Zac Efron recently spoke about about some of the absolutely wild expectations put on men in Hollywood regarding their looks, namely their physiques . Certain movies require their male stars to undergo stressful training programs that ultimately do more harm than good.
He said he doesn’t want anyone to think he’s complaining , instead he’s choosing to be open about an experience that took an extreme toll on his physical and mental health.
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Zac Efron recently opened up about his grueling ‘Baywatch’ regiment.
He’s calling attention to how the physiques seen in that movie, and many others like it, are simply unattainable to most people. For those who can attain it, it’s unsustainable, as the routine needed to keep it up can cause serious damage.
It stressed his body out completely.
“There’s just too little water in the skin. Like, it’s fake; it looks CGI’d,” Efron told Men’s Health for their October issue, “And that required Lasix, powerful diuretics, to achieve. So I don’t need to do that. I much prefer to have an extra, you know, 2 to 3 percent of body fat.”
Diuretics are also known as water pills, and they’re used to get rid of excess water and sodium in the body.
He had to make unreasonable sacrifices.
He was eating the same three meals every day to maintain his extreme looks, and was training all the time, to the point where he was losing sleep. He even said no matter how late shooting ran until he was committed to waking up at 4 A.M. every day to start working out.
“I started to develop insomnia,” he said.
“I fell into a pretty bad depression, for a long time. Something about that experience burned me out. I had a really hard time re-centering. Ultimately they chalked it up to taking way too many diuretics for way too long, and it messed something up.”
He wasn’t able to feel like himself again until 6 months after the movie wrapped up.
He started returning to a more normal, albeit still extremely healthy, lifestyle, making sure to take care of his body properly instead of pushing it past its limits for aesthetics.
And good for him! No movie is worth destroying yourself physically and mentally. In fact, nothing is, movie or otherwise!
h/t: ET
