“I just didn’t want to lose. My fear of losing kept me going,” Jay Cutler recalled about his prime days while narrowing down his exorbitant cost of nutrition, which kept him going in his prime days.

How much, you ask? “I spent 100k/year on food,” said Cutler. Recently, while in conversation with former strongest man, Brian Shaw, he confessed his eating habits, “People used to think I was nuts. I had a local butcher, and I would literally go, and he would have the cow hanging, and I would pack it in 1-pound squares, and I would put it in a freezer.”

“I had a freezer in my garage dedicated to the beef. Then I would buy from the guy 140 pounds of chicken at a time, and every day I would take out, you know, two beef bricks, and I would take out two chicken. It was like four pounds of meat a day, and that’s how I prepped my day.”

That one meal alone gave Jay Cutler about 200-300 grams of protein, and he also ate 30 dozen eggs per week. During his peak, the 4x Mr Olympia used to eat nearly 600 gms of protein, and the investment certainly paid off.

Not only did he become the face of bodybuilding after Ronnie Coleman, but he also remains the only athlete in history to regain the Mr. Olympia title after losing it to another competitor.

His diet may seem extreme to outsiders, but this is what a professional eats daily to build and maintain maximum size. Let us have a look at how the 4x Mr Olympia used to eat during his peak years.

Jay Cutler’s all-day diet routine

During the off-season, Cutler walked around at 300 pounds and had to eat like a machine to sustain that physique. Taste never mattered to him; only macros did. This is what his full day of eating looked like.

BREAKFAST

• Egg whites (2 cups)
• Turkey bacon (3 slices)
• Protein shake (1 scoop)
• Ezekiel bread (4 slices)
• Brown sugar oatmeal (2 packets)
• Coffee

PRE-WORKOUT FUEL

• Ground chicken breast (8 oz)
• White or brown rice (2 cups)
• Mixed peppers and onions
• Sea salt for seasoning

POST-WORKOUT SHAKE

• Protein powder (2 scoops)
• Carb powder (60–80 g)
• MIDDAY MEAL
• Ground chicken breast (8 oz)
• White or brown rice (2 cups)
• Peppers and onions

DINNER #1

• Steak (8 oz)
• Sweet potato (12 oz)
• Broccoli

DINNER #2

• Grilled chicken breast (8 oz)
• White or brown rice (2 cups)
• Peppers and onions
• Sea salt

PRE-BED MEAL

• Steak (8 oz)
• White or brown rice (2 cups)

His daily intake was 5,100 calories, with about 490 grams of protein, 650 grams of carbs, and roughly 70 grams of fat.

Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Joyita Das