How Much Sumo Wrestlers Eat?

It might be surprising for you that sumo wrestlers only eat twice a day. They eat a special diet known as chankonabe and consume between 5000 to 8,000 calories per day.

Another interesting fact about this food is, it has no specific recipe. Each training group uses a specific recipe for this food.  There are several different recipes for this stew that you can find out. Sumo eats lots of rice with the chankonabe. One recipe for chankonabe includes carrots, potatoes, tofu, cabbages, mushrooms, boiling chicken along with thick noodles, and lots of meat. 

Diet and Eating Habits of Sumo Wrestlers

Sumo wrestlers have different diet routine than the other sport’s people. They tend to take a healthy diet. 

Chankonabe

It is the main food that sumo wrestlers consume. This healthy diet provides them with all the nutrients, proteins, and vitamins that they need for weight gain and training. This diet has no particular recipe. Rich ingredients for protein (tofu, fish, chicken, and beef) are used. For essential nutrients and vitamins, vegetables (potatoes, mushrooms, cabbage, radishes, and bok Choy) are used. A recipe for this stew depends on the personal preference of wrestler, cook, and training requirements. 

Eating Habits

You might be thinking that sumo wrestlers sit around and eat every time. No, it’s not the case. They only eat twice a day. They took the main meal at noon and the second one in the evening. Some sumo wrestlers might prefer breakfast, but rikishi has a different eating habit. They spend lots of time in training and hours of a practice session before taking their first meal of the day. 

You can’t add too much into your full stomach. When sumo wrestlers eat a large mid-day meal, they tend to take a long break. Their bodies need rest from physical beatings. When wrestlers consume an untimely and large amount of food, it makes them tired. Taking a nap between the diets is beneficial in different ways. During this gap, the body is most likely to store fat. There are contradictory statements on how much calories they consume per day. On average, they consume about 5000 to 8000 calories per day. 

A Typical Eating Schedule of a Sumo Wrestler

Although this eating schedule can be different for different trainers and wrestlers, they mostly follow this typical eating schedule. 

The day of a sumo wrestler begins at four or five in the morning. They start exercises and training early in the morning. