Whether you’re an Olympic athlete or an NFL player, how you fuel your body greatly influences how you fare against the competition. And professional athletes burn thousands more calories than the average human, giving players the opportunity to indulge in feasts big enough to feed a small army.
In a recent episode of HBO’s Hard Knocks, Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt explains that in order to keep up with his insane schedule, he has to consume 9,000 calories a day. Watt recently spoke with ESPN about his absurdly caloric diet, and some of his favorite high-calorie meals.
Earlier this year, after realizing his body wasn’t getting enough fat and fuel, Watt started adding supplements to his meals like mashed sweet potatoes, more pasta, fish, olive oil, coconut oil, and avocados. “I started crushing avocados,” Watt tells ESPN.
But to put the heaping amount of calories into perspective, Uproxx determined just how much food one would have to consume in order to hit that 9,000 mark. According to Uproxx, 9,000 calories is equal to 16.5 Big Macs. 47 soft tacos from Taco Bell, or 7.5 plates of fettuccine alfredo from Olive Garden. Eating that much food in the course of a day seems like a workout in itself.
[via Uproxx]