Everyone likes to indulge in foods that aren’t good for you. J.J. Watt just likes it a little more.
The Houston Texans defensive end revealed to ESPN’s Tania Ganguli that since February he has been consuming 6,000 to 9,000 calories per day. It all started after he felt himself losing more energy than usual during a workout.
“My body was grabbing for something that wasn’t there,” Watt told Ganguli. “It was trying to fuel itself with no fuel.”
It turned out Watt had been trying too hard to eat lean, when what he really needed was more fat. Sometimes, he’ll eat eight chicken breasts at a meal, and trainer Brad Arnett suggests he wrap three of them in bacon. Watt said he “started crushing avocados.” And to reach 9,000 calories, it’d take 20 chicken breasts, 50 strips of bacon and 13 avocados per day.
“It’s literally, if I’m not working out, I eat the whole time I’m not working out,” Watt said. “It’s exhausting. You have to force feed. You have to force yourself to eat food.”
But Watt has learned to enjoy some aspects of his diet after Arnett assured him his body fat wouldn’t suffer a huge jump. Mostly, he likes the cheat days.
“I love brunch,” Watt said. “Brunch is my favorite meal. I went there, had brunch, had a massive potato pancake omelet, which is an omelet inside a potato pancake. Then I had stuffed French toast with berries and stuff. My cheat meals aren’t even that exciting. That was my cheat meal. The omelet is still pretty darn healthy. The stuffed French toast was the cheat meal, but that was delicious.”
Thumbnail photo via Amber Searls/USA TODAY Sports Images
