Jerry Ferrara Opens Up About His Dramatic Weight Loss (VIDEO)
WATCH: Jerry Ferrara On His Dramatic Weight Loss
HuffPost Live
When Jerry Ferrara debuted his 55-pound weight loss in 2011, fans were shocked by the "Entourage" star's new look. Ferrara spoke to HuffPost Live about his stunning transformation and how he lost the weight.
Ferrara, who played Turtle on the hit HBO comedy, said he lost weight for his own health, not for Hollywood.
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"I didn't get in shape because of anything having to do with the public," he explained to host Alyona Minkovski. "Maybe there was a little bit of strategy behind it for transitioning outside of 'Entourage,' but I can promise you, the main goal was to just get healthy."
Jerry Ferrara: Then and Now
It was also important to Ferrara that he was honest with himself about his goals.
"it wasn't like, 'Oh, I want to look a certain way,' because there's only so good it's going to get for me," he joked. "It was more so just feeling better -- I didn't feel good. I mean, I smoked cigarettes, I was really overweight, I was always tired, I couldn't get through a full workout."
To shed the pounds, Ferrara quit smoking and cleaned up his diet. "The smoking part was a little difficult, but as far as like the diet, I actually got sick of eating whatever I wanted, if you could actually believe that. At the time, I did that for years and years."
He also began exercising.
"I played a lot of sports when I was a kid, and through high school. And to kind of get back to competing athletically, even in our old-man version of basketball and boxing, it wasn't that hard. But yeah, I started off -- I could walk like a mile and a half on a treadmill, and now I'll just run for days," he said.
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Looking back on the process, Ferrara said slimming down has also helping him in his professional life.
"I don't think I could have handled some of the work I've done in the last three years if I didn't get into good shape. So it was more about just feeling good. It wasn't about like, 'Oh, look at me, I look good.'"
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