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Mark Wahlberg working out at F45 Training in Jupiter, Florida on May 25, 2021. The Palm Beach Post-USA TODAY NETWORK

Mark Wahlberg hated his 11,000-calorie diet for 'Stu' role: 'It was fun for about an hour'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 7/16/21

The before-and-after interviews are just as starkly contrasting as the before-and-after photos.

Mark Wahlberg had 30 days to film his forthcoming biographical drama Stu, so he had to go to extreme lengths to pack on 20 to 30 pounds. While Wahlberg is usually a man of extremes, this time he hated it.

"Unfortunately, I had to consume for two weeks 7,000 calories [per day], and then for another two weeks 11,000 calories [per day], and it was fun for about an hour," the 50-year-old actor and producer said during Thursday's (July 15) The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. "It's such a hard physical thing to do."

"I mean, losing weight, you just kind of tough it out," he continued. "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."

The two-time Oscar nominee admitted that the task was "absolutely" more difficult because of his age. (He turned 50 on June 5.)

"Once the metabolism starts to slow down, it gets really difficult," Wahlberg told Fallon. "I had been 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. And we're also crazy enough to have financed a lot of it myself, 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."

The reality of the situation was not what Wahlberg seemingly anticipated while forecasting his weight gain with Jimmy Kimmel on April 8.

"After we do the boxing scenes, I get to put on as much weight as possible over the course of the film," Wahlberg said on Jimmy Kimmel Live at the time. "So I'm challenging myself to put on 30 pounds in the next six weeks. ... They want me to do it as healthy as possible. I'm like, 'Dude, I've been on such a regimen for so long, I just want to eat every in sight. I want to go to bakeries. I want to go to Denny's. I want to get pancakes. I want to get everything that I can possibly get my hands on."

On May 3, Wahlberg shared a side-by-side photo three weeks into his transformation process for the titular role:

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A post shared by Mark Wahlberg (@markwahlberg)

Wahlberg, of course, kept fans up to date in typical motivating fashion as he trained to work off all the extra padding he needed to portray Stuart Long:

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A post shared by Mark Wahlberg (@markwahlberg)

Back with Fallon, Wahlberg described the plot of Stu: "It's a true story. He was a boxer. He tried to become an actor. He fell in love, and in order to kind of win the girl over, he wanted to get baptized. And then he had this horrific accident, and then he once he got baptized, he wanted to go all the way, and he became a priest."

Stu was directed and written by Rosalind Ross. Mel Gibson, Jacki Weaver and Teresa Ruiz are among Wahlberg's listed co-stars.

Before Stu is ready, you can see Wahlberg in Joe Bell, in which he again portrays the titular character in a drama based upon a true story. It hits theaters next Friday (July 23). Watch the trailer below.