03 January 2023 , 16:00
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Scottish strongman Tom Stoltman, 28, has defended his role as the World's Strongest Man, becoming the 10th man in history to win the title twice.
Nicknamed the Albatross due to his sizeable armspan, Stoltman defeated Ukraine's Oleksii Novikov back in May 2022, but the competition was only screened for UK viewers on New Year's Day 2023.
Following the incredible victory, the strongman told USA Today: "To do it once is unbelievable. Back to back? Almost unheard of."
One of the many things the 6ft 8in Scot had to do in the lead-up to the big fight, was drastically change his diet.
The 27 stone 6lbs strongman told GQ he can gain 22 pounds a week by eating a whopping 13,000 calories a day, which helps him prepare.
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Tom Stoltman (left) and his brother Luke (right) (Daily Record)So what does the muscle man eat? He told the publication: "We eat for fuel – we're not eating for quality. We're eating to use it to be the most effective we can for lifting weights."
Tom Stoltman's diet – week before the competition
In the week leading up to a competition, Tom has to dramatically change his diet, and despite being able to indulge in all sorts of delicious foods, he doesn't actually enjoy it.
He eats his breakfast at IHOP (International House of Pancakes), where he'll eat a stack of pancakes with berries and honey, but it's not long until he eats again.
He'll need a smaller snack a couple of hours later, followed by a whopping three burgers and fries for lunch.
Tom Stoltman wants to retain his title in 2023 (Daily Record)The strongman's dinner usually consists of pasta, which is starchy and digests slowly, followed by chocolate cake for dessert.
Although he only does this for one week of the year, in total it comes in at an eye-watering 13,000 calories.
All this will give him a lot of energy for training, and according to Tom, he can burn around 6-7,000 calories a day from just working out, but it can take a toll on him physically.
He said: "I don't enjoy it. By the end of the week, I've put on 10 kilograms, I can hardly walk and I'm not sure how I lift."
Tom Stoltman's diet – more than a week leading up to the competition
Back in 2022, Tom uploaded a video on the YouTube channel he shares with his brother Luke, showing what he would eat on a typical day in one of the weeks leading up to the competition.
First, he shows off a mountain of toast and butter, which is his first breakfast – but that's not all.
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To that he adds eight eggs, two rashers of bacon and mushrooms.
For Tom's second meal of the day he has a snack consisting of a protein shake, a breakfast bar and grapes.
His third meal is a pre-workout meal, or lunch, of chips, a cheeseburger and a can of Sprite.
Usually, Tom would have a mid-afternoon meal too, but as his stomach was feeling sore, he skipped it.
Later on in the evening Tom had a home-cooked meal of chicken curry with boiled rice and mushrooms.
After becoming back-to-back World Strongest Man, Tom celebrated with a "massive pint and as many carbs as I can eat," including burger, pastas and "loads of sweets".
Tom Stoltman's competition diet for 2021
Speaking back in 2021 when he won his first competition, Tom revealed he had a slightly higher consumption at 14,000 calories in the week leading up to the event, and 8,000 on normal training days.
Speaking of his diet to Built For Athletes, the strongman revealed he would eat 10 eggs for breakfast, followed by four slices of bread, two rashers of bacon and two sausages.
He added: "Then, an hour or so later, I have a protein shake and some fruit. For lunch and dinner, I have about 400g of meat and 400g of vegetables and rice, and I snack on burgers and chips in between if I’m hungry."
However, during the lead-up to the World's Strongest Man competition in 2021, he ate two breakfasts daily.