Here's How This 'Game Of Thrones' Star Eats 10,000 Calories A Day

It's not easy eating like Hafþór Björnsson. The 400-pound "Game of Thrones" star must eat 10,000 calories a day when he's in training for one of the strongmen competitions he excels at. And he can't just wolf down ice cream cones and candy bars like they're going out of style – there's a method to his mega-munching madness.

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Björnsson needs to be a big guy in order to play Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane, Queen Cersei Lannister's personal zombified torturer on the HBO hit "Game of Thrones." He also holds the title of the World's Strongest Man, and has won numerous other strongmen contests, including becoming the first person to have won the Arnold Strongman Classic, Europe's Strongest Man and World's Strongest Man in the same year.

The Icelandic actor and strongman stands 6 foot 9 inches tall, and his 400 pounds is mostly carefully sculpted muscle. In a recent interview, he told Business Insider that he spent a lot of childhood time "moving huge stones and rocks" on his grandfather's farm.

Now, to prepare for the strongmen competitions that he dominates, Björnsson not only spends hours in the gym, but eats up to a carefully chosen 10,000 calories per day.

"I eat six meals every single day," he told Business Insider. "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."

He also said he has to eat every two hours, and that the timing and prep of his meals is vital.

"I think sometimes, 'Is this worth it?'" he told the site. "I'm always eating, and I'm never hungry. I'm always eating and working out."

"Game of Thrones" will return for its final season in April 2019, with many fans expecting Björnsson's character to eventually engage in a fight to the death with his own brother, Sandor "The Hound" Clegane (played by Rory McCann). If slimming down, not bulking up, is on your plate this year, check out 20 surprising reasons you're not losing weight.