The actor told Joe Rogan he lost 60 pounds by fasting for over 40 days. We do not recommend this.
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COMEDIAN KEVIN JAMES once went more than 40 days without food, leading to a dramatic weight loss—but then rapidly gained weight again as soon as he stopped fasting.
In a recent conversation with podcaster Joe Rogan, the comic actor explained that he lost weight to play a priest in a movie, getting down to 230 pounds. After shooting ended, his weight rose back up to 280 pounds.
Then, when he was then told he had to shoot some additional scenes, James realized he needed to drop the weight again.
This led to a discussion about James’ past habit of crash-dieting.
I can lose it really quick, I can fast and lose it,” he said. “Seriously, I can lose it quick… I can do it in a month. Less than a month.”
James explained how he once commenced a lengthy period of fasting, motivated partly out of a desire to lose weight but also for religious reasons, revealing that he went “41 and a half” days without food, consuming only “water and a little salt” to replenish his electrolytes.
“When I lock on, I can do something,” he said. “I started fasting, I didn’t say ‘I’m going to do 40 days,’ I just said ‘I’m going to do whatever I can’… I felt pretty good for a while, and then I’d have these dips, like wow, I feel pretty miserable.”
“I lost, I think, like 60 pounds,” he continued. “I didn’t even take vitamins… It cleansed everything out of me.”
While Rogan made the claim that there are some health benefits to short-term fasting, James asserted some less scientific-sounding stuff like “you don’t need food.” However, he also clarified that he does not recommend such an extreme weight loss method, noting that he “blew back up” as soon as he stopped fasting. “I’m not saying it’s the way to go for everybody, I don’t know,” he said.
At other points in the conversation, James talked about his longterm struggles to lose weight, and cited some sounder advice from trainer and weight loss coach Mike Dolce that he continually reminds himself: “You can’t outwork a bad diet.” His goal now is to find a sustainable and healthy way to stay fit and healthy.
“Just recently I’ve stopped comparing myself to other people and trying to just say ‘get better than yourself yesterday.’ That concept for me works,” he said. “You don’t need a lot of stuff, but you need something to engage yourself every day. There’s got to be a bridge between the [David] Goggins way and the people who do nothing… If you can get into that groove, you do feel better.”
