Health & Fitness
What Does a 20-Pound Weight Gain Do to Your Body, Ask Will Smith
No pain, No gain
If only she lost 20 pounds. Women would always have to deal with comments about their weight and age throughout their lives.
Men, not as much, when more men started to gain weight, especially in the tummy area, a new word was made up to make us feel better, ‘Dad Bod’.
And as long as men don’t become morbidly obese, our bodies are celebrated. If a dad-bod guy suddenly loses weight and does regular exercise at the gym, people would say, ‘Good for him, he’s back to being a hunk.’
Men win all the time.
The same with aging, society has zero problems with older men dating younger women, but when roles are reversed, we never hear the end of it, right, Madonna?
Pudge Muffin
When Will Smith ‘ballooned’ to 225 pounds after his movie Alladin, his family started to call him, ‘Pudge Muffin.’
Isn’t that cute?
He has since lost weight publicly with his Best Shape of My Life, a YouTube series.
He gained weight for his Oscar-winning role in King Richard but like many of us, he also gained weight during the ‘P’.
And maybe he lost more than the weight after the Oscars?
When Will Smith decided to lose 20 pounds in 20 weeks, he had a team, a fitness trainer, and a psychologist?
And probably a chef to make his meals.
When Will Smith announced his weight loss plan on social media, fans rallied behind the actor.
One wrote at the time: “Man! You have been in shape your whole life. Enjoy the dad bod with pride! Let’s end… the carbs discrimination.”
“This is the most amazing post in the history of social media,” another added, whilst a third shared: “You’re Will Smith!! You can be in whatever shape you want”. — Mirror
And he isn’t alone celebrities do it all the time, gain and lose weight and there are times they do it for a role, which most of the time are rewarded with an Oscar trophy.
Here are the celebrities who gained weight for a role, and how they did it.
Let’s start with actors who bulked up for a role.
- Sylvester Stallone in Rambo III — Gym & Exercise
- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in ‘Hercules’ — The Rock’s complete ‘Hercules’ meal plan
- Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator — Gym & Exercise
- Gerard Butler in 300 — Gym & Exercise
- Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV — Gym & Exercise
- Christian Bale in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight series — Gym & Exercise. What was ‘impressive’ about Bale was he did Batman after losing 60 pounds for a movie role in The Machinist.
- Joe Manganiello in ‘True Blood’ — Gym & Exercise
- Mark Wahlberg in Pain & Gain — Gym & Exercise, up to 10 meals a day.
- Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises — Gym & Exercise
- Hugh Jackman in the X-Men and Wolverine series — Gym & Exercise
- Chris Hemsworth in Thor series and The Avengers series — Gym & Exercise
- Chris Evans in Captain America and Avengers series — Gym & Exercise. Meals include “bland pieces of chicken, rice, and meat.”
- Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV — Gym & Exercise
- Carl Weathers in Rocky — Gym & Exercise
- Henry Cavill in Man of Steel — Gym & Exercise
- Jason Statham in The Transporter — Gym & Exercise
- Ryan Reynolds in Blade: Trinity and Deadpool — Gym & Exercise. A 3,200-calorie daily diet.
- Will Smith in Ali — Gym & Exercise
- Robert De Niro in Raging Bull — Gym & Exercise
- Michael B. Jordan in Creed — Gym & Exercise
- Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler — Gym & Exercise. A high-protein, low-carb diet that included three or four protein shakes a day.
- Jamie Foxx in Any Given Sunday — Gym & Exercise
- Bradley Cooper in American Sniper — Gym & Exercise. He gained 40 pounds in 10 weeks.
- Brad Pitt in Troy — Gym & Exercise
- Eli Roth in Inglourious Basterds — Gym & Exercise. He gained 35 of muscle.
And some actors gained weight not muscle for a movie role.
- Vincent D’Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket — 70 pounds
- Mark Wahlberg in Father Stu — 30 pounds He ditched the gym and he was eating 7,000 calories a day.
- Rob McElhenney in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia — 60 pounds His meals include two Big Macs, Krispy Kreme donuts, a lot of wine, and melted ice cream.
- Christian Bale in American Hustle — 43 pounds and again in Vice — 40 pounds
- Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones’s Diary — 30 pounds
- Matt Damon in The Informant! — 30 pounds
- Jared Leto in Chapter 27–67 pounds A rather disgusting diet that involved drinking microwaved ice cream mixed with olive oil and soy sauce to help speed up weight gain. It worked, but it also left Leto with gout, high cholesterol, and even trouble walking.
