HGTV Star Tarek El Moussa On His Drastic Health Journey & Transformation

Tarek El Moussa has undergone drastic changes to his lifestyle – and physique – over the last 10 years, and he is proud to share it.

On Instagram on May 8, El Moussa shared a shirtless photo of himself to show his followers how far he’s come along his health journey.

Instagram

His caption reads: “No joke, 3 years ago I bought a scale and when I saw my health metrics I freaked out and went to the gym the next day! Over the last three years I’ve been in the gym almost every day with my buddy and fitness expert @seantorbati…. I say it all the time, I was an overweight, chain-smoking alcoholic, who was always stressed! It doesn’t matter how tired you are or how beat up you are or how drained you are. We can all come back to feeling like we are in the best shape of our life! All you have to do is get started! Also….can anyone see my ab?”

At the Alzheimer’s Associate California Southland Chapter’s Magic of Music Gala on May 9, the HGTV star shared more about the changes he’s made to his lifestyle, dating back to his cancer diagnosis in 2013.

“The health journey has really been since 2013, but I really stepped it up in the past three years,” he shared at the ceremony. “It’s amazing what we really can do when we focus and we set goals, and you know, Heather has been a huge part of that, cleaning up my diet and really motivating me to take better care of my health.”

The The Flipping El Moussas star was diagnosed with thyroid and testicular cancer in 2013. Then just months after his cancer went into remission, he injured his back while playing golf, sending him down a spiral of months more of a separate medical challenge.

In an excerpt from his book, “Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress in Real Estate, Business, and Life” obtained by People, he called the injury “debilitating.” He also opened up about his struggles with abuse of painkiller medications.

“On a typical day, I would swallow eight or ten painkillers just to get through the day,” he wrote. “Between the Vicodin and the Dilaudid and the morphine, I was high as a kite all day long.”

The book also reveals El Moussa’s side of his story of the 2016 incident during which was detained by the police when he left his family’s home to go on a walk with a gun in hand. The gun was apparently to defend against mountain lions he had seen in the area, and he was held in custody for hours before the matter was resolved.

Since then, the TV personality has lost 60 pounds and made some serious changes that are at last paying off. Among some of the steps of his new regiment are waking up early, taking vitamins, limiting alcohol, and eating “really healthy.” In a comment on his Instagram post, he also revealed that he gave up smoking.

“I’m almost 43 years old, I feel better and I look better than I have in 30 years, so it’s working pretty well,” the 42-year-old real estate agent shared in an interview with Fox News Digital. 

Since 2021 he has been married to Heather Rae El Moussa. He co-parents two children – 13-year-old Taylor and 8-year-old Brayden – with his ex-wife Christina Hall, who was his former co-star on HGTV’s Flip or Flop.

The Flipping El Moussas Season 2 was slated to return in early 2024 but has since been delayed.