Christian Bale method losing weight.

QuintusFabius

Hi,
I'm thinking of losing weight the way Christian Bale did for the machinist - he ate a tin of tuna and an apple a day for a few months - nothing else apart from water and vitamin supplements.

Anyone else try this ?
I can imagine it being quite effective, however I do not want to put my health at risk.

Dial Hard

This is the worst idea I've ever heard on this forum, and there've been some doozies.

QuintusFabius

Really ?
Why ? I mean I would imagine that he as a hollywood actor would have had the best advice and doctors - and it worked well for him.

Blazer

Christian Bale was already at a good weight, he had a full medical team around him while doing this to monitor him every single day.
Can you afford to do the same? What weight are you?
Doing this if you're heavily overweight could cause serious health issues for you.

QuintusFabius

Blazer wrote: »

Christian Bale was already at a good weight, he had a full medical team around him while doing this to monitor him every single day.
Can you afford to do the same? What weight are you?
Doing this if you're heavily overweight could cause serious health issues for you.

OK I should explain better, I am not overweight.
I am 78KG and 5ft 11, my BMI is around 24.

I just wanna see how much I can lose doing this for 2/3 weeks.

Magnatu

QuintusFabius wrote: »

OK I should explain better, I am not overweight.
I am 78KG and 5ft 11, my BMI is around 24.

I just wanna see how much I can lose doing this for 2/3 weeks.

I would try full water fasting instead. Eating tiny amount of calories will leave you constantly hungry and you will miss out on autophagy and other benefits like becoming fat adapted. And cut down on exercise to minimize any muscle loss.

letsgo2018

You could try the snake diet. YouTube it.

Magnatu

letsgo2018 wrote: »

You could try the snake diet. YouTube it.

And make sure to shout all the time like the snake fast guy. Snake fast is basically water and salt. Don't think the salt is necessary.

letsgo2018

Magnatu wrote: »

And make sure to shout all the time like the snake fast guy. Snake fast is basically water and salt. Don't think the salt is necessary.

It.is necessary. It allows you to fast for longer and exercise. Plain water fasting can be dangerous because your heart and muscles need those electrolytes

NIMAN

I can never understand these folk who say "I have tried cutting down on my food intake and I still can't seem to lose weight".

Obviously they are lying, cos if you ever tune into Bear Grylls 'The Island', you see the dramatic weight loss that happens to the human body when there is little or no food available.

NIMAN

I can never understand these folk who say "I have tried cutting down on my food intake and I still can't seem to lose weight".

Obviously they are lying, cos if you ever tune into Bear Grylls 'The Island', you see the dramatic weight loss that happens to the human body when there is little or no food available.

Magnatu

NIMAN wrote: »

I can never understand these folk who say "I have tried cutting down on my food intake and I still can't seem to lose weight".

Obviously they are lying, cos if you ever tune into Bear Grylls 'The Island', you see the dramatic weight loss that happens to the human body when there is little or no food available.

Yeah. They are lying. But cutting down is difficult. Fasting which precludes subconscious cheating is much more effective and easier.

QuintusFabius

Snake diet does look interesting, but potassium chloride ??

silverharp

on the theme of famous people losing weight, reminds me of Penn , i think prefaces by saying if you take medical advice from a las vegas magician you are an idiot that deserves to die

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NelIXCuuSZ0

letsgo2018

QuintusFabius wrote: »

Snake diet does look interesting, but potassium chloride ??

What about potassium chloride. You have a question mark but you haven't asked a question

Mellor

QuintusFabius wrote: »

I mean I would imagine that he as a hollywood actor would have had the best advice and doctors .

You have quite the imagination.


His diet was next to starvation. He did it for 4 months and lost 60lbs. If you do it for two weeks you'd probably lose about 7-10lbs.

Magnatu

Mellor wrote: »

You have quite the imagination.


His diet was next to starvation. He did it for 4 months and lost 60lbs. If you do it for two weeks you'd probably lose about 7-10lbs.

Half of which will be water weight.And you'll probably put it all back on again within a few weeks.

Mellor

Magnatu wrote: »

Half of which will be water weight.And you'll probably put it all back on again within a few weeks.

The calorie deficit could easily account for 7 lbs of fat.
The water weight would be in top. Not sure why you think he'd put it all back on. Unless he was overeating, the fat he metabolised is gone.

Red Lightning

They may not be intentionally lying. Unless they are weighing and tracking their food, a lot probably think they are eating less when in fact they aren't.
Also OP, I would advise against your idea cos it just isn't healthy. If ya want to lose weight put yourself in a slight calorie deficit and just be patient. Best of luck.

Irishcrx

It's not a good idea , for one you will lose a lot of your muscle along with fat - Bale didn't exactly look the best in that film now did he? You'll also be in a dangerous caloric deficet for no good reason and far more prone to break it anyway and binge out from severe deprevation.