- Ryan Gosling in The Lovely Bones — 60 pounds. But the odd thing was he didn’t get to play the role, he was replaced by Mark Wahlberg. He also did it in Blue Valentine — 14 pounds.
- Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine — 16 pounds
- Charlize Theron in Tully — 50 pounds and in Monster — 30 pounds.
- Matthew McConaughey in Gold — 49 pounds
- Robert De Niro in Raging Bull — 60 pounds
- Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby — 19 pounds “I had to eat 210 grams of protein a day. I had to eat 60 egg whites in a day, and I couldn’t. So every morning I would drink them.”
- Mark Ruffalo in I Know This Much Is True — 30 pounds
- Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises — 30 pounds
- Ewan McGregor in Fargo — I made sure that I had carbs with everything and French fries with everything.
- George Clooney in Syriana — 30 pounds
- Bradley Cooper in American Sniper — 40 pounds
- Ryan Reynolds in Blade: Trinity — A 3,200-calorie-per-day diet.
- Emma Stone in Battle of the Sexes — 15 pounds
- Russell Crowe in Body of Lies — 63 pounds
- Vanessa Hudgens in Gimme Shelter — 15 pounds
Will Smith is not fat?
Will Smith is not fat, and if we’re being honest, he’s the kind of overweight that you almost have to design. He’s overweight in the same way he acts: He pulls his punches to garner the widest possible audience. He’s never too violent, too raunchy, or too hood. And now, he’s never too fat. — Will Smith Isn’t Fat by Scott Woods
Will Smith, isn’t the right celebrity to ask, ‘What does a 20-pound weight gain do to your body?’
The celebrities who have gained weight from as much as 60 pounds do so for a role.
It means it was purposely designed, that is why almost all of them were able to go back to their normal weight as soon as the movie is over.
Although Jared Leto said he developed gout after his 60-pound weight gain.
What is considered rapid weight gain?
Rapid gain weight or sudden unexplained weight gain isn’t a pound or two, it happens to all of us. It can even be water weight.
But if the gain weight is beyond what is ‘normal’ of unexplained circumstances like you know you have been eating the same food and the same number of calories, there could be other reasons behind the rapid gain weight.
And it could all be because of an underlying medical condition.
Disclaimer: I’m not a health professional and what you are reading are my opinion only and the information are from the Internet that are ready verifiable. Thank you.
- Hypothyroidism
- Polycystic ovary syndrome
- Depression or anxiety
- Insomnia
- Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SICO)
- Perimenopause
- Medication
- Cushing’s disease
- Dehydration
- Ovarian cancer
- You quit smoking
- Diabetes
- Other cancers
But when is weight gain a cause for concern? If you’re gaining one to two pounds or more a week, and you don’t see the numbers going down, then it might be time to see a doctor.
I’ve gained weight and I feel disgusting
If this is how you feel, you have to ask yourself is it about the weight gain, body image, aging or you feel unhealthy?
Remember most of us have gained weight because of the “P” and most of us have taken comfort in food.
A weight gain of a few pounds may not necessarily mean you have become unhealthy.
But one has to realize the health benefits when we lose the 20 pounds we have gained.
How does gaining weight affect you?
Will Smith in an interview said, when he lost the weight he noticed that he needed less of his hypertension medicines, again his story may not necessarily reflect what is happening in your body.
I’ve been taking blood pressure medicine for almost a decade and I was thinking, Do I have high blood pressure or was I eating myself into high blood pressure? — Will Smith
Conclusion
What does a 20-pound weight gain do to your body? It will depend if that weight is making you sick.
Jared Leto developed gout during his insane 60 pound weight gain for a movie role, that he had a hard time walking and at one point had to use a wheelchair.
Extra weight hurts our joints, I know because I experienced it myself.
I feel better without the extra weight and can almost feel the difference when I start to gain weight.
Again, it is me, my body, and my journey.
Losing weight has been proven to have many benefits, and it doesn’t hurt to lose a few pounds.
But always think of your well-being when you embark on a weight loss journey.
What other people think or say has no bearing on your health.
We must learn to love ourselves at whatever weight we are, we are more than what the weighing scale says.
Thank you for reading!
Sources:
- The Top 25 Most Intense Hollywood Bulk-ups of All Time
- 22 Actors Who Gained Weight for Roles
- The Dorito-donut diet: How stars gain weight for roles
- 13 common causes of sudden, unexplained weight gain
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