High Volume Eating

QUESTION: I’ve read in some magazines that some of the top pro bodybuilders eat tons of food. I’m talking about 10,000 or so calories per day. I even read where a couple of guys go up to 20,000 calories a day. My question is, do you think such enormous food intake is necessary to build size and mass and how do they manage to eat so much without getting fat?

ANSWER: First of all, don’t believe everything you read in some of the muscle mags. Whether it comes from the mind of the writer or the mouth of the subject of the article, there’s a lot of exaggeration going on.

Second, not all of the guys who say they eat so much stay anywhere near lean all year long. If you ever see some of the top guys off season they look more like a big wrestler or football player than a world class bodybuilder. Big for sure, but big all over, including the gut, and smooth as a baby’s butt. Some guys do eat a ton of food, including junk food, and stay pretty lean. How? Well, any number of pharmaceutical aids, including weight loss drugs and stimulants that contain amphetamines, human growth hormone, testosterone, and thyroid meds act as powerful fat burners. Draw your own conclusions.

Last, I don’t think huge amounts of food are necessary to build a strong and powerful physique. In fact, for the natural bodybuilder it can be the wrong way to go. Too much food, particularly junk stuff, adds fat that looks bad and is bad for you, plus it can be hard on the digestive system.

My personal philosophy on nutrition is that I believe in high volume training but not high volume eating! I eat enough to give my body what it needs for each day mostly good carbs (I eat a lot of fruit) to give me energy for work and training, and protein for my body to repair and grow on, but I almost never over eat! In other words, I don’t keep putting gas in my car if I’m not going to take it out of the garage.

Charles Hawkins