Adam Devine is putting his health first — from trying stem cell treatments to shedding 30 pounds

From starring in the Pitch Perfect franchise to entertaining audiences as a stand-up comedian, Adam Devine is a pro at making people laugh. But fans of the funnyman might not realize that Devine has battled health challenges stemming from a terrifying childhood accident in which he was struck by a cement truck. These struggles came to a head about three years ago.

“I just started having all kinds of pain and weird spasms, and at one point, the doctors told me that I had stiff-person syndrome,” the Workaholics star tells Yahoo Life. “So, I thought I was dying right before my son was born, and [later] I found out I don't have stiff-person syndrome, and they couldn't figure it out, and they finally just landed on 'your childhood accident has finally caught up to you.'”

Now, Devine is laser-focused on his well-being, going to physical therapy three times a week and undergoing bodywork — which can include acupuncture treatments and chiropractic therapy — twice a week in addition to “stretching all day long.” He's even traveled to Medellin, Colombia, for stem cell therapy. Along the way, he's learned a lot about what it means to put your health first. Here's what we can learn from him.

Be willing to go the distance for your health

Devine says his pain got so bad for a while that he could hardly walk or stand. “I was on a trip to New York about this time last year for my podcast, This Is Important," he recalls. “We went on a podcast tour, and my guys, Blake [Anderson], Anders [Holm] and Kyle [Newacheck] from Workaholics were like, ‘Let's walk here.’ And I tried, and I walked a block, and I'm like, ‘I'm gonna catch a cab.’ And it was only three blocks away. So I caught a cab, and the cab driver was like, ‘No, what are you doing? Just walk.’ And I'm like, ‘I can't, man.’”

That's a moment Devine can’t help but think of when he explains why he made the trip to South America to undergo stem cell therapy to treat his pain. “I had a few friends that have done it, and I had my doctors look into it, because I didn't know anything about stem cells,” says the actor. “They were like, ‘On the record, we don't do that here in the States. I can't say that you should do it, but off the record, if I were you, I would take advantage of this opportunity and go do it.’ So I went to this clinic called BioXcellerator and did the stem cells.”

It’s been about two months since his treatment, and Devine is already feeling a little better. “I’m able to hold my son a little longer,” he says. “I'm able to take longer walks. I'm able to stand a little longer.”

Sometimes you need to change tack

After putting on extra weight during his wife Chloe Bridges’s pregnancy, Devine, who recently partnered with MyFitnessPal, set out to lose 30 pounds. But he soon learned that exercise alone was no longer enough to get his 41-year-old body back on track.

“We were arguing over what's the better pizza — Pizza Hut or Domino's — and I’m like, ‘Let’s get both, and then let’s also get Papa John’s and do a taste test,’” he says of his weight gain. “And then, I'm eating, six, eight slices of pizza, maybe more. And suddenly, I was 30 pounds heavier. I gained more weight than my wife did during her pregnancy, so that's a horrific fact. And then, once my son was born, I was like, ‘This is too heavy for me. This doesn't feel right, so I'm going to lose it.’”

He also realized that he wanted to be able to look back at photos he took with his baby boy and be proud of where he was. “I want to feel a certain way, and I just wasn't feeling like myself when I was a little heavier,” he explains. “I just wanted to feel like myself again and get back to seeing myself in the mirror the way I think I look.”

To help him “get out of this funk," Devine signed up for MyFitnessPal and logged his daily diet. "I've always worked out, but [tracking] the calories and watching exactly what I ate really helped me to where I could work out the same amount or even a little less,” he says. “Before my son came into the world, I would just work out to try to take the calories off. And as you get older, that's harder to do, and it's more important to track your calories."

Find your flow with your support system

Prioritizing his fitness routine as a new dad has been challenging, but Devine says he’s been able to fit in workouts thanks to Bridges’s support. “Chloe’s awesome, [and] she understands how important it is to me,” he says.

Still, the Modern Family star knows that the “why” behind his fitness push is key for them both. “I feel like if I didn't have all these injuries, it might be harder [to find time to work out],” he says. “I feel like my wife has been super understanding because of how bad I was last year. I'm trying to better myself. If I was just being vain, and I was like, ‘I want to look really sexy right now,’ my wife would be like, ‘Hold the baby, change the diaper' — which I am doing [also]. I'm really trying to find the time to do both.”

To make that happen, Devine says he gets up “super early" so he can go to the gym "when the sun is still coming up.” “I'm basically Mark Wahlberg,” he jokes. “That's who I am now.”

Focus on progress versus perfection

This is a “huge mantra” for Devine as he navigates both new fatherhood and prioritizing his health and wellness goals. “It's just baby steps in everything." Just as he's learning to find his own rhythm when it comes to being a good dad, the star is getting a better understanding of how to stay healthy while still making room for the things that bring him joy.

The comedian recalls enjoying a weekend getaway at a cabin with a group of friends. “We play cards, and we do pull-up contests and dumb guy stuff, foot races,” he shares. “You just eat so poorly because the wives give us cookies and cupcakes. We're eating steaks and mashed potatoes and drinking a ton of beer. And then you get back and you're like, ‘Oh, what did I do?’ But if you just track it, then you can offset it in the next few weeks. You can live a life and still stay on track with your health goals.”