The star of the films “Bae” Christian Bale puts himself through cruel experiments that not everyone can repeat.
However, his experience can be useful for those who are planning to lose weight at once and a lot.
Christian Bale is a serious dramatic actor, and his role in The Machinist is proof of this. However, the first thing you will notice in this film is not Christian’s performance, but his impossible thinness. According to the script, Bale's character does not sleep or eat for a year. To play this role, the actor had to lose 28 kilograms in 4 months. As Christian Bale himself says: “I wanted to lose more weight, but they stopped me in time.”
After an interview with the film actor, one gets the impression that he managed to lose weight mainly through self-discipline. If there were any difficulties, they were mostly of a psychological nature. Christian lost weight on his own, focusing only on his own well-being. Many friends were worried that he was ill. But the actor claims that he felt good. He felt calm and even peace. Christian calls the desire to prove to himself that he is capable of much for the sake of an interesting role, the desire to gain new impressions, one of the main incentives in the fight against his own body.
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Christian Bale's character in the film The Machinist
In Brad Anderson's film, Christian Bale's character is named Trevor Resnick. He is a machinist whose long-term insomnia has led to physical exhaustion. Trevor's appearance and behavior alienate his colleagues, who gradually move away from him. The main character finds peace in the company of the prostitute Stevie and Maria, a waitress in a diner where he is a frequent visitor.
Trevor Resnick is haunted by short flashes of repeated images. Vague visions become the cause of developing paranoia. Every day the man's condition worsens. No longer able to think clearly, Trevor begins to suspect that the bizarre events are a concerted effort by people planning to drive him crazy. Obsessions creep deeper into Trevor's mind as he begins to receive various clues. At work, a man attacks his colleague, after which he is fired. He withdraws more and more into himself and withdraws from the outside world, and his condition continues to deteriorate.
How Christian Bale lost weight
As Christian Bale himself says, for this he had to not eat and move a lot. According to the script, Trevor Resnik was exhausted from insomnia, having not slept for more than a year. In order to get into the role, Christian went on a strict diet. The daily calorie content of his diet was gradually reduced to 300-400 kilocalories.
For four months he drank only coffee, ate canned tuna and fresh apples. In addition, he took a complex of vitamins and drank a lot of water. When the actor was hungry, he tried to distract himself with something else, for example, by reading books. The actor tried to spend his free time at home, avoiding communication with other people.
He supplemented his diet with grueling workouts - he ran until his muscles weakened and he simply could not move his legs. Poor health and weakness were constant companions of such a diet. Sometimes because of this we even had to change the shooting time.
Consequences
After The Machinist was filmed, Christian Bale even had to undergo treatment. Treatment consisted of a system of proper nutrition and rest. In addition, it was necessary to get rid of toxins that had accumulated in the body during fasting.
Christian Bale accomplished something of a feat in order to play the acting role. To do this, you need to have a very significant incentive and have an iron will and desire to achieve the goal.
The consequences of such weight loss may affect the actor’s health in the future. After all, prolonged fasting affects the general immune system, causing hormonal imbalance and persistent health problems. Sharp changes in weight from 83 kg to 55 kg, and vice versa, can cause disturbances in the functioning of the heart, which may simply not withstand such drastic changes.
And vice versa
It’s funny, but for his next film, “Batman,” Bale had to quickly regain his fighting weight, which he did with honor (bringing it to 90 kg). As it turned out, the actor overdid it because he no longer fit into the Batman suit. So he had to lose weight again. True, not by 30 kg, but only by 10...
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Christian Bale has two diets. He uses one for weight loss, the other for weight gain.
Christian Bale is a world-famous actor of British origin, familiar to viewers from such films as “The Dark Knight”, “American Psycho”, “The Prestige”.
He has long been famous for his desire for metamorphosis: in order to get into the role as much as possible, Christian is ready to sacrifice his own appearance and even health.
Over the years, Bale has repeatedly radically changed his physical form for filming. Throughout his acting career, his weight ranged from 55 to 90 kilograms.
- For example, for his role in American Psycho, where the character Christian was obsessed with appearance, healthy food and exercise, Bale regularly worked out in the gym and ate healthy, thanks to which he weighed 81 kg and was in excellent physical shape.
- After the movie "Reign of Fire", where he played the role of a dragon hunter, his weight was about 83 kg.
