Actor Christian Bale struggled to prepare for his role in new movie Rescue Dawn - because he was only allowed to eat one meal a day.

The Batman Begins star shed a massive 49 pounds (22.2 kilograms) to play a prisoner of war - and was so hungry he often binged on several meals at once.

He says, "I chose not to go to eat with anybody because the second I saw or smelled food, I was like a wolf.

"But there was a couple of times when I got too hungry and ate five meals in one go. Obviously my stomach wasn't prepared for that so I felt terrible afterwards."

The 33-year-old is known for the extreme measures he goes through to get into character - in 2004 he went on a crash diet to lose 60 pounds (27.2 kilograms) to convincingly play an insomniac for The Machinist. (PAW/WNTRE/MT)

Copyright 2007 WENN