DoctorOz: Mark Wahlberg's Intense Fitness Regimen & Breakfast Feud

I just got back from working out with Mark Wahlberg at his F45 gym. Talk about dedicated. I mean, this guy does not mess around. In fact, when Mark Wahlberg put his daily regimen on Instagram, it instantly went viral and big time. His food and fitness discipline is legendary. Mark Wahlberg's daily schedule is insane. At 2.30 a.m., his alarm clock goes off and he starts his day with prayer. At 3.15, he eats a breakfast of egg whites. It's the first of his seven daily meals. By 7 a.m., he's already been to the gym for an hour and a half workout, ready to take the kids to school. At 10.30, Mark may have a grilled chicken salad with two eggs and veggies. On to work calls and meetings. By 1 p.m., it's lunchtime. Three turkey burgers and a sweet potato. After golf, work, family time, and a dip in the cryo chamber to heal his aching muscles, it's 3.30 p.m., time for some grilled chicken and bok choy. Then, another intense second workout of the day. 5.30 is family dinner, usually a lean piece of fish. Then by 7.30, it's bedtime. Nighty night. Then Mark opened up about what keeps him motivated and inspired. Take a look. When I arrived at F45, I had no idea what I was in for. Neither did Mark when he first came. When I walked in, I'd seen something I'd never seen before. People of all ages, shapes, and sizes working out together in a community setting, and it was all about support and love and encouragement. And I've been, you know, now not even using my 2,000 square foot gym in my house. I've come here. Let's do this! F45 is 45 minutes of high-intensity circuit training that focuses on functional or everyday movements. What does working out at F45 do for you? What does it give you that you wouldn't have otherwise? It just gives me another level of inspiration and motivation. It's fantastic. I get excited to come. And, you know, before, I'm like, I'll do whatever I have to do for my job because I'm well-competed and I want to show I'm prepared. But to be able to, like, get really excited about working out again, it's in a group environment like this. And what has it done for you in your life in general? Forget about most of the last five films you've made. If you hadn't been working out religiously, if that wasn't a thing that kept you on the rails, where would you be right now? You know, between my faith and my fitness, you know, and my family, those are the most important things in my life. That's how I start my day. I get on my hands and my knees. I thank God. I'm so grateful because I'm so blessed and fortunate. And then I figure, how do I utilize all those blessings and gifts to help others and inspire others and do all that stuff? And that's what keeps me going. You know, I've got to be a good example for my kids. I've got to be a good example for other people. I've got to motivate other people to be the best versions of themselves. I saw Mark's gratitude in action when he introduced me to some guys from his old neighborhood whose lives took a very different path. So Mark was telling me your stories. Was that pretty meaningful to get out of jail and come do this? Yes. Yes, yes. This is awesome right here. Were you sort of tracking what Mark was going through when you went to jail? Yeah, of course. They seem to come up. The lifestyle we did to the things he was doing. One little pie to a big pie to just better and better. What got you on a different path than them? What happened? Well, the first time I got locked up, I was like, oh my God, once I heard those jail doors closed behind me, and I was literally 16, tried as an adult, 17. I was that big, probably 120 pounds, with real men and scary stuff. That ain't enough to turn you around. And then, of course, then being in the neighborhood and saying, you know what, I'm not going to be in the gang anymore. I'm going to go in the right route. Then you're not with them anymore. You're against them. And then I had more problems then, and got violated my probation and my parole a couple of times. But thank God my parole officers and probation officers believed in me because I could have went back for the time that I had hanging over my head and they gave me a chance to turn my life around. Was there a moment where you looked up and said, God, come help me. I just can't do this. Of course. Every time I got in trouble, I would always then turn to God. But then when I decided that I was going to stay with God, then slowly but surely, good things started happening. Good things kicked into high gear 15 minutes into the workout when Mario Lopez showed up. Oh, my goodness. How you doing? You're doing this. It was a fitness party. Mario Lopez is buff. What was that? Turn all the way there. Where did the time go? That's the thing. It goes by quick. All right, so I'm still alive. I know where the defibrillator is. Mark's going to use my shirt as a barf bag because he had quesadillas for breakfast. He did. I'm fasting. Just vomit right into the breakfast. Did your wife, kids ever get upset that you're working out all the time? Yeah, they always say you don't have to work out that much. But at the same time, they know that Dad is an example. It's the same thing with my faith. I don't push my fitness on them or my faith, but they know that I can't go without it. Mark's extraordinary regime clearly yields extraordinary results. But I wonder if he ever chills. Do you ever hit the snooze button and sleep in? You know what? I let my guy in this morning and I laid down for another 20 minutes because I wanted to be there when my kids woke up and be the first face that they saw, so I woke them up. I love you. Cheat foods. You know what? A little bit of wine and a little bit of pasta. Love red wine. Absolutely. But you know what? We got the Impossible Burger and we have a lot of healthy offerings. I mean, we have salads, we have everything. What about working out brings you joy? What is the feeling it gives you? The greatest feeling I get from working out is finishing the workout. And I get that. After 45 minutes, I admit I was wiped out, but exhilarated. Yeah! Come on, baby. We got to do our challenge now. Great work, doctor. And there was one final question I had to ask Mark. So, if you would give advice to the average person sitting at home right now who may not be able to control every minute of the day, but they can get half an hour, 45 minutes out of the day, would you recommend they have breakfast or not? I would say for right now, no. If you're having a hard time, you know, if you need to lose any kind of weight or you're feeling sluggish, I would say, yeah, let's try a little intermittent fasting. Mark Wahlberg works out twice a day. Fitness is his life, so it's no wonder he needs six to seven meals a day to stoke those fires and keep his body moving. But if your life is just a little less action star and a bit more skip the gym, intermittent fasting has been proven as a great way to hack the system. That's why we made it such a big part of System 20. There was a big review paper in one of our biggest journals, the New England Journal of Medicine, and it found intermittent fasting works by activating a metabolic switch. It flips it. And when your body uses up all the sugar and carb-based fuel, then it switches to burning fat for energy. And in the morning, you're getting that keto-like effect, so you're not hungry. You don't crave a donut or a bagel or anything. So, sure, I canceled breakfast. I own it. But I also brought brunch back. You have it. If you're fasting from 7 p.m. to 11 a.m., we didn't leave you hanging. Here's a hearty, amazing recipe from our System 20 plan, so take a look. Follow me on Instagram at dr__oz to see my entire breakfast battle with Mark Wahlberg. And for more information on our easy-to-follow intermittent fasting plan, go to drOz.com and then share it with people you care about. We'll be right back.