Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson eats 5,500 calories a day to stay at 330 pounds. His staple meal is the 'monster mash,' inspired by sumo wrestlers.

• Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson eats 5,500 calories a day, The Athletic reported.
• He regularly eats a meal called "monster mash:" an easy to "shovel in" mix of beef, rice, and eggs.

Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson eats 5,500 calories a day, regularly having a meal of beef, rice, and eggs called "monster mash," according to a personal trainer who designed his diet.

The 6-foot-6, 330-pound star player is part of the team going up against the Kansas City Chiefs at the 2023 Super Bowl on Sunday.

Three years ago, Johnson weighed 312 pounds and had a goal of bulking up to 330, but was struggling to eat enough to put the weight on, The Athletic reported.

This changed when he started working with bodybuilder, powerlifter, and personal trainer Stan Efferding, the creator of The Vertical Diet.

Efferding has worked with an array of athletes and performers including actor and strongman Hafthor "The Mountain" Björnsson.

His approach to nutrition prioritizes micronutrient-dense food that's easy to digest, to minimize feeling bloated and uncomfortable.

"The whole thing about this is you can get muscle and lose the fat and you're not bloated and fucking miserable all the time," Johnson told The Athletic.

"I tried to make sure that … it's easy to consume, a lot of food digested quickly and be hungry again soon enough to where you can get enough meals in a day to accumulate the kind of calories that you need," Efferding said of Johnson's diet.

Johnson eats 250 grams of protein daily

Efferding put Johnson, 32, on a 5,500-calorie diet with enough protein for his muscles to repair and rebuild, but not more than was necessary as protein keeps you feeling full.

He aims to eat 250 grams of protein (about 1,000 calories worth) daily, keeping fat below 30% of his overall intake (around 1,100 calories), while carbs make up the rest (about 850 grams or 3,400 calories).

"That sounds like a lot to you and me," Efferding said. "But that's not outrageous for sports performance."

Johnson eats lots of lean ground meats like bison which is easier to chew than steak. He minimizes sugary, processed foods to limit inflammation, he said, but does eat a lot of simple carbs like rice and orange juice, which means he's never full for long.

A staple meal for Johnson is "monster mash," which consists of lean meat (beef or bison), white rice, scrambled eggs, bone broth, and red peppers, he said.

"Because it's moist you can shovel a ton of it in," Efferding said. "I got the idea from sumo wrestlers. … They're just able to eat larger portions and digest it better and then be hungry again sooner because they have to consume an enormous amount of calories."

Consuming enough sodium is important for Johnson too as he loses a lot through his sweat, he said, so Efferding encourages adding salt liberally to meals.

"It really is a full-time job eating," Efferding said.