If you want to lose weight , download Myfitnesspal learn to use it , go to the gym and lift weights and look to drop 1 - 1.5 pounds per week, that's the correct way and the safest way of doing it and will also produce the best results. Hollywood actors have medical teams monitoring them 24/7 during these extremes and also 'Probably' steroid use when needed.

Blacktie.

I mean come on. You can't be serious that there's a diet called the snake diet! So close to snake oil.

OP this sounds like a terrible idea. Chances are afterwards you'll continue your old eating habits which will gradually bring you back to homeostasis for that amount of food which I guess for you is 78 kg.

Doc07

Irishcrx wrote: »

It's not a good idea , for one you will lose a lot of your muscle along with fat - Bale didn't exactly look the best in that film now......Hollywood actors have medical teams monitoring them 24/7 during these extremes and also 'Probably' steroid use when needed.

Good point. But if there actually are 24/7 services in Hollywood to help actors achieve this I’m fairly sure they are not legit. As a general rule the celebrity doctors who inject rich people with crap have nothing to do with actual healthcare and weren’t exactly the top of the class types. That applies to Ireland/UK as well as Hollywood

Doc07

Irishcrx wrote: »

It's not a good idea , for one you will lose a lot of your muscle along with fat - Bale didn't exactly look the best in that film now......Hollywood actors have medical teams monitoring them 24/7 during these extremes and also 'Probably' steroid use when needed.

Good point. But if there actually are 24/7 services in Hollywood to help actors achieve this I’m fairly sure they are not legit. As a general rule the celebrity doctors who inject rich people with crap have nothing to do with actual healthcare and weren’t exactly the top of the class types. That applies to Ireland/UK as well as Hollywood

rubadub

QuintusFabius wrote: »

nothing else apart from water and vitamin supplements..

don't forget the smokes and whiskey

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/gq-film-christian-bale-interview

Your crash diet for The Machinist has been well-documented - a can of tuna and an apple a day, plus plenty of whisky and cigarettes. But you lost a fair bit of weight for 1998's Velvet Goldmine, too...

Yes, although I didn't do the rakish rock-star thing all that successfully, I have to admit.

klm1

Generally I would say taking an actors advice on losing weight or indeed anything major in your life is a terrible idea. An actors weight can seesaw up and down depending on the role they are trying to fill and they have a team around them to monitor their health while they binge/crash diet.

super_furry

Chop off a leg and you'll easily lose a couple of stone AND the results will be instant. No waiting around at all!

wakka12

It sounds like a set up to fail straight away. Maybe try three apples, and 3 cans of tuna. Except swap one can for a can of lentils to go with at dinner, and swap another one for a can of chickpeas and eat it with some vegetables for lunch
Maybe swap one of the apples for a banana at lunch, and another for a bowl of berries after dinner with yogurt. Oh look now its a balanced healthy diet that will actually give your body nutrition and you wont be depressed and hungry all the time!

You could get an amazing body in a very short time from eating considerably more daily than an apple and some tuna, itll still take restraint and commitment, but dont need to go to any stupid unfeasible extremess

Hoboo

Why are people so obsessed with losing weight, rather than losing fat and gaining muscle. Starve yourself, lose your arse, keep your belly.

Irishcrx

Hoboo wrote: »

Why are people so obsessed with losing weight, rather than losing fat and gaining muscle. Starve yourself, lose your arse, keep your belly.

This in a nutshell. I don't think people really understand that weight and fat are not the same thing.

Blacktie.

I think you can make the assumption people mean fat when they say weight loss. I've never heard someone say they want to lose a load of muscle.

silverharp

Irishcrx wrote: »

This in a nutshell. I don't think people really understand that weight and fat are not the same thing.

if you are 10, 20, or 30 kg over weight and not an athlete its kind of a moot point I would have thought. its easy enough to have a couple of other targets and leave weight as being the balancing number.

Mellor

Hoboo wrote: »

Why are people so obsessed with losing weight, rather than losing fat and gaining muscle. Starve yourself, lose your arse, keep your belly.

People who are significantly overweight need to lose fat and only fat.
If they lose fat, they will weigh less. So they say they want to lose weight. It's pretty straightforward.

silverharp

While I don't really give a monkeys about what some Hollywood actor is up to, fasting is a perfectly valid approach to weight loss and it doesn't get any simpler than not eating. If someone is obese the body will use fat as fuel and from what I gather, people that have lost large amounts of weight by fasting havnt needed tummy tucks at the end, so the body is smart enough to consume excess protein along the way.
There are plenty of people out there doing one or two days fasting a week or alternative day fasting is another approach, and others again might do a ~5 day fast every couple of months.

