Keeping up the faith! While Mark Wahlberg, 50, has long been known for his shredded physique, the Boston-native had to ditch his usual wellness routine to pack on 30 extra pounds for his movie Father Stu.
Mark opened up about his transformation into real-life boxer-turned-priest Father Stuart Long with Entertainment Tonight, admitting the extra calories were less fun than they looked. “I had six weeks to put on about 30 pounds,” he explained.
That timeline meant Mark, usually a fitness nut, had to consume as much as possible. “I started with 7,000 calories for the first two weeks and then 11,000 calories for the final four weeks,” he explained.
And while letting loose might have seemed enjoyable at first, the Ted actor admitted “None of it was fun.” Mark did say his “first meal was amazing,” but overeating quickly lost its luster. “After that, when you’re already full and you have to eat again, and at my age, it’s just not a healthy thing to do, to try to put on that kind of weight in that amount of time,” he explained.
Mark was still mindful of his health during the process, so he tried to bulk up with dense, nutritious calories instead of pure junk. “I wasn’t eating anything that you would think, ‘Oh my God, I get to sit on the couch and eat ice cream and pizzas,'” he explained.
“… I tried to do it in a healthy way. It was a dozen eggs and a dozen pieces of bacon, two baked potatoes, a Porterhouse steak, two bowls of white rice, and a glass of olive oil. The first two weeks were high proteins. The second two weeks were a lot of carbs. The last two weeks starches, and then sodium, just to kind of get as bloated as possible. So not a lot of fun.”
He went on adding, “There’s nothing worse than when you’re full from the last meal and you have to eat again.” Father Stu comes out in theaters Apr. 13, 2022.