Checking Out Celebrity Diets - Will Smith

Posted on Dec 16, 2008 by Andrew in Celebrity Diets & Workouts .

Will Smith has been referred to as “the last great movie star”, “the most powerful actor in Hollywood”, and with over 4.5 billion dollars in box office sales, it’s easy to understand why. He’s represented by one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, Richard Lovett, President of Creative Artists Agency. Will Smith is “the man”. Don’t believe me? Well think Will Smith I am Legend about this: I AM LEGEND made $256 million dollars domestically and Smith’s co-star was a German Shepherd!! The bottom line is, if you put Will Smith in a movie, it’s going to make money… end of story! I guess that’s why he’s got 22 movies in development that he’s slated to either act in, produce or both. But one of his major accomplishments has been his ability to rise to the top of Hollywood while maintaining an amazing physique. So let’s see how he did it in this edition of Checking Out Celebrity Diets!

Diet

Whether portraying a Captain in the military (INDEPENDENCE DAY), the greatest boxer that ever lived (ALI), or a superhero (HANCOCK), Will Smith tends to find himself in roles that require a near perfect physique. And he delivers! To do so, you must maintain a level of healthy eating, even between films. That’s why Smith sticks to the following (How Celebrities Lose Weight):

“His usual diet is restricted and he eats Low Carbohydrate and No Junk Food.”

But it’s more than just keeping a low carb diet, it’s about understanding WHY for the star of the upcoming movie Will Smith Hancock SEVEN POUNDS (Project Weight Loss):

” An important thing about his eating habits are the choices to avoid fast food and eliminate “bad” carbs.

The actor explains that his diet is more a healthy lifestyle and that is due to the fact that for Will a healthy physique is a healthy mind. “I feel like everything in my life depends on physical conditioning. I love eating sweets and everything, but I think the quality of my parenting - is all based on being on great physical condition […] I believe it’s the beginning of finding true happiness,” said the actor.”

While this seems to be his day to day diet routine, Will Smith is at the mercy of his next movie and as such does need to bulk up from time to time. As was the case in the months leading up to I, ROBOT (Men’s Health):

“A high-protein, high-carbohydrate diet maximized muscle repair. With his metabolic rate cranked up from the extra muscle, he slowly reduced his food intake to burn fat, cutting–but not eliminating–carbs. You need carbs to keep your brain sharp and fuel your workout routines, says Foster [Smith's trainer]. After 6 months, Smith’s body fat had shrunk to 7.5 percent, down from 12 percent. And all those zero-body-fat robots never had a chance.”

Carb loading is not uncommon for those who are looking to build muscle, but it’s not the only way to get it done, as Mark’s Daily Apple has shown us. Stay tuned because tomorrow we’re going to take a look at Will Smith’s workout routine in Checking Out Celebrity Workouts!

Here’s the link to Will Smith’s workout routine!

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Tags: checking out celebrity workouts, fitness, health, how does Will Smith stay in shape?, Nutrition, what does Will Smith eat?, Will Smith

11 Responses to “Checking Out Celebrity Diets - Will Smith”

Son of Grok

Dec 16, 2008

4:48 am

“but not eliminating–carbs. You need carbs to keep your brain sharp and fuel your workout routines”… Really now? BS, But he does look great in all of his movies. I will give him credit for that. The fresh prince has done well.

The SoG

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chris

Dec 16, 2008

6:20 am

Well, depending - high intensity metabolic conditioning and the like tends to be pretty glycolytic and will certainly suffer if carbs are too low.

I’d suggest that a decent amount of post workout carbs for muscle repair are also an excellent idea.

Yes you can function and improve without them, but not nearly as well.
I’m not advocating a traditional high carb diet, but eliminating carbs or keeping them REALLY low is probably unwise if you want to perform well.

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JE Gonzalez

Dec 16, 2008

6:44 am

SOG, what you fail to realize, is that there is a low-carb way of leanness and a high-carb way. The problem is that the low-carb way has not gotten any respect and is quickly overlooked.

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Son of Grok

Dec 16, 2008

8:46 am

Clarification. I am not entirely anti carb by any means… I am more anti grain and refined sugar. I probably eat more carbs than most “low-carbers” in the form of tons of vegetables and some fruits.

