Hugh Jackman’s weight loss journey: intermittent fasting, calorie counting, and a lot of chicken helps the actor lose pounds and get shredded

Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman’s diet and workout regimens to build muscle for roles includes a strict weekly workout routine, and eating lots of chicken

The Australian has been known to have triple the calories recommended for a man of his age, as well as to go into calorie deficits, and eats in an 8-hour window

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To play Wolverine in the X-Men films, Australian actor Hugh Jackman has had to bulk up and get shredded more than once in the past quarter-century. How does he do it? Photo: Getty Images

Published: 7:15am, 18 Mar 2024Updated: 2:09am, 30 Mar 2024

Actor Hugh Jackman has been synonymous with Wolverine since his first outing as the Marvel character in the 2000 film X-Men.

Nearly 25 years on, the Australian is not quite ready to hang up his claws – in 2023, the 55-year-old hit the weights again for his role in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). Below, we take a look at his eating and workout regimen for building movie muscle.

Counting the calories

In March 2023, the actor shared photos of the six meals he would have eaten on any given day for Deadpool 3.

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in a still from Deadpool 3. Photo: 20th Century Studios

Individually labelled with calorie amounts, the meal boxes included black bass with veggie rice and herb sauce (2,000 calories), salmon with potatoes and hot sauce (2,100 calories), two servings of chicken burgers with sweet potatoes (1,000 calories each), plus two portions of grass-fed sirloin with noodles (1,100 calories each).

Altogether, that adds up to 8,300 calories a day.

As the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans notes, the daily recommended caloric intake depends on age, sex, height, weight and level of physical activity.