- In the film “The Machinist,” the actor played the role of a man with a serious mental disorder who did not eat or sleep for a whole year. In order to understand his hero as best as possible, “to be in his shoes,” Bale lost 28 kilograms in just four months, torturing himself with a strict diet. Moreover, the contract did not require such sacrifices - the dramatic weight loss was the initiative of Christian himself. At the peak of his thinness, his weight was only 55 kilograms, which is very little for a man.
- Then, for the role of the superhero Batman, he again gained weight up to 90 kg and...
- Again I dropped it to almost 60 for the films "Rescue Dawn" and "The Fighter".
Christian has great endurance and tries to give 100% on the set, for which he is ready to torture his body to the limit.
Before filming The Machinist, Christian became so engrossed in the role of Trevor Resnick, an exhausted, insomniac man, that he went on a diet that would seem unrealistic for the average person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrMeYEsSc_E
The daily amount of calories he consumed was about 300, which is 10 times less than the norm recommended for a healthy person. With such a diet, not only fat mass is instantly lost, but also muscle mass, since the starved body used up all the reserves of the available mass to maintain vital functions.
- In addition to the diet, the actor tried to run while he had the strength. His goal at that time was to burn as much muscle and fat as possible, and aerobic exercise without proper nutrition forces the body to use up the available reserves of substances to the maximum.
- In addition, Christian distracted himself from the desire to eat through favorite activities, such as reading books.
- He also tried to spend all his free time at home and did not attend star parties, so as not to be tempted to eat or drink too much.
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Bale subsequently admitted that he managed to lose so much weight only thanks to discipline and dedication. While losing weight, he was guided only by his own feelings, practically without resorting to the recommendations of nutritionists.
Friends, relatives and colleagues expressed their concern about the actor’s condition, but he himself claimed that his health was quite normal.
What was the diet: Christian Bale used the following menu to lose weight:
- For his morning meal, Bale relied on a cup of black coffee, to which the actor did not add sugar or its substitutes.
- For lunch it was supposed to be canned tuna in its own juice. You could eat 200 g of this fish. The drink was again black coffee, unadorned.
- For dinner, the actor only drank a cup of coffee.
- During the day, 1 small green apple was allowed.
- To reduce harm to the body, the actor took multivitamin complexes.
With such a diet, not only fat mass is instantly lost, but also muscle mass, since the starved body used up all the reserves of the available mass to maintain vital functions.
Bale subsequently admitted that he managed to lose so much weight only thanks to discipline and dedication. While losing weight, he was guided only by his own feelings, practically without resorting to the recommendations of nutritionists. Friends, relatives and colleagues expressed their concern about the actor’s condition, but he himself claimed that his health was quite normal.
During attacks of hunger, he read books - this allowed him to simultaneously relax, learn new information and, of course, forget about food for a while. During his weight loss, the actor stuck to home comforts. He did not go anywhere, since communication with relatives and friends implies not only conversations about life, but also additional food or drink.
After you achieve the result, you need to consolidate it. In pursuit of an ideal body, it is sometimes worth giving up your most favorite sweets and dishes. In the first few weeks, try to avoid sugar and hot spices. You need to forget about flour immediately, introduce fatty foods gradually, eat fried and smoked meat no more than once a week.
Christian's experiments did not stop there. For the film Rescue Dawn (2006), he lost weight again to 61 kg, only to gain 83 kg for the film The Dark Knight (2008). After 2 years, he weighed 66 kg in the film “The Fighter”, and for “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012) he recovered to 90 kg.
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The actor is completely immersed in his roles and lives them together with his hero, so it was important for him not to portray someone, but to be him. With all my admiration and respect for Christian Bale, I would like to separately emphasize that such experiments on your body and health can only be carried out under the supervision of a doctor.
I would like to note: no matter what result you want to achieve - lose weight or gain weight - to achieve your goal, physical exercise must be mandatory and regular!
Star diet diet
Christian Bale's diet for The Machinist was difficult and exhausting, both physically and emotionally. The actor sharply reduced the caloric content of food consumed in order to get rid of fat deposits and muscle mass. At the time of preparation for filming, Christian Bale's height was 183 centimeters and his weight was 83 kilograms. In 4 months, the actor lost 28 kilograms.
Christian Bale's diet menu was monotonous. He ate the same foods every day. Actor's daily diet:
- 1 can of canned tuna – 96 calories per 100 grams of product.
