Eating like The Rock for a day leads to stomach aches and regret

Actor Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson, standing at 6 feet 5 and weighing 260 pounds, eats over 5,000 calories per day throughout his five meals to maintain his legendary physique. By contrast, I stand at 5 feet 7 and weigh 145. At the request of this paper’s Lifestyles editors, I challenged myself to replicate his diet for a day. Foolishly, I didn’t think it would be too hard.  

The diet, which is detailed on Opera News, contains over 10 pounds of food per day, almost all of which is high in protein and nutrients such as iron and calcium. Each meal is as follows:

Meal 1: 10 oz steak, three egg whites, one whole egg, two cups oatmeal and a glass of watermelon juice.

Meal 2: two servings of chicken, two bell peppers, three cups mushrooms, three cups broccoli and one protein shake.

Meal 3: 8 oz salmon, eight asparagus tips, two whole eggs and two cups of rice. 

Meal 4: 10 oz steak, three baked potatoes, eight asparagus tips and one glass of orange juice. 

Meal 5: 20 grams casein protein and 10 egg whites. 

After seeing all the food laid out on the table, my hesitation began settling in. When the total weight of all the food came in at 9.7 pounds, I knew I would need to call a plumber by the end of the day.

You may question why I agreed to put myself through such pain. First of all, I love food. Second of all, pretending that I live like The Rock is just epic. Lastly, I wanted to see if I was cut out for the challenge, so here is my log of a full day of eating.

Meal 1, 5:30 a.m.: I’m feeling pretty good, and the eggs went down easily. With a fresh glass of watermelon juice, it was a pretty good way to start the day. After the eggs came the steak. I think I did a pretty good job with the seasoning, but I still found it nearly impossible to consume all the steak without steak sauce. Next I gagged down the oatmeal, one of the worst dishes out of all the meals. Slowly but surely, I managed to force myself to eat every last bite of that glop.

Meal 2, 8 a.m.:  This meal as a whole was hands down the worst one, with three full plates of vegetables. Every bite was painful. After half a pound of broccoli it became difficult to swallow, but thankfully a pinch of salt and pepper eased the process. 

Meal 3, noon.: Compared with the other meals, this one was pretty manageable to eat. I think I’m starting to like asparagus (it goes surprisingly well with eggs). The salmon was a bit dry, but overall it was easier on my overwhelmed stomach.

Meal 4, 5 p.m.: After running for about an hour to give my digestive system a rest, my stomach was ready to take on meal number four. This meal was extremely difficult: The steak and asparagus were alright, but I almost had a near-death experience with the potatoes. I usually like potatoes, but after shoveling three whole potatoes down in a single setting, I could hardly breathe. I doubt I’ll be eating them again for quite a while. 

Meal  5, 11 p.m.: Still overwhelmingly full from the past four meals, I was somehow able to chug all 20 grams of casein protein. When it came to the eggs, the white clumps sitting on my plate were almost indigestible. But after half a bottle of ketchup and an hour-long staring contest with the eggs for about an hour, I was able to shovel down every last bite. I have never been so relieved to see an empty plate in  my life, and I mean it. 

Conclusion: Even though I may need to see a doctor in the near future, I am proud to say that I completed the challenge. I didn’t bail halfway through, or even vomit (I have no idea how). This will definitely go down as one of my greatest accomplishments. 

However, all of The Rock’s meals won’t win any culinary awards. 

Simply put, they all taste like cardboard. In addition, I overestimated the size of my stomach, and regretted my life choices for a day straight. In the end, I gained 5 pounds, hugged a trash can for a night and endured stomach aches for a week. 

The Rock weighs almost double my body weight, so there is no way eating this diet would be sustainable for me or my wallet in the long run. I mean, the steaks alone cost me $30. 

I won’t ever The Rock’s diet ever again. My advice: No one else should either.