During four-time World Strongest Man (WSM) champion Brian Shaw‘s battles on strongman’s grandest stage in the early-mid 20-teens when he traded the WSM title back and forth with Žydrūnas Savickas, his diet was akin to the that of a giant in fairy tale lore. Shaw ate 12,000 calories per day when no food seemed off limits — cheesecake, bowls and bowls of spaghetti — you name it, Shaw was likely eating it.
Force-feeding at the elite level of strongman is necessary to keep a high body weight to help offset the heavy lifts as much as possible. Mass moves mass, and Shaw was well over 400 pounds for most of his strongman career. On Dec. 19, 2022, Shaw joined 2017 WSM Eddie Hall for a video on Hall’s YouTube channel, wherein they took a trip to Costco to recreate Shaw’s seven-day grocery haul when he was eating 12,000 calories daily. Check it out below:
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The first stop through the frozen food section was for dessert. Each strongman added one entire family-size cheesecake worth 5,800 calories each. Continuing with a different kind of sugar, the second pick for the shopping cart was a box of Honeycrisp apples bringing the total to 12,300 calories in the cart. They followed that with several bunches of bananas and blueberries to move the total calories to 21,500.
Rolling into the aisle with starches, the strongmen grabbed a sack of potatoes and a sack of sweet potatoes to increase the total to 21,300 calories. Bags of carrots, spinach, and salad nudged the total to 22,550 calories.
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Finally reaching proteins, bison was a go-to for Shaw. He would crush packages of ground bison each day — he and Hall added 28 packages of meat to their cart that held 34,750 calories worth of food. While Shaw consumed a lot of red meat at his peak weight, it wasn’t the only protein he ingested. He would crush 10 to 12 whole eggs nearly every day, finishing a 24-pack of organic eggs in a few days. Seventy-two eggs toppled into the cart and increased the calorie total to 40,300.
Fatty meat was a way to add a lot of calories without adding too much volume, so bacon was a mainstay of Shaw’s strongman diet. More than 5,000 calories of smoked pork was added to the bounty. Humming along, the duo stumbled upon the 60-bar boxes of Rice Krispies treats, which were quick sources of glucose Shaw would scarf down during training and competition. He would do the same for peanut butter and honey sandwiches which helped keep blood sugar high.
Fifty-pound bags of rice brought the cart calorie total to nearly 80,000 — jars of barbecue and pasta sauce eclipse the 80,000-calorie mark with ease. Haystacks of pasta moved the total to over 90,000 calories. A gigantic box of waffles moved the cart well past the milestone 100,000-calorie mark.
Nearing the end of the shopping haul, cookies and bread topped the mountain of supplies completing the 117,720-calorie spree. The cashier spent what can be assumed to be their entire shift tallying what amounted to $628.99 worth of groceries.
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Featured image: @eddiehallwsm on Instagram
