How to Eat 9000 Calories Per Day

Co-authored by Courtney Fose, RD, MS

Last Updated: July 16, 2024 Fact Checked

Top level athletes burn a lot of calories through their training regimens, so they need to take in just as many through their diets. Both JJ Watt, the Defensive End and All-Star football player, and Michael Phelps, the American swimmer that has earned more Olympic Gold Medals than anyone in history have both reported that they need to take in between 8,000 and 10,000 calories a day to keep up with their rigorous training and allow them to continue to develop muscle mass.^{[1]
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Research source} If you're training at the elite level like these athletes, you'll need to take in the calories to match; just make sure you're doing it in a healthy way.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Changing Your Diet

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1
Choose high-calorie, low-volume foods. In order to reach 9,000 calories a day, you'll need to focus on getting “the best bang for your buck” in terms of calories per meal. Dietitians call foods with a lot of calories per bite "calorie-dense." These foods will allow you to take in more calories without feeling too stuffed. To stay healthy, focus on calorie-dense foods that also provide a lot of nutritional value.^{[2]
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Cleveland Clinic
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Go to source} Some examples of nutrient- and calorie-dense foods are:
- Nuts
- Nut butters like peanut or almond butter
- Dried fruit like banana chips
- Fresh fruits like mangos and avocados
2
Drink your calories. Eating isn't the only way to increase your calorie intake. If you are having trouble maintaining your weight — that is, losing weight despite drinking enough water and getting plenty of calories in solid form — consider high-calorie beverages. Remember, just having high caloric content isn't the only goal; try to drink calorie-dense beverages that also offer high nutrient content. .
- Replace water in your diet with high-calorie fruit juices like apple, grape, or orange juice. Each of them are great options that won't leave you feeling too full.
- Smoothies are great ways to drink a large number of calories in a healthy fashion. If you can make your own, add protein powder, dense fruits, cream-based liquids and yogurt. Smoothies will move through the stomach quickly and allow you to fuel up prior to exercise.
- Try to limit your beverage intake during meals to leave more room for calorie-dense foods, but ensure you maintain healthy hydration levels.
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3
Plan your diet to match your goals. It's important to know what your goals are before you begin transitioning to a 9,000 calorie per day diet. Different types of athletes require different types of nutrients to maximize their performance.
- If you are training to be an endurance athlete, you should incorporate between 0.5 and 0.7 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight (1.2 to 1.4 g/kg of bodyweight) each day to help your body rebuild the muscle you break down through training.
- If you are doing heavy weight training, your protein intake should be more like 0.7 to 0.8 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight (1.2 to 1.7 g/kg of bodyweight) every day. This will provide your body with the amino acids it needs to not only restore your damaged muscle, but help your body build new muscle through training.^{[3]
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- Don't increase your protein intake at the cost of other important elements of your diet. Developing and maintaining healthy muscle also requires that you take in carbohydrates and healthy fats each day. Ignoring them for the sake of protein can cause your body to use that protein for energy instead of muscle development and retention.^{[4]
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- It is possible to eat too much protein and some clinicians believe it may cause irreversible damage to your kidneys. The Institute of Medicine recommends that you do not consume greater than 35% of total calories in protein. Additionally, increased dietary protein can result in elevated urinary calcium, which may contribute to bone loss and the subsequent development of osteopenia and osteoporosis.^{[5]
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4
Avoid unhealthy foods. It may seem like the easiest way to increase your calorie intake is to pile on the ice cream and greasy pizza, but eating unhealthy foods in large quantities can lead to other health problems.
- Calories aren't the only things that matter. Nutritional value in your foods is just as important. Make sure your diet provides the nutrients you need to be healthy.^{[6]
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- Junk food and greasy treats can raise your cholesterol and blood pressure. Too much saturated fat can even lead to cardiovascular problems that include heart attack and strokes.
- Recent studies also suggest saturated fats can affect insulin production in your body and lead to other health problems like diabetes.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Making a Meal Plan

