Penn Jillette, of the famed magic duo Penn & Teller, reveled how he lost 105 pounds after his high blood pressure threatened his health.

Penn Jillette Lost 105 Lbs.

At 6-foot-7, Jillette said he weighed 330 lbs. when he was taken to the hospital for high blood pressure. The magician was prescribed six different medications to get a handle on his blood pressure, but he wasn’t happy with the idea of being so heavily medicated, so he decided to take a more natural approach: weight loss.

“I was on six very powerful meds to bring the blood pressure down. My doctor said I needed to get my weight down, and if I brought it down 30 to 40 lbs. it would be a little easier to control. And then he said something in passing that completely blew my mind – he said, ‘If you got down to 230, you probably wouldn’t need any of the meds,’” Jillette told People.

Penn Jillette’s New Healthy Diet

Jillette decided to comitt to an extreme weight-loss program, which consisted of consuming only 1,000 calories a day from December through March. Jillette, who reached his goal weight on in March, said that now that he weighs a comfortably healthy 225 lbs., he has stopped regulating his caloric intake so rigorously, but has instead turned to Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutritarian diet, which limits salt, sugar and intake of processed foods. “I eat unbelievable amounts of food but just very, very, very healthy food,” Jillette said. Jillette expanded on his diet on Twitter, clarifying that while his diet is restrictive, he is not a vegan.

Jillette said he has had little to no desire to go back to eating the way he used to, saying his new healthy lifestyle has made him feel better than ever. “I have so much energy and I feel so good. I’m just plain happier,” Jillette said.

The only downside to his rapid weight loss, Jillette joked, has been the cost of the brand new wardrobe required to fit his new, slimmed down physique: “It’s really expensive because the suits on the Penn & Teller Show cost a s—t ton, and so we had to get all new suits!”

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.