Actor and former WWE star Dave Bautista may play “a big guy” in the movies, but in real life, he’s trying to be closer in size to his Hollywood colleagues, he said in a recent interview.
Bautista recently revealed to journalist Chris Van Vliet that he’s lost 75 pounds in recent months.
“I started trimming down for a particular reason: One, I started slimming down because I … was uncomfortably big,” he said, adding that he’d gained a weight for a specific role, 2023’s “Knock at the Cabin.”
“Now looking back at it, I probably overdid it,” he said, noting he’d gained the weight quickly by eating loads of french fries and pancakes. “But at the time, I was just thinking, ‘I gotta get big, I gotta get big!'”
He said it took him “forever” to lose the weight after he was done filming.
“And then I noticed, the more I trimmed down, the better I felt,” he continued. “And I also noticed the more I trimmed down, the better I looked on camera, the better I looked next to other actors.”
Bautista added that some fans have been worried about his weight loss.
“Because people have seen me so much bigger over the years, they think I’m like anorexic, but I’m just a large human being,” he explained.
“So at 6’4″ and 240 pounds next to a much smaller actor, I look like a gorilla! And it’s distracting!” he quipped.
How did Bautista lose weight?
Bautista didn’t say exactly what workouts he’s been doing to lose weight, but he did say that he is “training hard” and restricting his calories. Bautista estimated that he eats about 2500 calories a day.
“For me, it’s like nothing,” he laughed. “I’m just not eating much. And I’m not starving or anything.”
He added that he’s been doing intermittent fasting, noting he hadn’t eaten yet and it was almost 1 p.m. when they were filming the interview, and that he doesn’t eat three to four hours before he goes to bed.
“It’s a short window,” he said of the time he’s allowing himself to eat during the day.
What is Dave Bautista’s diet?
In an October 2021 interview — before his “Knock at the Cabin” weight gain — Bautista told Men’s Health he eats a mostly plant-based diet with “fish a couple times of the week.”
He said when he was younger during his bodybuilding days, he ate a lot of calories and protein. But then Bautista learned he was “terribly allergic to dairy” in 2005, so he cut that out of his diet. He went on to say he cut out red meat and pork in 2010, and then in 2021, stopped eating poultry as well.
“But I do have fish a couple times a week and I do eat eggs,” he said at the time. He added that someday he plans to go vegan.
Bautista added that he puts it in his contracts that he eats every four hours while working on set.
“Then, in between those (on-set) meals, if I get hungry, I typically do an almond butter and banana or a vegan, gluten-free grilled cheese, it’s my favorite go-to.”
His other favorite meal is sushi, he says. “Every day, all day,” he joked.
Batista told Men’s Health he takes a “ton of … old man health supplements” like CoQ10, ribose and fish oil. He also clarified that he works out every day, sometimes twice a day.
What does Dave Bautista do for workouts?
Bautista told Men’s Health that when he was younger and in the WWE, he was doing a lot of “bodybuilding,” but toward the end of his time on the network, he started doing more cardio.
In addition to weightlifting, Bautista said the hardest workout he’s ever done is fight training.
“It’s HIIT training while you’re getting punched in the face, and it sucks,” he said. “It’s the most grueling thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
He said that his favorite workout is squats.
“I had this complex when I was younger that I never wanted to be the guy with skinny legs,” he laughed.
Bautista noted he is always doing weight training — the Men’s Health video showed the star has an elaborate at-home gym — but also has other exercise interests, like boxing and cycling.
He said he gets his cardio using at-home spin bike and has his own boxing ring.
“My favorite type of training, which I prefer over weight-training, is actually martial arts,” he said, noting he does Brazilian jiu-jitsu in addition to boxing.
“But boxing is my thing, he said. “Best cardio in the world.”
