Like Christian Bale (The Machinist) and Tom Hanks (Castaway) before him, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has shed some serious pounds for his upcoming film Things Fall Apart.  In the film, Jackson plays a star running back in his senior year of college who is diagnosed with cancer.  Mario Van Peebles (Damages) is directing, and cast himself alongside Jackson, Ray Liotta, and Lynn Whitfield.

Normally weighing in at 214 pounds, the rapper is often seen shirtless and rather ripped at his shows.  After nine weeks of a liquid diet and three hours on the treadmill each day, Fitty shed 54 pounds to achieve middleweight status at 160 pounds.  Jackson promised fans, "I've been eating.  I'll be back in shape in no time!"  Check out some pics of the weight loss after the jump.

I do respect his commitment to the role, but these kind of weight fluctuations make me nervous.  I can't imagine the health effects are actually worth it: like, what if the movie is not any good?  (Was The Machinist memorable beyond Bale's deathly appearance?)  On the other hand, Jackson and I are about the same height (6'0") with less than a ten-pound difference between us.  So either he's still at a relatively healthy weight, or I need to call a doctor.  This BMI calculator says Jackson is "Normal", and could even go as low as 136 pounds before he's "Underweight", so I suppose I won't fret too much (Thanks, CDC!).  Instead, I'll just admire the transformation, and hope that the end result justifies the effort.

Here are the pictures of a gaunt 50 Cent, via Just Jared:

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Here's what the rapper normally looks like for comparison: