Mark Wahlberg has lamented how "nobody wanted to be around him" while he was slimming down for his role in The Gambler.

Mark Wahlberg was "not a happy person" when dieting to lose 60 lbs.

The 43-year-old actor stars in The Gambler as the very gaunt Jim Bennett, a literature professor living a secret double life as a high level gambler. But going from 197 lbs to 137 lbs in six weeks, as required for the role, was a gruelling task for him.

"Im not a happy person," he recalled, when chatting with Collider.com about his required diet. "I mean nobody wanted to be around me. You think its bad if I have too much to drink? Never mind not having any food. Its ten times worse."

Mark shed the pounds before filming commenced as requested by director Rupert Wyatt and producer Irwin Winkler. To do so, he took the advice from "nutritionists and doctors", who prescribed him an eating plan.

"You take this lemon in the morning with this microbiotic thing. Its a little thing that looks like milk," he explained. "Then you have eight ounces of almond milk and one scoop of fiber in the morning, and then eight ounces of almond milk in the afternoon with this other little scoop of powder, and then eight ounces of almond milk in the evening with a scoop of powder - tiny little scoops - and that was it for six weeks."

Finally after six weeks, Mark was able to add green vegetables into his diet plus a small amount of protein. And whilst he managed to successfully complete the diet and shed the pounds, he became "obsessive" in the way he thought about food.

"By the time I was able to eat, and I swear to god all I was thinking about was food, I was obsessed," Mark reminisced.

He added he used to "smell" food in lieu of eating it. And finally re-introducing food into his life was apparently a primal experience.

"By the time I was able to eat I had a giant breakfast. I had pancakes, home fries, eggs, English muffin - I wanted it toasted well, it came back light and I was like, dude Ive been waiting a long time for this, take it back. Normally I just wouldnt eat it. But I felt horrible after I ate the meal. I was sick," Mark admitted.

Source: http://www.tv3.ie/entertainment_article.php?locID=1.803.811&article=154515