Chris, I would agree with you on from a performance based aspect. If you are competing especially in endurance sports then some level of higher carbs is probably completely necessary. I would also argue that it is not nessesary to train this way to get healthy and in great shape (which is more what actors are about)

JE Gonzalez, I would be very interested in hearing about your version of a “high-carb” way to leaness. Please e-mail me at sog@sonofgrok.com. I am willing to bet that it involves extreme levels of exercise bordering on overtraining. I could be wrong though.

I would never argue that there is only one way to leaness. I just tend to lean towards the easiest and most efficient

The SoG

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chris

Dec 16, 2008

8:54 am

SOG -

It does sound like we’re on the same page.

I don’t normally track the exact ratios any more but I eat more or less Paleo (with the addition of dairy and the ice cream cheat… yes, I’m a bad caveman). When I was still doing the “track every miserable calorie I eat” thing - it usually broke down to around 45-50%Fat, ~25%Prot, ~25% carbs.

I always found this to be more than enough carbs. I’d argue that HEAVILY carb restricted diets are not healthy because they imply the heavy reduction of fruits and vegetables.

There seems to be a lack of consensus on what “low carb” means as well. I’ve heard people refer to the likes of the Zone (40% carb) as a low carb diet. Ugh…

I’m already lean enough though, I’m concerned with maximizing health and athletic performance now.

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Andrew

Dec 16, 2008

9:23 am

SoG: One thing to keep in mind is that Foster was quoted there out of Men’s Health, which has obviously displayed somewhat of an agenda in the way of training via carb loading. The thing that I found interesting was that he left it very ambiguous by saying “but not eliminating”… although we all know what that means, he could turn around tomorrow and say that he only meant carbs in the form of vegetables and fruit.

Chris: I’ll try and discuss this in another post, but if you’re diet consists of a good amount of vegetables (broccoli and spinach for me) and fruits, you are still getting a decent amount of carbs. While we know that if an actor is trying to bulk up 30 pounds in two months they probably need to check out the high carb approach, for the rest of us who are handling our weight gain/losses with a larger timetable I find that performance is not lost with a low carb approach. For example, in the three months that I’ve been eating Paleo, I’ve gained an increase in sprint speed, endurance, maintained my strength in the way of weight lifting and I’ve seen an improvement in all other forms of functional strength.

JE: I agree with you on the fact that there really are two ways to do it. But I think that the reason low carb leanness has been overlooked revolves around the fact that there is NO central lobby for this lifestyle, because no one will foot the bill for it.

Great discussion guys, let’s keep it going!

All the Best,

Andrew

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MizFit

Dec 16, 2008

1:49 pm

so interesting (and laughed at the bad caveman comment with regards to ice cream. Dibbs (seen those?) make this Miz a bad cave woman as well). and the definition of low carb does swing wildly among us…to many Im uber strict low carb.
here? Im probably a carbaholic.

oh, and a will & jada lover.

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Andrew

Dec 16, 2008

2:16 pm

Hey Miz,

Dibs are pretty awesome! And in terms of being a carbaholic… I wouldn’t say that. It’s pretty obvious that you live a very healthy lifestyle. It’s all about finding what works for you. Paleo works for me. Scott over at Modern Forager just posted a great article on not worrying about the little things:

http://www.modernforager.com/blog/2008/12/15/why-worry-about-the-little-things-when-the-big-things-arent-in-place/

I’d say that eating healthy, whole foods over all else is the biggest part of sound nutrition.

Thanks for the comment!

All the Best,

Andrew

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Tom Parker - Free Fitness Tips

Dec 17, 2008

1:55 pm

Love these posts on celebrity diets Andrew. I particularly admire Will Smith because of the way he has transformed his body. In the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and for most of his early rapping career he was quite a skinny guy. Since then he has filled out a lot and has the perfect physique for the action movies he stars in.

If you look back to Will Smith in the early 90s you really couldn’t imagine that he would ever be starring in action movies. He just didn’t have the look. But fair play to the guy…he has completely transformed his body. He’s an inspiration to all the hard gainers out there because we’ve seen him transform his physique right in front of our eyes.

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Andrew

Dec 17, 2008

5:21 pm

Hey Tom,

That’s really true. The gains that he made from Fresh Prince to Independence Day were enormous… and then he kept that physique all the way to 40!! Amazing!

All the Best,

Andrew

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