Chris Pratt Says He Was 'Fat and Unhappy' Before Getting into Shape

ABC/Rick Rowell(LONDON) — After packing on the pounds, Chris Pratt transformed himself for last summer’s blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy. Now, appearing buff on the cover of Men’s Health UK, the Jurassic World star opens up about how he felt being overweight.

“When I was fat and unhappy, the only moments of respite I got were when I was eating. I felt great shoveling food down my neck and totally negative in between,” he tells the magazine. “Now meal times are sometimes lame, because that’s the way it can be when you’re eating healthily. But all the time between meals, I feel great.”

Pratt in part blames falling in love with wife, actress Anna Faris, for his initial weight gain.

“I put on weight because I’d fallen in love with a woman who loved to feed her man,” he explains. “We were drinking a lot of wine and having fun. I was her little Hansel out in the woods and she was fattening me up to put me in the fire. It was like Momma Bear and Papa Bear. She would eat a little bit, I would eat all of mine and the rest of hers.”

Pratt kept gaining weight for his role as Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation, the NBC comedy that ended earlier this year. “I announced it to the whole cast, and then it became a bit of a game: how fat can I get and how fast,” he tells the magazine. “I would eat four burgers at every read. I became really fat and got up to almost 300 pounds. I had real health issues that were affecting me in a major way. It’s bad for your heart, your skin, your system, your spirit.”

Now, Pratt chooses to be optimistic about life.  “Your attitude is a choice,” he says. “It’s how I was raised. Are you going to leave people feeling good? It’s about understanding that your attitude is contagious and asking yourself if it’s worth catching.”

Pratt stars in Jurassic World, which opens nationwide June 12.

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