Dave Bautista who lost almost 100 pounds reveals his weight loss secrets

Wrestler turned actor Dave Bautista's drastic weight loss journey has left his fans intrigued. 55-year-old Bautista looked unrecognizable in a slimmer avatar after shedding more than 60 pounds for his latest movie The Killer's Game.

Known for his big and brawny look all his career, Bautista started trimming down for his movie roles, he said in an interview with Chris Van Vliet to promote his new movie.

Bautista said he's probably at his lightest at 240 pounds, and the heaviest he has ever been was 370 pounds, which means there is a difference of 130 pounds between his heaviest and lightest version.

“I’m getting super trimmed. This is probably the lightest I’ve been since I was 19 years old. The heaviest I’ve ever been was 370 pounds. When I started Deacon, I was about 325 pounds. Throughout most of my wrestling career, I was about 290 pounds. Now I’m about 240 pounds. Just a year and a half ago for Knock At The Cabin, I went up to 315 pounds and that’s when the nightmare started. Getting that weight off has been a real challenge,” he said in the interview.

Talking about his weight loss journey earlier in an episode of LIVE with Kelly and Mark Bautista revealed how he turned to jiu-jitsu to get fit.

How he lost all that weight

“I put on all this weight for Knock at the Cabin. I was really big, like over 300 lbs.,” he had said.

“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 said.

The duo "did nothing but grapple" for hours and he eventually started shedding the weight off and he figured ‘I’ll just stick with it so I’ll get my brown belt."

How he started his weight loss journey

The ex-wrestler started focussing on weight loss post his retirement from wrestling in 2019 and beginning a new innings with a movie career. He decided to lose weight to avoid being typecast in roles similar to Drax the Destroyer.

"People have seen me so much bigger over the years and they think I’m anorexic, but I’m still, I’m just a large human being. So at 6’4″and 240 pounds, next to your typical actor, I look like a gorilla and it’s distracting," he said in his recent interview with Chris Van Vliet.

His weight loss diet

Talking about his diet, he revealed he was largely a vegetarian with eggs and fish added in for protein. The diet he said not only helped him shed and maintain his weight, but also was helpful for his allergies and asthma.

"Before I started this diet I suffered from asthma and allergies, and it was very difficult for me to lose weight," he told Men's Health last year.

Bautista in his recent Youtube interview revealed that he eats his dinner 3-4 hours before going to bed, a tip that all weight loss enthusiasts should take note of.

Bautista admitted that while trimming down, he had to sacrifice a lot of muscle, but he was okay with it because he felt more comfortable.