Bucs DE Noah Spence had 9-10 meals and 9,000 calories a day to gain 35 pounds
It’s surprising Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Noah Spence has any time to play football. It seems like he spends all day eating.
ESPN’s Jenna Laine outlined Spence’s crazy diet to put on 35 pounds so he could better hold up against the run. He was small for a defensive end, but not anymore. His diet included 9,000 calories every day, most of that coming from seven protein shakes. He has been downing nine or 10 meals a day, Laine wrote, including those shakes.
Usually people regret spending the summer eating too much and putting on extra pounds, but that was Spence’s goal.
“I don’t really look at food like I like it anymore. I’m just eating, man,” Spence told Laine.
Noah Spence put on 35 pounds in one year
Spence has dealt with shoulder injuries in both of his NFL seasons. His promising rookie year, which included 5.5 sacks, was followed up by just six games in 2017.
Spence weighed 228 pounds at this time last season, which put him into a role as a situational player. He was too light to be effective on running downs. So he made an effort in the offseason to put on weight. He told Laine he is 263 pounds now, after his offseason of loading up on calories.
“I felt like if I just don’t stop eating or drinking, I won’t lose weight,” Spence said.
What does Spence eat every day?
Laine details Spence’s diet, which included a lot of protein shakes, potatoes, pasta, steak, ground turkey, shrimp … well, just about everything. Spence’s personal chef told Laine he had to cut back on vegetables and quinoa because Spence started to lose weight due to them.
The most remarkable part of the shakes, aside from how often he has them, is what goes in them. Laine wrote that each shake has “two scoops of vegan protein powder, two scoops of peanut butter, a banana, and two scoops of sugar-free coconut-milk ice cream.”
Spence isn’t eating unhealthy things, he’s just eating a lot of everything. The ESPN story said he wanted to put on the weight without adding too much body fat. Eating constantly isn’t a job requirement for most of us, but Spence hopes his unique diet is worth all the effort.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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