Chris Jericho Details The Diet That Led To His Body Transformation
People are seeing a lot less of Chris Jericho nowadays – 30 pounds less, to be precise.
In an interview with GQ, the AEW star recalled that he reached a burly 240 pounds – which he blamed pandemic-era inactivity – but that weight gain created a health issue during a December 2021 tour of London with his band Fozzy, when he was hospitalized with a pulmonary embolism. After returning home, he began his new diet in January and slimmed down to a leaner 210 pounds in eight weeks.
"The diet consists of just very small snacks, all infused with proteins and nutrients, and then a bunch of supplements—B12 fat burners, potassium, vitamins," he said. "I remember the first day it was like, "Okay, here's your first meal." And it's one little package of oatmeal. And I was like, well, what else? I'm the type of guy who will have six eggs and bacon and a couple pieces of toast and a banana. But no, this is it. I was like, 'Are you f**king kidding me?'"
However, there is a major caveat to this diet plan: Jericho kept eating throughout the day.
"So you'd have this little pack of oatmeal, and then just as you're starting to get ravenous, like two and a half, three hours later, you get a little chocolate bar or a bag of chips or a cup of soup," he continued. "Or you might get a chocolate shake, but it's not a big protein shake like you're used to—it's this wee little box. And then once a day, you would get eight ounces of protein with a salad, so you could have a couple turkey burgers or four eggs or whatever."
Water on Tap
Under this plan, Jericho found himself striving to make his daily big meal – or, in this case, a quasi-big eight-ounce meal – which would be followed by one or two more snacks later in the day.
"And that would be it," he added. "Like any other diet—because I've been on a few of them—once you get into the hang of it, it's really not so bad."
Jericho preferred this approach to intermittent fasting, which he denounced as "the biggest scam in dieting." He also noted that this diet has him drinking roughly 100 ounces of water daily, which is a new experience for him.
"I was never much of a water drinker, but now I'm pounding water," he said. "Like, boom, I'll drink 34 ounces—glug, glug, glug. You just gotta retrain your body, and once you're able to do that, it isn't so bad. I can still have a drink. I have my little shot glass for a little vodka, and it's fine."
Jericho is also keeping an eye on his weight to ensure he doesn't balloon up again.
"I'm that guy that carries a scale with me everywhere," he said. "If I'm over 210, I pull back. If it's under 210, well, then I'll have a cheeseburger. If it's 205, then I'll have a cheeseburger and a pizza. If it's 215, then I'll be strict on the diet for a couple days. Once you get there and maintain it, it's okay. You just have to know where you're at."