Dave Bautista has been known for his sturdy figure, and now he has stepped into a healthier version of that by dropping 75 pounds.
The dramatic change comes after bulking up to over 300 pounds for his 2023 role in Knock at the Cabin. Dave Bautista used a combination of three tactics to slim down, and now the 6’4″ 240-pound man is ready to share his journey.
Deciding to Lose Weight
As his career shifted from WWE to acting, Bautista allowed his characters to shine through his appearance. Which, in Knock at the Cabin’s case, meant putting on lots of weight.
During an interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Bautista opens up about how much weight that was. “I started slimming down because I … was uncomfortably big. Now looking back at it, I probably overdid it.”
The actor even revealed he ate pancakes and French Fries to stack on extra pounds. “At the time, I was just thinking, ‘I gotta get big, I gotta get big.'”
After the film was done, Dave Bautista needed a change, and that meant focusing on his diet and exercise to help him feel more like himself.
In an appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark, he shared, “I’ve sacrificed a lot of muscle. But I’m okay with it, because I just feel more comfortable.”
Experimenting with Jiu-Jitsu
One of the ways Bautista shed the pounds was through jiu-jitsu.
“I was struggling to lose the weight, so I brought a trainer — my buddy Jason Manly — over to Budapest with me while I was filming Dune,” he shared with co-hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.
“We did nothing but grapple for hours, and I started shedding the weight. I figured I’d stick with it and get my brown belt.”
However, some areas still weren’t shedding the pounds.
“There were just certain spots that no matter how much weight I lost, I couldn’t get rid of it,” he stated. Those areas included his stomach, chest, and face.
Embracing Cardio
Alongside jiu-jitsu, Dave Bautista has embraced a balanced cardio workout that includes cycling and boxing. Both keep him energized and motivated throughout the day.
“Me looking the way I do is really just kind of a by-product of that,” he said.
He added that watching someone else deadlift is much more entertaining than trying the lifts himself. Instead, he uses a mixture of workouts with trainers to keep things fresh.
Some may think that he trains with weights all the time, but that isn’t the case either.
“I think a lot of people think I’m just a meathead and that I live my life lifting weights. And I actually don’t,” he said to Men’s Health U.K. “I do live my life training, but I think people think that I train because I want to look like a bodybuilder or a big muscle head. And it’s not at all the case.”
Balanced Diet and Intermittent Fasting
The final component of Bautista’s transformation is through dieting and fasting.
During a September 2024 interview with the Today show, Bautista explained he consumes around 2,500 calories daily through intermittent fasting. This program has quickly become second nature.
“For me, it’s like nothing,” he said. “I’m just not eating much. And I’m not starving or anything.”
As for food choices, Bautista usually has eggs in the morning, a couple of fish meals during the day, and relies on rice and beans as staples in his diet. Eventually, he hopes to become vegan.
While some have commented about his drastic weight loss in a less-than-positive way, Bautista reassures fans that he’s still at a healthy weight.
“People say, ‘God, you’re skinny,'” he said to Chris Van Vliet. “I’ve even seen online some people worried about my health. [But] I say it out loud to people, ‘I’m 6’4,” 240 pounds’ … I’m still just a large human being.”