Zac Efron blended chicken to bulk up for Marine role

Zac Efron gained 25 pounds (11.3 kilograms) for his new role as a Marine in The Lucky One by guzzling a chicken puree.

The High School Musical hunk stars in the upcoming film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' bestselling novel, about a Marine who searches for the woman he believes is his good luck charm, and Zac Efron felt he needed to beef up to make his portrayal a convincing one.

He tells Cosmopolitan magazine, "We met with a bunch of staff sergeants at Camp Pendleton (in Southern California). Most of them were my height, but they really had a lot of extra weight on them. So, for the role, I must have put on 25 pounds."

But the actor admits he had to find creative ways to help pack on the bulk because he was simply tired of chewing all of his food.

Zac Efron says, "If I could lay out on a table what I ate in one day, your jaw would drop. It was thousands and thousands of calories. One day I put three chicken breasts into a blender and hit 'puree', because I just couldn't chew. Chewing was taking so long!"