Zac Efron Says His Baywatch Body Isn't Attainable and Required 'Lasix and Powerful Diuretics' to Achieve

Ture Lillegraven for Men's Health

Zac Efron has a new approach to fitness.

Efron, 34, recently told Men's Health in a new interview published Wednesday that while he is currently bulking up for an undisclosed movie role, he is no longer interested in looking as muscly as he did in the 2017 film Baywatch.

"That Baywatch look, I don't know if that's really attainable. There's just too little water in the skin," Efron told Men's Health. "Like, it's fake; it looks CGI'd. And that required Lasix, powerful diuretics, to achieve. So I don't need to do that. I much prefer to have an extra, you know, 2 to 3 percent body fat."

Aside from diuretics, Efron said he was overtraining, eating the same three meals each day and not sleeping enough to keep up with the high level of energy he exerted keeping in shape for the film, according to Men's Health.

While Efron told the outlet he was initially excited to star in Baywatch, he said he wants to raise awareness about long-term negative effects that level of training took on him.

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"I started to develop insomnia and I fell into a pretty bad depression, for a long time. Something about that experience burned me out," Efron told Men's Health. "I had a really hard time recentering. Ultimately they chalked it up to taking way too many diuretics for way too long, and it messed something up."

Ture Lillegraven for Men's Health

Efron began to reconsider his approach to fitness in Australia during the onset of the pandemic, first experimenting with taking a lengthy break from training altogether before re-emerging as "a foam-rolling fanatic" who touts stretching, yoga, massage guns and ice baths as central to his fitness, according to Men's Health.

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"[The ice bath is] my favorite part of the day. Before is when it's most miserable, and when you finally just commit and jump in there," Efron told the outlet. "From that point forward, you've conquered something deep within you; you do not want to get cold."

"That's the simplest philosophy: Anything you don't want to do, make it a habit," he added.

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Efron's new approach features "a new awareness of injury" in his post-Baywatch life and a period of time during which he tore an ACL, dislocated a shoulder, broke his wrist, threw out his back and shattered his jaw — all of which but the latter injury sustained during training, according to Men's Health.

Efron, who stars in the upcoming Apple TV+ film The Greatest Beer Run Ever, also said he no longer eats vegan, after noticing he felt "depleted" while following the diet and opting for intermittent fasting instead.

Ture Lillegraven for Men's Health

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"I started intermittent fasting just after I stopped being vegan. My body wasn't processing the vegetables in the right way," Efron told Men's Health. "So, I decided to stop it and try something new. Intermittent fasting has been really helpful with that."

Efron now eats two meals each day and packs both with protein like chicken and elk; he adds sweet potatoes or quinoa to his dinners, he said. "Morally, of course, I still wish I was vegan."