- 1 apple a day – 47 calories per 100 grams of product.
- 3 cups of coffee – 2-5 calories per 100 ml of drink.
Apart from tuna, apple and coffee, the actor drank a lot of water daily to maintain a normal metabolic process in the body. Thus, the energy value of the diet was no more than 300 kilocalories. For comparison, the daily allowance recommended by doctors for an adult man leading an active lifestyle is 2500-3000 kilocalories.
Long-term consumption of foods with low nutritional value negatively affects the functioning of the body and, as a result, a person’s well-being. For the normal functioning of internal organs, the body must receive vitamins, so an important component of Christian Bale’s diet was taking a complex of vitamins and minerals.
"Batman"
The Batman Begins project in 2005 told viewers the backstory of the adventures of the hero from Gotham City, Bruce Wayne. The role of Batman in the first part of Christopher Nolan's dark trilogy became Christian Bale's ticket to big-budget cinema - for this work he received $9 million.
Christian Bale in the action movie "Batman Begins"
After such commercial success, Christian did not waste himself on one-day projects, but, as before, carefully studied the scripts offered to him. More important for him was always the name of the director - the one who stood at the head of the entire film. Therefore, in the following years, he managed to collaborate with Terrence Malick (“The New World”), and with James Mangold (“The Prestige”), and again with Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight”).
Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Christopher Nolan on the set of The Dark Knight
Three years after being transformed into Man-Bat, Christian once again donned the costume of Bae, where his savior of Gotham City faced the charismatic king of chaos, the Joker (the legendary role of Heath Ledger). In 2009, the actor agreed to play in the continuation of the story of John Connor in the action film Terminator 4: The Future Begins, in which he later became disappointed. More successful that year was his role in the gangster saga “Johnny D.”, where he played a police officer hunting for Johnny Dillinger himself (Johnny Depp).
Christian Bale in the gangster saga "Johnny D."
Physical activity
Christian Bale's character in the film is severely emaciated, with bones clearly visible on his body. To achieve this state, the actor was forced to give up strength exercises aimed at gaining muscle mass. One of the components of Christian Bale's diet for the film "The Machinist" was cardio training, aerobic exercise and isometric exercises. The actor ran a lot every day to burn as much fat as possible.
Following a strict diet combined with daily physical activity leads to moral and physical exhaustion and loss of strength. In his interviews, the actor admitted that there were days when it was hard for him to climb the stairs. This condition is a natural result of Christian Bale's diet.
"American Psycho"
And even before entering the new millennium, Christian surprised both fans and critics with another unexpected role, starring in the philosophical drama American Psycho. Director Mary Herron saw in the actor Patrick Bateman, the psychopathic hero from the novel by Bret Easton Ellis. There is almost no point in talking about this film - you need to watch it. If, of course, you are ready to survive the brutal murder of Jared Leto and Bale's race with a chainsaw for innocent victims. Christian Bale in the film "American Psycho" (trailer) Chris carefully prepared for this role - he changed his four front teeth, got rid of his English smile and pumped up. After the release of the provocative film, Christine became one of the most sought-after actors.
Christian Bale in the film "Equilibrium"
The 2000s began for Christian with the melodrama “Captain Corelli's Choice” with Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz. We should also highlight his acting work in the dystopia “Equilibrium” (2002), which is still one of the actor’s favorite films among his fans.
The actor's well-being
Christian's extreme weight loss caused alarm among his family, friends and fans. Relatives were worried that the consequences of the diet would negatively affect Bale’s health. But the actor himself was calm. He was confident that he could achieve the ultimate goal and professionally play one of the most difficult roles of his career.
While on the diet, Christian Bale led a secluded life. To avoid the temptation to eat forbidden food, the actor stopped attending social events and star parties. Christian Bale read a lot to take his mind off food and cope with emotional and physical discomfort.
Subsequently, the actor admitted that he managed to lose a lot of weight in such a short time only thanks to dedication and strict discipline. He did not resort to constant consultation with doctors and nutritionists, deciding to completely focus on his own feelings and trust his body.
Childhood
By origin, Christian himself (full name Christian Charles Philip Bale) calls himself English, and he was born in Pembrokeshire in west Wales. Due to his father's profession as a commercial pilot, the Bale family moved frequently. They eventually settled in the USA, in California. Christian is the youngest child in the family; he has three sisters.
