How John Goodman Shed 200 Pounds

After reaching a peak weight of 400 pounds after years of cycling through diets, John Goodman decided it was time to change his habits. In addition to boxing, he said, "It was basically just portion control."

Watch: John Goodman Says His Body Is "Messed Up" After 200-Lb. Weight Loss Transformation

Plenty of people enjoy a reboot, but there is one role John Goodman hopes he never has to revisit.

As the actor prepared for the premiere of The Conners, the Roseanne spinoff, he acknowledged that he had lost roughly half of the weight he once carried on his 400-pound frame. Even so, he did not see much reason to celebrate it publicly.

"It was basically just portion control, and 'I don’t need it,'" the Righteous Gemstones star told AARP The Magazine in 2018 about eating less. "I was just shoving everything into my mouth. But I don’t want to be an example to anybody when the weight comes thundering back on—when I start eating Crisco out of the can with a spoon and a side of confectioner's sugar."

He knew the pattern well from years of losing and regaining weight.

"I'd lose 60 pounds in a summer, gain it all back. 70 pounds, 80 pounds," he told The New Yorker. "And that got tiring."

After overcoming alcohol dependence, he realized, "I was eating alcoholically after I stopped drinking."

That led him to undergo stomach surgery. "I took steps so I wouldn’t have to do that anymore," he said.

Nearly a decade later, he continues to maintain the slimmer version of himself, recently showing off his changed physique on social media and at a premiere for his film with Tom Cruise, Digger.

But the transformation required a deep commitment.

When the original run of Roseanne ended in 1997—after Goodman’s Dan was initially written to die of a heart attack before the reboot reversed that storyline—"There was an emptiness inside me," he told AARP. "I still have it, but I know what it is now. You recognize it and go, 'There it is.' You don’t have to fill it with another pork chop or another drink."

He chose sobriety in 2007 after a 30-year struggle with alcoholism. "It was 30 years of a disease that was taking its toll on everyone around me and it had got to the point where, every time I did it, it was becoming more and more debilitating. It was life or death," he told The Guardian. Even then, he still felt a sense of emptiness.

Liam McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

"But instead of filling it with booze or cocaine or food, you just acknowledge that it’s there," he told ABC's Peter Travers in 2016 while discussing his changed eating habits. "You can’t fill it. And you go on and live with it."

He said he had simply grown exhausted by the cycle of self-neglect.

"You're shaving in the mirror and you don't want to look at yourself," he said. "It gets dangerous."

Determined to leave behind his couch-bound routine—"It takes a lot of creative energy to sit on your ass and figure out what you're going to eat next," he told People in 2010—he hired health coach Mackie Shilstone to guide him through workouts six days a week and help eliminate sugar from his diet.

"I'm breaking a sweat," he said of his first 100 pounds lost, "but I'm not going nuts."

Most importantly, he stopped repeating the same cycle.

"In the old days, I would take three months out, lose 60 or 70 pounds," he recalled to ABC, "and then reward myself with a 6-pack of Bud or whatever and just go back to my old habits."

So this time, "I wanted to do it slowly, move, exercise," he said. "I'm getting to the age where I can’t afford to sit still anymore. And it gives me the energy to work, 'cause work is very draining."

His workouts have been intense. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2023, Goodman said, "It's usually just an hour, hour and a half of hitting the mitts, hitting the bags, learning footwork. It's great."

Paired with a Mediterranean-style diet built around fish, vegetables, olive oil and nuts, the routine has worked well for him.

On days when he does not feel ready to box, he does not force it. "I never got good enough where I would trust myself to spar because once I get whacked in the face, I don't know if I wouldn't lose it," he told Rolling Stone.

Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

Instead, he stays active by walking his dogs, using an elliptical machine or doing other low-impact exercise.

After fracturing his hip while filming Digger—"I was walking on set in my stocking feet, which was very stupid," he admitted to The New Yorker—he has focused on "building up the core, balance, strength training, stuff like that, so I don’t fall down."

If he needs a reminder of how far he has come, a glance in the mirror is enough.

"I'm still trying to get used to my face," he said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "It's weird. I think of myself as one way and then I look at myself, 'Oh, wow!'"

Although he called the change "strange," he added, "It's fun to get used to."

He is one of many stars who have adjusted to a major health transformation. See what they've shared about their wellness journeys.