Zac Efron appeared with Chris Williamson for a slow-paced training session in Austin, Texas. The actor once again laid out how he moves his body between roles: from a lean, cut frame to a bulked-up wrestler’s build. He insisted it comes down to caloric intake, food volume, and a well-documented diuretic phase rather than anything more complicated.
Efron explained that his transformation for ‘The Iron Claw’ in which he played wrestler Kevin Von Erich, required him to eat roughly 6,000 calories a day for the first four months of prep.
“I ate about 6,000 calories a day for the first four months. I went from a 29 waist to a 34,” he told Williamson, describing a jump of five inches in about four months.
When Williamson asked if staying lean was ever a concern, Efron said no. “As soon as I lowered the calories, it just came straight up. It just stripped up.”
At his heaviest during that prep, Efron said he hit 205 lbs (93 kg), compared to his current weight of around 175 lbs (79 kg). He described the bodybuilding lifestyle required to get there as isolating.
“You’re so limited in what you can do. It’s so boring,” he said. “You’re eating so much food. You’re either working your butt off to the point of failure, pain, sleeping, or struggling to move around the house to accomplish very small things.”
On the diet itself, Efron said the bulk came from repetitive whole foods.
“Tons of chicken, rice, sweet potato. Too much salmon,” he said, adding that his salmon intake was so high it led to mercury poisoning.
The conversation then turned to ‘Baywatch,’ where Efron again confirmed his use of diuretics to get shredded for shirtless scenes.
“I also took way too many diuretics for that role. It was really, really bad. But luckily my body was able to recover,” he said.
Comparing that role to ‘The Iron Claw,’ Efron said his weight was similar, around 175 lbs (79 kg), but the composition differed.
Fitness YouTuber Greg Doucette has previously questioned Efron’s explanation for the “Baywatch” transformation, particularly his claim that the only thing he used was a diuretic. Doucette argued that diuretics can temporarily reduce water retention and make someone look more defined, but would not explain some of the other issues Efron has described experiencing after the role.
“It was 100% natural and I don’t think he was only taking what he stated,” Doucette said. He then added, “He said, yeah, I took diuretics. I’m like, bro, he took a lot more than just a diuretic.”
Doucette also pointed to Efron’s comments about struggling with his mental health and sleep after filming “Baywatch.” While those experiences do not establish PED use, Doucette argued that they were inconsistent with the effects he would expect from diuretics alone.
“Taking a diuretic, it makes you pee water. It doesn’t mess up your mind,” he said, before suggesting that Efron may have used anabolic roids and experienced hormonal changes after stopping them.
The fitness expert also extended his skepticism to Efron’s preparation for “The Iron Claw,” arguing that the actor’s considerably more muscular frame was unlikely to have been achieved without pharmaceutical assistance.
“He was juiced out of his mind for that one too,” Doucette claimed. However, Efron has not publicly confirmed using anabolic roids for either role.
