Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson: pop culture is liberally dotted with plenty of examples of really big dudes in the world of show business, but in today's pop culture scene, there's no bigger dude than Hafthor Bjornsson, who you or I know better as the Mountain.

Whether he's protecting the queen or crushing somebody's skull like a melon on Game of Thrones, the Icelandic strongman has made himself quite a reputation as being the world's biggest and strongest man - a title no doubt helped by his claiming of the World's Strongest Man title earlier this year.

He's had a pretty good 2018 in general, to be honest. Not only is he officially the world's strongest man, but he turned 30 this year, and got married to the tiniest woman I've ever seen, so I'd imagine Hafthor is smiling quite a lot right about now.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

Standing at six feet, nine inches, he's no slouch in the height department either, and I really wouldn't want to upset him any time soon. But lugging around all 400 pounds of body weight requires quite a bit of fuel. We've talked a little bit about how the Mountain likes to eat, but let's go into a bit more detail.

First thing to note: The Mountain eats around 10,000 calories per day. For reference, the recommended daily amount for your average man is 2,500 calories, so Bjornsson literally eats the food of four men just so he can function on a daily basis. It's pretty wild.

"Diet is very important to stay in shape, to stay strong. So I'm very consistent with my meals. I eat six meals every single day. I eat mostly steak, rice, carrots, with some peppers, sometimes chicken. I eat so much, really. And definitely the hardest part of being in these competitions really is the diet."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

Expanding upon that, Bjornsson explained that when it comes to competing in strongman events, he really has to ramp things up. He reached his full height at age 16, and while it took three more years to realise his "gift for strength", he admits that this comes with its own pitfalls.

"There's a lot of eating, if you want to stay the best. I have to eat every two hours, I have to fuel my body. And there's a lot of timing, prepping meals, when I eat them. I think sometimes, 'Is this worth it?' I'm always eating, and I'm never hungry. I'm always eating and working out."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

As you might expect, it's pretty hard to maintain a body that large and heavy, but I get the feeling that while it's a lot of work, Hafthor Bjornsson's pretty happy with the results. I mean, he's in one of the greatest shows of this generation, he's happily married, and he's literally the strongest man in the world.

That's a pretty good life, and I'd be more than happy to eat my way to the top.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson: pop culture is liberally dotted with plenty of examples of really big dudes in the world of show business, but in today's pop culture scene, there's no bigger dude than Hafthor Bjornsson, who you or I know better as the Mountain.

Whether he's protecting the queen or crushing somebody's skull like a melon on Game of Thrones, the Icelandic strongman has made himself quite a reputation as being the world's biggest and strongest man - a title no doubt helped by his claiming of the World's Strongest Man title earlier this year.

He's had a pretty good 2018 in general, to be honest. Not only is he officially the world's strongest man, but he turned 30 this year, and got married to the tiniest woman I've ever seen, so I'd imagine Hafthor is smiling quite a lot right about now.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

Standing at six feet, nine inches, he's no slouch in the height department either, and I really wouldn't want to upset him any time soon. But lugging around all 400 pounds of body weight requires quite a bit of fuel. We've talked a little bit about how the Mountain likes to eat, but let's go into a bit more detail.

First thing to note: The Mountain eats around 10,000 calories per day. For reference, the recommended daily amount for your average man is 2,500 calories, so Bjornsson literally eats the food of four men just so he can function on a daily basis. It's pretty wild.

"Diet is very important to stay in shape, to stay strong. So I'm very consistent with my meals. I eat six meals every single day. I eat mostly steak, rice, carrots, with some peppers, sometimes chicken. I eat so much, really. And definitely the hardest part of being in these competitions really is the diet."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

Expanding upon that, Bjornsson explained that when it comes to competing in strongman events, he really has to ramp things up. He reached his full height at age 16, and while it took three more years to realise his "gift for strength", he admits that this comes with its own pitfalls.

"There's a lot of eating, if you want to stay the best. I have to eat every two hours, I have to fuel my body. And there's a lot of timing, prepping meals, when I eat them. I think sometimes, 'Is this worth it?' I'm always eating, and I'm never hungry. I'm always eating and working out."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Getty]]

As you might expect, it's pretty hard to maintain a body that large and heavy, but I get the feeling that while it's a lot of work, Hafthor Bjornsson's pretty happy with the results. I mean, he's in one of the greatest shows of this generation, he's happily married, and he's literally the strongest man in the world.

That's a pretty good life, and I'd be more than happy to eat my way to the top.