Mark Wahlberg Laments 11,000-Calorie Diet Weight Gain While Showcasing Before and After Photos

Mark Wahlberg's latest film project required him to gain at least 20 pounds in just three weeks. At one point, he was eating 11,000 calories a day for two weeks. Wahlberg has already started the process of losing weight. While he is excited about the project he did this for, he told Jimmy Fallon it wasn't an easy process.

"Unfortunately, I had to consume, for two weeks, 7,000 calories [per day], and then for another two weeks, 11,000 calories," Wahlberg said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. "And it was fun for about an hour. It's such a hard, physical thing to do. Losing weight, you just kind of tough it out—you just don't eat, and exercise. And this, even when you're full, I would wake up after a meal and have another meal. I was eating every three hours. It was not fun." Fallon also showed off the before and after photos that Wahlberg posted on Instagram in May.

Wahlberg's age did not help either, as Fallon pointed out. "Yeah, absolutely," Wahlberg agreed. "Once the metabolism starts to slow down, it gets really difficult. I was trying to get this movie made for six years, we only had 30 days to shoot it, and so I wanted to really make it happen." Wahlberg celebrated his 50th birthday on June 5.

The Daddy's Home star noted that he also financed much of the new project himself. "So I knew I was on a ticking clock on my own dime, and you get things done pretty quickly when that's the case," he said. That new project is Stu, a biopic about Father Stuart Long, a boxer-turned-priest who almost died in a motorcycle accident. He was later diagnosed with a rare degenerative muscle disease. Long died in 2014. It is a passion project for Wahlberg, who stars alongside Mel Gibson. Rosalind Ross, Gibson's longtime partner, directed the film.

When Wahlberg started gaining the weight for the film, he was looking forward to it, he told Jimmy Kimmel in April. He said his team wanted him to do this "as healthy as possible," but he wanted to eat food as unhealthy as possible. "I'm like, 'Dude, I've been on such a regimen for so long, I just want to eat everything in sight.' I want to go to bakeries, I want to go to Denny's, I want to get pancakes," he said at the time, notes E! News. "I want to get everything that I could possibly get my hands on."

Wahlberg seems to be back in shape, based on the frequent workout videos he shares on Instagram. He will next be seen in Joe Bell, which hits theaters on July 23 following its debut at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. Wahlberg plays Joe Bell, a man who attempted to walk across the U.S. to raise awareness for bullying after his son Jadin Bell took his own life in 2013.