Irishcrx

Nobody is saying that fasting doesn't work , I've tried the intermittent fasting programs before on 18/6 and they were very effective - of course they work for some people and for others the extreme can lead to binge eating and failure it depends on the person.

And yes , losing large amounts of weight when your obese is fine I wouldn't be worrying too much about muscle loss vs fat at that stage but in saying that if you did start lifting weights and starting as you may mean to go on you would no doubt thank yourself as you get slimmer as you would produce better results.

Lower weight , people who are in and around 11 - 18% bodyfat would need to worry about muscle loss as they don't have the excess fat reserves of a obese person and extreme unmanaged fasting would result in muscle loss without a program as their body would consume both for fuel - that's a fact.

The person who submitted this post originally is not obese.

Dial Hard

Irishcrx wrote: »

The person who submitted this post originally is not obese.

Also, I think some people are thinking "This is just a celebrity diet" and aren't familiar with the film in question and the lengths Bale went to to achieve the weight he is in it.

This is the weight loss the OP is claiming to want to emulate:

Hoboo

Mellor wrote: »

People who are significantly overweight need to lose fat and only fat.
If they lose fat, they will weigh less. So they say they want to lose weight. It's pretty straightforward.

Well no its not straight forward for the majority of people. The term overweight in itself has the meaning of having too much fat, but it should actually be overfat to distinguish the difference. Fat is not weight. Its fat. It does weigh a number, but so does muscle.

Someone who is 'overweight' (has too much fat), needs to lose weight but only fat. So they eat fook all, and certainly not enough protein. The body looks for protein and attacks the muscle, not the fat. They lose weight, so think its great, but all they've done is reduce their muscle content. Thats my point. The very term 'lose weight' focuses people on a number (the weight), rather than a specific goal (lose fat). Arse, arms and legs gone. Fat remains.

Its straight forward, but not as you put it.

italodisco

You can bet your life that Christian bale had a nutrient drip in his arm during any of those drastic weight cuts.

Actors like that are all on growth hormone etc.

He certainly didn't go on the local 'girlo' celery and water diet with a few slimmers thrown type diet that's for sure lol.

italodisco

The key to losing weight is eating below maintenence, over time, crash diets result in carb sensitivity / change in insulin response etc.

What you lose very soon returns

Alf Veedersane

Hoboo wrote: »

Someone who is 'overweight' (has too much fat), needs to lose weight but only fat. So they eat fook all, and certainly not enough protein. The body looks for protein and attacks the muscle, not the fat. They lose weight, so think its great, but all they've done is reduce their muscle content.

And all that will still largely happen if they eat boatloads of protein and don't actually do any resistance exercise.

Unless they're not supplementing with something anabolic. Other than whey and creatine...

italodisco

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

And all that will still largely happen if they eat boatloads of protein and don't actually do any resistance exercise.

Unless they're not supplementing with something anabolic. Other than whey and creatine...

The only way to drop weight and maintain muscle is to use anabolic steroids.

This is the honest answer and the factual one.

Male celebrities will definitely be on trt dose or higher testosterone whilst doing so, all prescribed by expensive private clinics who'd give you anything for the right price

Mellor

Hoboo wrote: »

The term overweight in itself has the meaning of having too much fat, but it should actually be overfat to distinguish the difference.

Distinguish it from what exactly?
Unless over-muscle is a thing, there's nothing to distinguish it from. So the synonym is fine.

So they eat fook all, and certainly not enough protein. The body looks for protein and attacks the muscle, not the fat. They lose weight, so think its great, but all they've done is reduce their muscle content. Thats my point.

While that's possible, it's not what happens to everyone trying to lose weight.
Most importantly, if somebody is that clueless about diet, then they'll still be clueless if we called it "overfat". They'd try to Lee fat, and still lose muscle.

The very term 'lose weight' focuses people on a number (the weight), rather than a specific goal (lose fat). Arse, arms and legs gone. Fat remains.

The weight is aneasy way to track changes. Even the most clueless person knows it's bodygatvthey want to shift

Alf Veedersane

italodisco wrote: »

The only way to drop weight and maintain muscle is to use anabolic steroids.

I think there's a little more nuance to it than that. It depends how much you're dropping.

Obviously if you're on The Machinist Diet, you lose a boatload of muscle. If you're cutting a few kilos, you don't necessarily lose a lot of weight.

Just adding for the sake of clarity.

italodisco

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I think there's a little more nuance to it than that. It depends how much you're dropping.

Obviously if you're on The Machinist Diet, you lose a boatload of muscle. If you're cutting a few kilos, you don't necessarily lose a lot of weight.

Just adding for the sake of clarity.

