The usually buff Mark Wahlberg is really dropping the pounds. 
 
 On Monday, he was spotted filming his next movie "The Gambler," looking extra thin, which only supports what he told Extra last month about the role. 
 
 "I'm trying to get as thin as I possibly can. I'm playing a literary professor who also has some serious addiction problems, trying to get ready for that," he said. 
 
 In fact, he added that he's in the process of trying to get to 150 pounds, which would mean a 40-pound loss. 
 
 Looks like the former Calvin Klein model reached his goal weight. 
 
 He joked in January that he was tempted to steal some food from his little daughter. "I was literally going to rob my almost 4-year-old daughter for her little blueberry muffin. It's getting bad," he said. 
 
 Hopefully filming is over soon! 

 Mark Wahlberg apparently noticed how Matthew McConaughey dropped 50 pounds and won an Oscar. 
 
 Wahlberg has reportedly lost 61 pounds for his role in the upcoming film "The Gambler," according to People.com 
 
 The "Lone Survivor" star dropped all that weight to play a literary professor with addiction issues. 
 
 "I started at 196 and got down to 135 ... I began with a liquid diet. Then I completely changed my training program and gave up wine, bread and pasta. Now I'm eating small portions of protein throughout the day and jumping rope a lot," he told the website. 
 
 "The Gambler" is set to hit theaters next year. 
 
 This film image released by 20th Century Fox shows Mark Wahlberg in "Broken City." (AP Photo/20th Century Fox, Barry Wetcher) 
 
 As most of the civilized world knows, McConaughey brought home a best acting Oscar for playing an emaciated AIDS victim in "Dallas Buyers Club." 
 
 Contact Tony Hicks at Facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup.TonyHicks or Twitter.com/insertfoot.
– Mark Wahlberg is the latest male celebrity to lose a drastic amount of weight for a movie role, the San Jose Mercury News reports, citing an interview the actor gave to People. "I started at 196 and got down to 135" while filming The Gambler, in which he plays a professor struggling with addiction, Wahlberg said. "I began with a liquid diet. Then I completely changed my training program and gave up wine, bread, and pasta. Now I'm eating small portions of protein throughout the day and jumping rope a lot." The movie is out next year; you can see a thinner Wahlberg in a photo from last month here. (One columnist's take on actors starving themselves for roles: "obscene.")