motivator for his weight loss journey. In a heart-to-heart with Mail Online, Suplee said: "I wanted to have this long life with my girlfriend that I knew was impossible if I didn't do something about my weight.
"She liked to go to the beach, and I did not like to go to the beach. She liked to go to museums, she liked to go hiking. She liked to go on walks just to enjoy the walk, and I couldn't do any of that stuff with her.
"Now she never asked me to [lose weight], but I knew that in the long term, our relationship would not survive if I didn't confront this."