Christian Bale as a child
During the first 15 years of his life, Christian changed 15 cities and got used to living out of suitcases. By Bale’s own admission, this was not a traumatic experience for him; on the contrary, thanks to frequent moves, he forever retained a passion for change and vivid impressions. This is what he later found in acting.
Christian Bale with his parents and sisters
Almost all of Christian’s close relatives were involved in creative professions in one way or another - his mother was a circus performer, and his grandfather was a children’s comedian. By the way, one of Bale’s sisters later became an actress and director, and the other became a musician.
Consequences of extreme weight loss
For 4 months, Christian Bale prepared for his role in the film The Machinist. During this time, the actor lost almost 28 kilograms and convincingly played a physically exhausted man with an unstable emotional state. The film was highly praised by critics and enthusiastically received by millions of audiences around the world.
After filming The Machinist, the actor began preparing for the film Batman Begins. To get back into good physical shape, he switched to a high-carbohydrate diet and began strength training to gain muscle mass.
Actor career
The boy's first roles were small roles in advertising for Lenor and breakfast cereal in 1983. Through him, he was invited to play in the play “The Botanist,” where a 10-year-old boy found himself on the same stage with Rowan Atkinson. In 1986, Chris was invited to appear on television in the drama “Anastasia. Anna's mystery."
Christian Bale in his youth
A year later, Christian made his debut in a feature film - he played in the Soviet-Scandinavian film “Mio, my Mio” based on the children's fairy tale by Astrid Lindgren. Christian Bale in the fantasy “Mio, My Mio” (1987) Then Bale had already attracted the attention of Steven Spielberg himself and pulled out his lucky ticket - in 1987 he played the main role in the military-historical drama “Empire of the Sun”. Out of 4,000 applicants for the role, Spielberg was attracted by Christian - with his maturity and lack of fear of being judged by the audience. His hero, a boy from a diplomat’s family who found himself in Japanese captivity after the occupation of Shanghai, attracted attention with his “reality” and character development.
Steven Spielberg and Christian Bale on the set of Empire of the Sun
A poignant and vital picture about the fate of ordinary people during World War II touched thoughtful viewers, and the burden of such fame fell on the shoulders of 13-year-old Christian that he almost left the cinema. For the role of Jim, the young actor deservedly received the award from the US National Board of Film Critics as "Outstanding Young Actor".
Christian Bale as Jim Hawkins (Treasure Island)
After a short break from fame, Chris returned to the screen in 1989 in the film adaptation of Henry V by Kenneth Branagh and played Jim Hawkins in the TV movie Treasure Island.
Still from the musical “News Sellers”
In 1992, a new stage in his development as an actor began - Christian began to be trusted with “adult” roles. He played his first role of this kind in the musical “News Sellers,” which failed at the box office, but brought Bale recognition among filmmakers.
Christian Bale demonstrated not only his ability to dance, but also his dramatic talent in the 1993 drama “Swing Kids,” where he played a German guy with Robert Sean Leonard who was passionate about forbidden swinging in Nazi Germany.
Christian Bale in the drama "Swing Kids"
The following year, a small but memorable role followed in the family film Little Women, where Bale played the lover of Winona Ryder's heroine. He was never afraid to try himself in different genres and roles - in the 90s he starred in the comedy Metroland, the film adaptation of Henry James's Portrait of a Lady with Nicole Kidman and the Shakespearean comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. Particularly worth highlighting is his role in the musical drama about glam rock of the 70s by Todd Haynes “Velvet Goldmine”, where Bale appeared in an unexpected role - a journalist infatuated with another man.
Christian Bale diet: reviews from doctors
Healthy nutrition is gaining popularity all over the world. Its supporters criticize “starvation” diets and advocate a healthy lifestyle. Doctors and nutritionists support this trend.
Christian Bale's weight loss is a good example of how a person can deliberately harm his health. According to medical reviews, a sharp restriction of calories causes disruption of the functioning of internal organs and reduces the efficiency of the body’s defense system. Consequences of extreme weight loss: exacerbation of chronic ailments, vulnerability of the body to pathogens, disruption of the digestive system.
Not only the physical but also the emotional state of a person suffers. Without food, the body experiences severe stress, so those losing weight may suffer from insomnia and headaches, and the risk of depression also increases.
