Alexandria Wyckoff
John Goodman has successfully shed 200 pounds and kept it off, and fans are still noticing the transformation.
Most recently appearing at SXSW, Goodman, now 73, is embracing a slower approach to wealth loss and health, and it’s working.
Prioritizing consistency, movement, and long-term health, John Goodman has launched back into Hollywood roles with more energy than he’s had in decades.
Goodman at SXSW
Goodman attended this year’s SXSW Conference in Texas, promoting his upcoming film Chili Finger. Along with the normal promotional fun, Goodman showed off his 200-pound weight loss transformation.
The actor has been working on losing weight for the last decade, making a series of lifestyle changes to get there. After fans saw him during the conference, they took to social media to praise his new look and their excitement for his newest film.
One wrote on Instagram, “Wow, John looks fabulous. So thin!”
Gradual Diet and Exercise
John Goodman has found a routine that works for him, balancing exercise with a healthy diet and cutting out harmful foods and drinks for his health.
Goodman started by quitting alcohol and sugar, and started working with personal trainer Mackie Shilstone.
During an interview with the New York Post, Shilstone shared, “This didn’t happen overnight – it’s been an ongoing process.”
As for his process? Goodman works out six days a week (elliptical bike, treadmill, boxing, walking), aims for between 10,000 and 12,000 steps a day, and follows a “Mediterranean-style eating plan.”
His diet consists largely of fresh fish, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and olive oil. It’s a change from his past struggles with food, which Goodman refers to as “eating alcoholically.”
He later told ABC News, “I think you’re trying to fill a hole that can’t be filled unless it’s filled with goodness, some kind of spirituality – not saying religion. But just a belief in something higher than yourself, a purpose. But instead of filling it with booze or cocaine or food, you just acknowledge that it’s there. You can’t fill it. And you go on and live with it.”
Breaking Old Habits
Goodman revealed back in 2007 that he weighed around 392 lbs. While the actor used to lose large amounts of weight in the past, he never maintained that weight loss and often put it back on.
He shared with David Letterman in 2011, “I’d get off of Roseanne every spring. I’d lose 60 pounds every spring [but] I’d gain it back and then some, every year. It’s going to be an ongoing process for the rest of my life.”
Instead of doing the perpetual back and forth with his weight, Goodman wanted to break free from the cycle.
He talked about his old habits to ABC News in 2016, saying, “In the old days, I would take three months out, lose 60 or 70 pounds, then reward myself with a six-pack of Bud or whatever and just go back to my old habits. This time I wanted to do it slowly – move, exercise. I’m getting to the age where I can’t afford to sit still anymore. And it gives me the energy to work, because work is very draining.”