It ain't easy weighing 330 pounds.
You’ve heard Dave Tate’s bulking diet, but he wasn’t the only powerlifter on a quest for mass. While it didn’t have as many Oreos, Swede Burns takes the time to lay out his 9,000-calorie diet that he ate every day to maintain his 330-pound body. To fit in that many calories it’s a lot easier to take them in liquid form. Every day was kicked off with a triple scoop of apple-flavored protein powder mixed with maltodextrin, which he now buys in 20-pound bags. He drank four of those concoctions every single day. The first half of his breakfast contained two cups of dry oatmeal (which is four normal servings, or as Swede describes it, “27 cups of oatmeal once you’re done cooking it”), blended with several heaping globs of peanut butter. He was also drinking his infamous “chicken shakes,” consuming about two pounds of chicken each day blended with water.
The semi-solid element of his breakfast every day was in the form of “an insane amount of eggs.” His lunch was 20-30 tuna rolls from a local sushi buffet because he wanted it to be a lower fat meal so he’d digest it faster and be ready for his next meal sooner. For dinner, he had some form of a red meat entree every day. Most nights were capped off with ice cream, as well as a “treat” for eating everything else that he didn’t find as enjoyable. Day in and day out, he consumed this absolutely miserable diet. He was insanely consistent and documented everything, so he has food diaries going all the way back to when he was 18 years old.
A little tip from Dave Tate that Swede backed up, when you’re trying to gain weight, you can weigh yourself at night to encourage eating more every day. But when you’re losing weight, you can weigh yourself in the morning after a shower and shit to feel closer to the lower weight you’re aiming for. If you’re like Swede, you might have to limit how often you weigh yourself or you’ll be bloated out of your mind ready to try to sleep and beat yourself up mentally because you’re off by a couple of pounds.
As alluring as this diet sounds, being 330 also makes you feel horrible. You’ll be tired all the time, your joints will ache, and you’ll have to sneak mini naps in between driving places and trying to get out of your car. Weirdly enough, after dropping to 260, Swede feels significantly better, his sleep, energy, and joint pain have improved too.
Text By Mason Nowak
