The “Remember the Titans” star who once played high school student Louie Lastik is gaining admirers and muscles all at once.
The actor born Ethan Suplee is widely famous for starring as an overweight football star under Coach Herman Boone, portrayed by Denzel Washington.
However, since the 2000 role, Suplee has lost a drastic amount of weight, leaving fans drooling after sharing photos of his journey to reducing from more than 500 pounds.
Falling somewhere between a thirst trap and a transformation photo, Suplee uploaded a two-photo Instagram collage on Jan. 10 of one younger version of himself and a current version.
The left photo was the “Boys Meets World” star in his plus-size days wearing a gray sweatsuit. The right side was his current self, shirtless and ripped while flexing his muscle.
“Quitting refined carbs, sugars, and seed oils won’t guarantee you get lean and muscular. It is possible to get lean and muscular eating all 3. And if you do get lean and muscular, you will be healthier,” he wrote above the collage originally shared in 2022 on Twitter.
In Daily Mail’s report of his weight loss, fans were left stunned.
One person said, “Weight loss makes him look different facially because I didn’t/don’t recognize him after the loss, only when he was heavy, but he looks a lot better, healthier and happy. And I remember him from his Remember The Titan days. Good movie.”
Fans who took a further scan of Suplee’s Instagram page, where he documents his transformations online believe he did more than just focus on his physical fitness.
“You can see the scars on chest from fat removal also look at his naval area,” wrote one person, while another said, “Full credit to him but it appears that he’s had skin removal surgery too, which is understandable given the degree of significant weight loss.”
A fourth said, “A great actor , he’s been losing weight for a while but he’s unrecognisable now. Good luck to him.”
Suplee was a part of many comical moments in “Remember the Titans” alongside Ryan Gosling, Wood Harris and more.
In one scene, after a moment of tension in the locker room, the boys played a game of the dozens as they exchanged “Yo mama” jokes about each other casually.
After a joke about one player’s mother and her hairy back, Suplee’s character walks in holding his right lower back.
“Lastik, man what happened to you?” said loudmouth talker Petey Jones, played by “Clueless” actor Donald Faison.
Lastik replied, “Man I just gave your mom a piggyback ride and she weighs twice as much as I do,” which had all the boys in the locker room laughing.
“No, that’s a mama joke,” added football star Gerry Butler, portrayed by actor Ryan Hurst.
Getting back to Suplee’s much more slimmed down appearance, one individual offered advice to others writing, “Makes Ozempic users think again, natural is possible and is by far the healthier option as it becomes a way of life.”
The 6-foot-1 actor once weighed 536 pounds at age 24. He has since lost more than 300 pounds to date after battles with drug and alcohol addiction in rehab, as noted in an interview with the “Today” show in 2021.
Upon entry at rehab, he was told the facility did not have a scale for patients of his size despite weight being a requirement for intake.
“I was utterly horrified,” Suplee revealed, noting that he gained more weight while there. “I’d eat and eat. It’s what I’d always done.”
Suplee told People that dating his now-wife, Brandy Lewis, is what inspired him to start taking his weight loss seriously back in the early 2000s. The two had been seeing each other for about a year at that time but remained friends since the age of 16.
Suplee explained that his relationship with Lewis made him curious about life and what it could be like in the future with her, which encouraged the weight loss journey.
“I became, for the first time in my life, kind of interested in the future and having experiences with her,” he stated in June 2022. “Like spending a day walking around a museum or going on a trip or hiking that I just wasn’t physically able to do.”
After years of losing and gaining, he lost weight again by ditching diets and focusing on strength training. He had a goal of reaching 10 percent body fat and reached it at age 44 when he got to 9 percent body fat.
He also led a 30-day accountability forum with people who had the same goal as him. Over the decades of losing weight, he would often hit his goal and rapidly undo it with unhealthy habits.
Despite the massive weight loss, Suplee has been left with loose skin and scars that he is proud to wear and show how far he’s come.
In a “Men’s Health” interview, he stated, “The shadows haven’t been enhanced. There’s loose skin. There are scars. This is who I am.”
In 2020, the funny actor told Lewis Howes on “The School of Greatness” podcast that in order to partake in those physical activities with her he knew he had to make changes.
“I went and found a guy who has a liquid diet you can do for up to two months … and I crushed that two months [and lost] 80 pounds,” said the 48-year-old.
Since being on shows like “My Name Is Earl” and movies like “American History X,” he now hosts a podcast called “American Glutton,” where he talks to experts and regular guests about the country’s obesity crisis.
Suplee has also played a voice character in Disney’s “Vamprinia” and two other Denzel Washington-led movies, “John Q” and “Unstoppable.” He has an estimated net worth of $4 million.
