Christopher Schwarzenegger Says Giving Up 1 Thing For Lent Helped Him Lose 30 Lbs In 40 Days

Christopher Schwarzenegger, the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, recently opened up about his significant weight loss after photos of him looking much slimmer started circulating online.

The 27-year-old credited part of his body transformation to remaining steadfast during the 40 days of Lent just before Easter this year.

“Weirdly enough, I gave up bread for Lent,” Schwarzenegger said during the Inaugural Beacher Vitality Happy & Healthy Summit panel discussion with Shriver, Kelly Osbourne, and host Jeff Beacher. “I don’t know if anyone’s Catholic in here, but I gave up bread for Lent.”

“I was like, ‘Well, if I’m giving up bread, I might as well just take the opportunity and I’m a good Catholic boy, so I’m not going to break it,'” he added, per People. “And that was my one rule. I was like, ‘I’m not going to break Lent.’ And so I lost 30 pounds just through that.”

The son of two celebrities noted that his overall weight loss journey has been ongoing for five years.

Christopher Schwarzenegger breaks his silence on dramatic weight loss — and the one food he cut out to shed 30 pounds-Page Six pic.twitter.com/M5AIbuMuI0

— News Flash (@CryptoProbing) May 12, 2025

“It was a big process,” he said during the panel discussion on Saturday. “I started in 2019 when I was living in Australia. I was on this big trip. I made it a big [deal] like, ‘Oh, I’m going to go out and do all this stuff, be in Australia,’ and I just saw how much my weight was prohibiting me from doing the everyday activities.”

“I was like, ‘I want to go skydiving.’ And my friends were like, ‘Yeah, no shot.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I can’t skydive,'” Schwarzenegger said.

He also discussed trying different methods to eat healthy as far back as high school. 

“I tried everything. I was doing meal delivery things in high school, and I remember feeling like a weirdo when I was bringing weird lunches to school,” he said.

“It’s not an overnight thing, but it took a lot of trial and error,” Schwarzenegger continued. “And even still to this day … when you’re saying, oh, before and after photos … I don’t feel like I’m an after yet. I don’t feel like I’m at the point.”

Christopher is the youngest child of Schwarzenegger and Shriver. His older brother, Patrick, is an actor who recently appeared on season 3 of “The White Lotus.”

Patrick previously praised his brother’s healthy living efforts, writing in a now-deleted Instagram post in April, “Proud of you. New job. Crushing in the gym. Whole new person. Can’t wait to see what this year brings,” according to Page Six.

The family also includes Katherine Schwarzenegger, who is married to actor Chris Pratt. Of the three, Christopher has kept the lowest public profile. This panel discussion marks the first time he has publicly addressed his weight loss. 

Trump Admin Sets Out To ‘Fix’ Everyone’s Least Favorite Car Feature

President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is on a mission to “fix” the despised start/stop technology in newer cars that shuts down a vehicle’s engine when stopped in traffic or at a red light in the name of conserving fuel and saving the planet.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said on Monday that his agency would begin looking into how it can modify the start/stop feature. The EPA currently incentivizes car manufacturers to make cars with the start/stop system. The technology can give vehicles anywhere between a 3% to 10% fuel economy boost.

“Start/stop technology: where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy. EPA approved it, and everyone hates it, so we’re fixing it,” Zeldin wrote on X.

Start/stop technology: where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy. EPA approved it, and everyone hates it, so we’re fixing it. pic.twitter.com/zFhijMyHDe

— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) May 12, 2025

Zeldin did not elaborate on specific plans to change the feature.

Start/stop technology was first used by European car manufacturers on hybrids, but over the past decade, most automakers began implementing the system in many of their new vehicles, including SUVs and pickup trucks. By 2019, however, more automakers began giving drivers the option to shut off the start/stop system as people began to complain. Buick first gave drivers that option with its 2019 Envision based on “customer feedback,” according to Car and Driver. Ford, GM, Volvo, and Lincoln also began including the shut-off option in their start/stop vehicles between 2017 and 2018.

While most cars with start/stop technology allow drivers to deactivate the system, they can’t turn it off permanently, and owners of start/stop cars who don’t want to use the tech still have to turn it off every time they get back in the car. The EPA’s fuel-economy test results for vehicles with the start/stop system are affected if drivers turn the system off. According to Car and Driver, “If a vehicle’s stop/start system can be permanently turned off, then the vehicle’s fuel economy is tested both when stop/start is active and when it’s off. The EPA then averages the two tests for a resulting fuel-economy rating found on the car’s window sticker—which is certain to be lower.”

The response to Zeldin’s announcement was overwhelmingly positive on social media, with many people calling the objective “common sense.”

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