When preparing for a film, it’s not uncommon for an actor or actress to be asked to slim down or bulk up for a particular role. Usually during short spaces of time, those truly dedicated to their art go the whole hog and gain or drop the pounds at a dramatic weight.

Here are some of the most notable examples…

Slimming down

One actor most notable for his rollercoaster dieting and bulking is Christian Bale. A number of roles have seen him dramatically lose or gain weight, sometimes within incredibly short times.

For his role in the 2004 film The Machinist, a psychological thriller in which he played the role of an industrial worker who had not slept for a year, Bale took it upon himself to lose as much weight as possible.

Losing 70lbs, Bale drank only coffee and ate only one apple and one tin of tuna a day to starve himself into the role. He was so committed to the part that the director had to tell him to stop.

Yo-yo diets and bulking up

For the upcoming film Pain and Gain, Mark Wahlberg really bulked up for his role as bodybuilder. Talking to E! Online, Walberg said “I was eating 10 meals a day and drinking mass gainers.

“A lot of getting up at two in the morning to eat another meal and I was still full from the meal at 10 ‘clock.”

Immediately after becoming a wraith for The Machinist, Bale set to bulking up for his role as Batman in Batman Begins.

Taking on a rigorous exercise regime, Bale ignored nutritionists’ advice to start off on vegetables and soups and instead took to eating junk food.

“Christopher Nolan asked me to try and put on as much weight as I could,” said Bale, “because he would find it very difficult to convince the studio to cast me if I was a beanpole.

“In doing so I overdid it, because I enjoy gorging. I was ignoring advice… I went straight onto pizza and ice-cream.

“I got very sick during that time but I enjoyed getting sick. I didn’t mind it at all.”

To get bulked up like that so quickly, Bale should have used a diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein, we tried to get an expert opinion from someone who knows about bulking up using the correct nutrition and supplements. Reggie Johal from predatornutrition.com helped us by saying:

“Given the correct diet, training and supplementation his transformation is achievable. However, it’s pretty hard to go from not eating hardly anything at all to eating 3000+ calories in order to pack on size, so that’s where a weight gainer would come in. When someone severely diets their body is primed to gain back body fat at an accelerated rate as their hormone levels are out of whack. It makes sense to utilise a testosterone booster like Triazole from Driven Sports, as well as a product that increases insulin sensitivity such as Slintensity. These can help shuttle nutrients to muscle rather than fat ensuring that when calories are increased you do not just gain a lot of body fat.”