Here’s What It Took For Rebel Wilson To Lose 60 Pounds: Sustainable Diet, Exercise, And Self-Love
The Australian actress made the healthy switch and overhauled her lifestyle
Rebel Wilson trended recently after her swimsuit photo on Instagram, showing how much weight she lost over the last year. And definitely, she is looking fab! She does not only look happier and lighter, but she is now leading a much more sustainable and healthier lifestyle.
What did it take? A lot of exercise, a sustainable and healthy diet, and change in her outlook and lifestyle.
A year in the making
It all started in January 2020, when the Pitch Perfect actress took to Instagram to announce that 2020 will be “the year of health.”
“Okay so for me 2020 is going to be called ‘The Year of Health.’ So I put on the athleisure and went out for a walk, deliberately hydrating on the couch right now, and trying to avoid the sugar and junk food which is going to be hard after the holidays I’ve just had, but I’m going to do it! Who’s with me in making some positive changes this year?” she wrote on an Instagram post.
Although the before and after photos show Rebel’s drastic weight loss, the process was a year in the making—which meant she took her time, and did it as healthily as possible. She has been seen on Instagram with celebrity fitness trainer Jono Castano, who has been helping her throughout her journey.
According to an interview with The Sun, Rebel made the decision to lose weight for herself. “It's not like I want to lose weight and get to around a certain number. It's more than that, it's about dealing mentally with why I was overeating and I had a job where I was paid a lot of money to be bigger, at times, which kind of can mess with your head a bit."
The Beet reports that Rebel also opened up about her lifelong struggle with her weight. Rebel shares that she has always been overweight since she was 20 years old. And losing weight has been extra difficult for her because she had to deal with PCOS.
"I would go really hard on the exercise or diet, then gain all the weight back," she said, adding that the medication for her PCOS has made it an extra challenging hormonal rollercoaster ride for the past 20 years. Now that she’s off the medicine, she finally found the courage and the motivation to work harder on her goal.
A sustainable diet and the Mayr Method
Changing what she eats and how she eats was one of the biggest things Rebel had to do to make her goals possible. Eating for her was part of an emotional journey that she had to go through and overcome.
"I used to eat to numb my emotions. I didn't value myself,” said Rebel, talking about how she would eat a whole pack of brownies because no one cared if she did and that she deserved it. But eventually, she realized that she had to tackle the root of her emotional eating to be able to let go of it. "I changed those patterns so now I'm more loving and I treat myself with respect. I'm still working on self-love. it's a hard concept to master.”
With her emotions sorted out, Rebel decided to follow the Mayr Method, a more than 100-year-old diet plan that’s not as restrictive as other fad diet plans.
The Mayr Method eliminates sugar and caffeine, recommends plenty of alkaline food, limits intake of gluten and dairy, and recommends minimizing distractions during meals such as watching TV or using your smartphone. Some of its key rules also include chewing each bite of food at least 40–60 times, eating only cooked food after 3 p.m., avoiding drinking of water with meals, eating the biggest portions earlier in the day, and to stop eating after 7 p.m.
"I eat mindfully, I take my time, I feel satisfied, then I stop eating," said Rebel. She shares she kept her calories to below 1,500 a day.
Committing to exercise
While Rebel would have undergone some intense training with Jono, she says that the biggest thing that made a different in her life was walking. When she's in Los Angeles, she would to go to Griffin Park for a walk or head towards the Statue of Liberty if she’s in New York. She also makes it much more enjoyable by going on treks.
"I never realized how much I liked hiking and getting out in nature. There's nothing better than filling your lungs with fresh air," she says.
Hitting the gym has also become a part of her daily rituals. She shares that when she was filming for The Almond and the Seahorse, she would go to the gym every morning before she starts her day. She was particularly inspired by Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg who says he gets up at 4 a.m. everyday to train, so she’s been putting in 90 minutes of workout every morning even before filming.
Rebel does not deny having the help of science to aid her through the transformation. But she emphasizes that it’s really the little things and the lifestyle changed that contributed the most to her success.
“Obviously, I have access to some amazing high-tech treatments, but what I learned is it’s really the little things that I do every day that make a difference. Like today, I went for a walk at Griffith Park and that's free. Anyone can go on walks and drink more water and do little, consistent things that’ll improve their lives,” she says.
Losing weight at 40 years old
In November 2020, Rebel hit her target weight of 165 pounds. That meant that in 10 months, she lost an incredible 60 pounds.
Talking to inStyle, Rebel says that her journey of losing weight at 40 years old meant a lot to her not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally. She hopes that it would inspire others to make the same decision for their health, no matter their age.
“Now that I know I can do it, sometimes I feel sad that I didn't do it earlier. Maybe I should have tried when I was 30, not 40. But everybody's journey is different, and it's not a race or competition. I've always been a bit of a late developer. I started acting when I was turning 19, which is quite late. And when I came to America as an actress, I was almost 30, which again, is quite late. So I try not to compare myself to other people,” says Rebel.
“It's not too late to start, no matter what age you are,” she adds.
Lead image from @rebelwilson
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