Hugh Jackman Is ‘Bulking’ Up for Wolverine by Eating Over 8,000 Calories a Day: Chicken Burgers, Salmon and More
Zack SharfMar 6, 2023 2:13pm PT
20th Century Fox Licensing/Merchandising / Everett Collectionnone
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How Aubrey Plaza’s Makeup Artist Achieved Her Bold Red Lip on ‘SNL’Hugh Jackman is officially in Wolverinemode. The actor shared a photo of his daily meal plan as his bulking phase goes into overdrive ahead of filming “Deadpool 3,” in which he will reprise the role of Wolverine opposite Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool. The film marks the first “Deadpool” movie and Jackman’s first time playing Wolverine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Bulking. A day in the life,” Jackman wrote as a caption while sharing a photo of the six meals he will eat in a given day. “Thank you, Chef Mario, for helping me stay healthy and properly fed whilst… Becoming. Wolverine. Again.”
Jackman’s meals include black bass (2,000 calories), Patagonia salmon (2,100 calories), two chicken burgers (around 1,000 calories each) and two grass-fed sirloins (1,100 calories each). That means Jackson is consuming over 8,000 calories a day now as he gets bulked up for Wolverine. To put that into perspective, Jonathan Majors ate 6,000 calories for four months in order to be play a bodybuilder in his buzzy Sundance movie “Magazine Dreams.” Jackson is eating far more.
Back in January, Jackman told Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show” that he was building up to eating 6,000 calories a day ahead of playing Wolverine. Jackman was on Broadway at the time starring in “The Music Man.”
“I’m building up. I’m on about 4,500-5,000 calories at the moment,” Jackman said at the time. “I wore a heart rate monitor [for ‘The Music Man’] because my trainer said, ‘I need to know what I’m working with here, because I’m trying to bulk you up.’ I burned 1,500 calories in the show, eight times a week. So she goes: ‘Oh, you gotta eat.’ So I was eating 4,500 calories a day, it was not pretty. Now I’m just eating and training.”
One thing Jackman won’t be doing to bulk up is taking steroids. The actor said during a January interview on HBO’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace” that the physical prep to play “Wolverine” often took a toll on his body, but he never once turned to steroids to pack on pounds of muscle.
“Over the years people have wondered, did he juice?” Wallace asked. “Did he take steroids?”
“No, I love my job. And I love Wolverine,”Jackman answered. “I got to be careful what I say here, but I had been told anecdotally what the side effects are of that. And I was like, ‘I don’t love it that much.’ So no, I just did it the old school way. And I tell you, I’ve eaten more chickens — I’m so sorry to all the vegans and vegetarians and to the chickens of the world. Literally the karma is not good for me. If the deity has anything related to chickens, I’m in trouble.”
