‘Remember the Titans’ Star Reflects on Weight Loss After Peaking at 536 Lb.

Remember the Titans actor Ethan Suplee, 49, shared emotional details of his long journey from struggling with his 536-pound weight to thriving as a toned fitness enthusiast. But even remarkable Hollywood transformations like these aren’t as straightforward as they may appear.

In 2001, at age 24, the up-and-coming actor was surprised to learn his weight had surpassed 500 pounds, Suplee recalled to the New York Post.

“The scales in doctors’ offices back then went to 350 pounds. So I’d say I was 360, and I just had no idea,” he said, noting that he only discovered his actual weight because the drug and alcohol rehabilitation center he was checking into required it. (Suplee told the Daily Beast in 2020 that he developed issues with substance use in his early twenties.)

The same year he pursued treatment for his substance abuse issues, the Boy Meets World actor reconnected with his now-wife, Brandy Lewis, the sister of actress Juliette Lewis. Suplee credits Lewis, 50, with inspiring his remarkable weight-loss journey.

“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 told the New York Post.

By 2005, Suplee had lost 250 pounds through a keto diet and consistent workouts, with the help of a trainer. He married Lewis the following year, and the couple went on to have four daughters and one granddaughter.

The weight loss, however, did not immediately help with the negative thoughts he had of himself.

“Once I’d lost some weight, I didn’t feel any better about myself. I would get on the scale and see [that] I’ve lost 100 pounds. And then the next day I’d still feel s----y…and my sense of shame would come back and my low self-confidence,” he told the outlet.

“I wanted to be able to ride my bicycle 200 miles in a day, and I did that. 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. And that’s just my condition that I have to manage day to day.”

What helped him was working on his relationship with food and realizing that weight loss is not one-and-done but a constant journey.

“I think I clung to this hope that I could locate the problem in food that was causing me to be obese… and there was a lot of shame associated with food,“ he told the outlet. ”I had to get rid of the idea that food was the culprit and work more heavily on concentrating or thinking about what behaviors of mine were contributing to this condition."

He reframed his attitude to think of his struggles with food as a “chronic condition versus an acute condition, because all of these diets were acute solutions.” Soon, Suplee found a suitable diet by reintroducing carbohydrates and tracking his calorie intake.

“Similar to sobriety, that too will require effort forever. However, it gets easier,” he said.

Although he clearly enjoys a healthy lifestyle and often posts his workouts on Instagram, weight loss is not his only focus; he also shares posts expressing gratitude for his loved ones and encouraging others to embark on their own healing journeys.