Hulk Hogan lost 40 pounds and gave up alcohol after witnessing his body ‘shut down’ on him

Former professional wrestler says he also had to ‘stop’ drinking after he caught himself getting ‘too aggressive’

Hulk Hogan has spoken candidly about the lifestyle changes he made after his body “shut down” on him, with the former wrestler revealing that he’s given up alcohol completely and lost 40 pounds.

The WWE Hall of Famer, 69, opened up about implementing healthier habits during a “Gym & Fridge” video for Men’s Health, where he reflected on his former routines and the impact they ultimately had on his body.

In the clip, Hogan, whose real name is Terry Gene Bollea, revealed that his “pre-match meal” used to consist of “three Miller Lites and two Tylenols,” while his post-match meal consisted of “probably 12 Miller Lites”.

However, according to Hogan, he decided to give up alcohol entirely six months ago, after he realised he had been using it as a way to “numb” himself.

“I don’t drink alcohol at all. I just don’t drink, don’t take Tylenols. I don’t do anything except drink really good water,” Hogan said, before noting that he gave up alcohol “completely” six months ago. “I just got tired of it. It got to be a way to kind of numb me a little bit because I had a bunch of crazy business problems and personal stuff going on at the time.”

Hogan also revealed that he chose to stop drinking after realising that he was “getting too aggressive” with alcohol. “I caught myself after I would train, getting too aggressive with alcohol. So I just had to stop it,” he explained.

The former professional wrestler, who lost 40 pounds over the last two years, also credited an experience 15 years ago for his decision to change his lifestyle, as Hogan recalled how his body had “shut down” on him after 40 years of wrestling.

“About 15 years ago my body kinda shut down on me. I had several knee surgeries … and then after wrestling 40 years almost, my body shut down on me,” he told the outlet. “I went in for one back surgery and it turned into 10 back surgeries. Both knees needed to be replaced. Both hips were replaced. A couple surgeries on my face from getting my orbital socket broken a couple times.

“And it ended up being 25 or 26 surgeries, or a couple more, over a 10- or 12-year period.”

According to Hogan, the experience “changed the game” for him and encouraged him to change his “whole lifestyle”.

“I changed my whole lifestyle because, at the time, being in so much pain and getting older and older, I couldn’t carry that much weight,” he said. “And when you’re sedentary and you’re not moving and wrestling every night, it’s easy to put weight on.”

The world renowned wrestling star said he ultimately decided to strive for a weight of 265 pounds, an amount he’d last weighed when he was in “ninth grade”.

To reach his goal, and to overhaul his lifestyle, Hogan changed his eating habits, with the 69 year old revealing that he has a cup of yoghurt, a banana and organic coffee for breakfast each morning, while his lunch usually consists of proteins such as chicken, steak or raw tuna.

The same is true for Hogan’s dinners, as the wrestler revealed dinner “usually consists of either steak or chicken or tuna”.

“It’s pretty much the same,” he admitted, before adding that he also likes to indulge in “organic cookies”.

According to Hogan, he also began omitting sugar from his diet after realising it was causing inflammation in his joints.

“Sugar had to be eliminated immediately,” he recalled, as he explained that making his body “healthy” became much more important to him than making it “numb”.

As for how he feels now, Hogan said he feels “great” and “alive”. “I feel great. Without all the other extra stuff, you actually feel alive, because a little bit of pain makes you know you are alive,” he said.

This is not the first time Hogan has opened up about the lifestyle changes he’s made since retiring from wrestling in 2012. In May 2023, the Hogan Knows Best star told Men’s Health that he decided to stop taking pain medicine and drinking alcohol after becoming “sick of the brain fog, the trouble sleeping, feeling tired all the time, and not being myself”.

According to Hogan, he was able to get “consistent” with his training “as soon as [he] cut back on the alcohol and straightened out [his] diet”.

At the time, Hogan also expressed his gratitude for the lifestyle changes, which he said benefitted him both mentally and physically, as he admitted he “didn’t think this kind of transformation was possible at this stage” in his life.

“My whole lifestyle has changed,” he said.