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1
Eat a good breakfast. In order to get all the calories and nutrients you'll need in a 9,000 calorie a day diet, you've got to start early. Plan for seven or eight meals a day, starting right when you get up.
- Use lots of eggs — they're a healthy source of calories and a huge boost to your protein intake.
- Add a steak to bolster your protein and fats.
- Include oatmeal or another good source of fiber like granola.
- Couple your breakfast with whole milk to add calories and fat.
2
Have a mid-morning snack. Plan to eat a snack between each major meal. If you feel up to another meal-sized helping, go for it, but if you're still feeling pretty full from breakfast, try calorie- and nutrient-rich nuts.
- Five ounces of walnuts alone can account for nearly 1,000 calories of your daily diet.
- One serving of oil roasted pecans has nearly 800 calories.^{[7]
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- One serving of macadamia nuts had 948 calories.^{[8]
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3
Eat a hearty lunch. Lunch should be one of your bigger meals. If you can, aim for 1,000-2,000 calories at lunch.
- Have a carbohydrate-rich soup. Latka Soup can provide over 2,000 calories in a one and a half servings.^{[9]
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- When choosing foods, remember that your body can only absorb a certain amount of nutrients at once. While three to four chicken breasts might provide up to 1,000 calories, you will only be able to absorb 20 to 30 g of protein, or about the amount of protein in one chicken breast. Don't let focusing only on calories cause you to lose sight of the bigger picture — this amount of chicken is simply too much protein to eat at once.
4
Try drinking your afternoon snack. Even with plenty of protein coming in through eggs, steak and chicken, you may still need more depending on your body weight and fitness goals.
- Mass gaining protein shakes are an excellent source of the right nutrients coupled with a load of calories. Many exceed 1,000 – 1,200 calories per serving.^{[10]
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- If you like making your own smoothies, incorporate protein powder, Greek Yogurt, and cream based liquids with the calorie-dense fruits.
- Peanut or other nut butters are good choices for added calories, protein, and fat.
5
Load up on calories at dinner. As your last substantial meal of the day, dinner is a great opportunity to catch up calories you missed throughout the day.
- Take advantage of the protein content in beef. Steak or burgers can be a great source and the condiments you add can provide a significant boost to your overall calorie intake.
- Couple your main course with a calorie-dense carbohydrate like beans, potatoes, or biscuits.^{[11]
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- Include vegetables with your dinner. Roasted vegetables are an excellent source of nutrition and fiber. Add butter for increased caloric value.
Midway through your evening you should have a good sense as to whether or not you're on track with today's diet. If you have some calories you need to make up, give yourself a cheat meal where you choose things you enjoy eating. Preferably stick to healthy foods, but nothing says you can't treat yourself from time to time.
7
Have a snack before bed. Your metabolism does not actually slow down while you sleep, but sleep is when your body does the most repairing and regeneration of muscle mass. Have a snack to make sure your body has a nutrient rich pool of resources to heal.
- Walnuts or other nuts make for a great before bed snack.
- Another protein shake could help make up for any missed protein throughout the day.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Changing Your Habits

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1
Eat more, and more often. The first step toward eating 9,000 calories a day is eating more often than most people do and finding ways to increase the amount of healthy food you can take in per meal.
- Don't let more than four hours go by without eating a meal (unless you are sleeping). Eating often will provide you with an opportunity to increase your caloric intake.
- Drink healthy beverages that have a high caloric content between and with your meals. Fruit juices like apple juice, orange juice, cranberry juice, and grape juice are high in calories and nutrients.
- Buy bigger plates so meals seem smaller. Silly as it may seem, bigger plates can make it easier to add more food to your plate (and your diet) without it seeming like too much.
Sleep is when your body does most of its healing and repairing of bodily tissues, so eating right before bed will ensure your body has fresh nutrients available to maximize tissue production. Your metabolism doesn't actually slow down while you're sleeping, but your body is much less active. A meal before you go to sleep will ensure you use as many calories as you can out of your late night snacks for recovery and regeneration.^{[12]
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3
Stay warm and calm. Lost body heat is one of the biggest energy drains the human body endures regardless of activity level. Adopting a 9,000 calorie daily diet means you're burning at least that many through your metabolism and training, so don't waste some of them on just keeping warm. When you're cold, your body burns calories to create body heat. Avoid the caloric cost keeping you warm by staying that way to begin with.
- Stay warm to inhibit the production of thyroid hormones. Thyroid hormones aid in uncoupling proteins to create body heat and are also known as one of the stronger metabolism regulating hormones.^{[13]
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- Stress also increases your metabolism. Stress can release adrenaline and thyroxine which both can speed up your metabolism. Reducing stress will limit your body's production and release of these chemicals.
4
Keep track of what you eat. In order to make sure you're taking in as many calories as possible in a healthy way, start logging what you eat and drink.
- There are a number of Apps on the market designed to help you not only track how many calories you take in, but also the amount of nutrients. MyFitnessPal and other similar smartphone apps allows you to scan the barcodes or utilize their food catalog to find the caloric content of your meals. It can provide you with a breakdown of how many calories you've eaten and where you may be lacking in nutritional content. It can also let you know when you are exceeding healthy levels of things like sodium or saturated fat.^{[14]
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- Keeping track of your diet will also help you remember which foods and beverages agreed with you and which didn't. When striving to increase caloric content to 9,000 calories per day, eating things that make you feel sluggish or sick could interfere with maintaining the calorie intake you planned on.

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Try weight gainer shakes.^{[15]
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Protein supplements like whey and casein protein powders are an excellent way to increase your protein and calorie intake.

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Add calorie-dense fruits and cream based liquids to your smoothies to increase calorie and nutrient content.

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Warnings

Increasing your caloric intake substantially without increasing aerobic and anaerobic exercise can be extremely dangerous for your health.

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Before attempting to increase your caloric consumption, calculate your actual calorie needs. Meet with a dietitian who works with athletes — they can use predictive equations to give advice on calorie needs for clients.

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Getting 9,000 calories daily while keeping up a rigorous, professional-level training schedule can be very difficult.

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