JJ Watt ate a mammoth 7,500 calories and six meals a day during his NFL career, but admits one surprising thing about the UK makes it difficult to diet.

Feeding a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year requires an enormous amount of calories.

Former Texans and Cardinals defensive end JJ Watt recently appeared on the Stick To Football Alongside podcast Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott and Ian Wright to talk about his playing career and his minority investment in the Premier League club Burnley.

At a point, revealed the five-time Pro Bowler He ate 7,500 calories and six meals a day during his days as a quarterback, but he's run into a problem since spending more time on this side of the pond.

“What does it take to become so great?” Scott asked twice NFL Capture leader.

“One of the nice things about being retired is that I don't have to eat at the same level as before, which seems like a big problem,” Watt said.

He admitted, however, that getting enough protein in the UK has proven difficult.

“It's interesting being in England. Finding enough protein here is difficult.

“The meals just don't have the same amount of protein.

“There's a lot of bread,” he joked.

“Beans on toast, eggs on toast, everything on toast, which is delicious, but I need some steak, I need some fish.”

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Scott then asked how many calories Watt would consume during a typical day during his playing career, and his answer was pretty surprising.

“When I played, I averaged probably 7,500 a day,” Watt responded.

“Wow!” exclaimed a stunned Ian Wright.

“Right now I consume about 4,500 calories a day,” Watt continued.

“In my heyday it was two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners.

“It was like a job.

“And everything had to be healthy. There was a lot of chicken breast, a lot of white rice, a lot of basic things, where it's harder to get calories.

“I weight train four days a week and do cardio three days a week,” he said of his current weekly training split.

The 6-foot-5, 289-pound defensive end has been open about his diet in the past, telling GQ in 2016 that his day began with about 900 calories of oatmeal and a half-dozen eggs before a second breakfast a few hours later with another four or five eggs along with two slices of toast layered with peanut butter, banana and honey .

A typical lunch would consist of three chicken breasts with whole wheat pasta and Italian dressing with a side of broccoli, while a second lunch in the afternoon included more of the same: chicken breasts, mashed sweet potatoes, and steamed carrots.

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For dinner, Watt would consume lamb chops with whole wheat pasta.
and roasted asparagus.

Your daily calorie intake would end with a second dinner, usually a steak with whole wheat pasta and steamed broccoli.

“Some days I can feel like all I do is eat,” Watt said. People in 2019.

“It's about giving my body the tools it needs to perform at a high level.”

That number of calories may seem like a lot, but it makes a lot of sense given what JJ's training regimen used to be like.

He reportedly often woke up between 5 and 6 a.m. and did a 30- to 40-minute warm-up.

Their warm-ups usually consisted of planks, glute extensions, leg-raised side planks, lateral band walks, bird dogs, and dead bugs.

The All-Pro DE would then train for about 90 minutes a day, combining free weights, functional training, conditioning, footwork drills and resistance band exercises.

Watt made five All-Pro teams while playing 12 years with the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals.

He is expected to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.