Arnold Schwarzenegger Reveals Just How Many Eggs He Ate in His Daily Diet | Fitness tips of the day
Arnold Schwarzenegger has always been very careful with what he ate, however, there was a time that he ate copious amounts of eggs. And we don’t just mean a three egg omelette.
In a clip from Entertainment Tonight, Schwarzenegger mentioned that he ate a lot of meat and eggs: ‘I ate 10-15 eggs a day and had my 250 grams of protein a day because I weighed 250 pounds.’
To put that into context, 250 grams of protein would roughly look like:
- Four large steaks
- Five chicken breast fillets
- Seven blocks of tofu
While one large egg contains six grams of protein, he would need to stack up on a fair few of them to get him close to his daily protein goals.
‘I adopted cardiovascular training when my career in Hollywood took off. I didn’t have that much time to train anymore and I used cardio so as not to take on a lot of weight. And I ate a lot of protein, with eggs as the main source, because they are easy and versatile to cook,’ says Schwarzenegger, detailing his daily regime.
Is Eating Eggs Good for You?
We all know that eggs are high in protein and nutrient dense with many vitamins, minerals and Omega-3s. However, despite this, they are frequently demonised – which is why you may have heard of the ‘two a day’ recommendation limit due to their cholesterol content.
Eggs are high in cholesterol at 186 mg per egg.
It’s important to keep in mind that according to evidence published by Nutrients, cholesterol in the diet may not have an impact on blood cholesterol levels or risk of heart disease.
However, it depends on the individual and the risks require further investigation. Heart UK recommends: ‘If you have high blood cholesterol, you should limit the amount of cholesterol you eat to about 300mg per day.’
It’s much more important to bear in mind the high saturated fat content of certain foods which can raise cholesterol. The British Heart Foundation recommends that men should have less than 30g of saturated fat per day. One egg contains 1.6 grams.
With this in mind, enjoy your eggs, but 10-15 is perhaps a tad excessive – whether you are built like Arnie or not. Enjoy your eggs in moderation, but don’t feel like you have to chuck the yolks away, as you could be missing out on their benefits.
Kate is a fitness writer for Men’s Health UK where she contributes regular workouts, training tips and nutrition guides. She has a post graduate diploma in Sports Performance Nutrition and before joining Men’s Health she was a nutritionist, fitness writer and personal trainer with over 5k hours coaching on the gym floor. Kate has a keen interest in volunteering for animal shelters and when she isn’t lifting weights in her garden, she can be found walking her rescue dog.
