Jason Segel starts health kick after assistant snaps pic of him sleeping with takeaway wrappers

The star's assistant snapped the photo while Segel was filming in New Orleans, to encourage him to get into shape.

'New Orleans is like the best food and booze anywhere - just amazing,' he said.

'I really took advantage of it and unfortunately my assistant had a key to my room in case I overslept.

'She came in one day to wake me up and she took a bunch of pictures to show me what I had become.'

US chat show host David Letterman was open-mouthed as he pulled out the photo of 31-year-old Segel snoozing next to a heap of Taco Bell papers.

'Honest to god Jason, this looks like a crime scene,' the talk show veteran spluttered.

'That’s my former stomach. It's artfully cropped, it's very tasteful,' the actor said, pointing at his oversized gut.

'This is me at my worst,' he added.

Segel, who is 6'4' tall, said seeing the ugly picture forced him to start a health kick and he revealed he has lost 30lbs since the photo was taken.

'I'm now about 215lbs, but I was 245lbs,' he told Letterman.

Asked about how he lost the weight, he laughed: 'It's exactly what you think it is and it's horrible. You exercise and you eat less and you don't drink very much.'

Segel stars alongside Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake in new movie Bad Teacher, which hits cinemas in the United States this weekend.