Okay, if someone is willing to be patient (which is a rare phenomenon regarding weight loss) they could adjust their macros and eat slightly under maintenence and gradually lose body fat over an extended period of time, there would be muscle loss but very very minimal. They would need to incorporate some form of resistance training.

I'll start cutting in March for 10 weeks, eat 600 cals under maintenence, train in the 5 to 8 rep range and do 4 mornings of interval cardio.... But I will also run 300mgbof testosterone prop and some t3 (thyroid med) for. The duration to keep what muscle I have.

Outside of that I do not cycle any steroids.

Paully D

Bale will have been able to sit on his arse all day whilst doing this and would have had a medical team at his beck and call.

If you have to do any sort of activity, even having to go to work and sit in front of a computer in an office, this is simply not sustainable.

Blacktie.

italodisco wrote: »

Outside of that I do not cycle any steroids.

lol outside of these steroids I don't do steroids. Totally natty brah.

italodisco

Blacktie. wrote: »

lol outside of these steroids I don't do steroids. Totally natty brah.

Not natty at all. Never claimed I was, I'll assume English is not your first language.

Just sensible with my approach, not looking to grow to huge proportions. Well educated in this particular area and using gear just for the cut as I train for strength and not aesthetics which means a rather high caloric intake which equals a fair bit of unwanted body fat.

Also, calling me 'brah' to try be cool and edgy... Hmm...

Considering I wear an old Penny's t-shirt and old bottoms to the gym and keep my head down and train hard, I'd be fairly sure I'm not a 'gym brah', but hey hun, if that gives you something to laugh about then I'm happy for you.

You should seriously consider having your estrogen levels checked!!

italodisco

Oj hold on a Mo, ain't blacktie the guy who gave some advice on a thread about 'Bulking' a few weeks back, advising on caloric targets and how to reach them.... Before actually asking the OP what is his height, weight and tdee?

Hmmm.... Sounds like Dat dere 'bro' science to me

Blacktie.

italodisco wrote: »

Not natty at all. Never claimed I was, I'll assume English is not your first language.

Fair enough it came across that way though.

Also, calling me 'brah' to try be cool and edgy... Hmm...

You should seriously consider having your estrogen levels checked!!

Pot meet kettle.

Considering I wear an old Penny's t-shirt and old bottoms to the gym and keep my head down and train hard, I'd be fairly sure I'm not a 'gym brah', but hey hun, if that gives you something to laugh about then I'm happy for you.

The clothes is what makes a gym brah? News to me.

Oj hold on a Mo, ain't blacktie the guy who gave some advice on a thread about 'Bulking' a few weeks back, advising on caloric targets and how to reach them.... Before actually asking the OP what is his height, weight and tdee?

Hmmm.... Sounds like Dat dere 'bro' science to me

O you mean the one where nobody else replied and I worked off the numbers that he gave me and not offering any specific argets myself? And then gave pretty general guidelines on how to overeat if he's having issues with satiety. Please explain how this was bad advice.

italodisco

Blacktie. wrote: »

Fair enough it came across that way though.





Pot meet kettle.



The clothes is what makes a gym brah? News to me.



O you mean the one where nobody else replied and I worked off the numbers that he gave me and not offering any specific argets myself? And then gave pretty general guidelines on how to overeat if he's having issues with satiety. Please explain how this was bad advice.

Very bad advice, if you don't have someone's stats you can't assume what their daily intake should be to be x amount over or under maintenance.

Also, the clothes certain do go hand in hand with a gym brah.

Typically gym shark / stringer vests / snap back hats.... Just some of the typical signs of a 'fitmisc' manlet / bro.

Oh, and my estrogen is in range, confirmed via bloodwork last week so I'm all good!!!

Blacktie.

italodisco wrote: »

Very bad advice, if you don't have someone's stats you can't assume what their daily intake should be to be x amount over or under maintenance.

He gave a calories amount and I advised on that. I'm failing to see the issue here.

Oh, and my estrogen is in range, confirmed via bloodwork last week so I'm all good!!!

I think this was a whoosh moment... Anyways good job getting bloods done. Too many people just go with the be grand school of thought.

italodisco

italodisco wrote: »

Very bad advice, if you don't have someone's stats you can't assume what their daily intake should be to be x amount over or under maintenance.

Also, the clothes certain do go hand in hand with a gym brah.

Typically gym shark / stringer vests / snap back hats.... Just some of the typical signs of a 'fitmisc' manlet / bro.

Oh, and my estrogen is in range, confirmed via bloodwork last week so I'm all good!!!

Damn, forgot to add the most important part, gym brah massive generally don't train legs just chest and arms chest and arms chest and arms....

Whereas my legs were my main focus from the very start and still are.

Ain't no gym brahs sitting at home right now feeling excited about training legs, then again maybe I'm just odd and have a secret leg fetish I'm unaware of lol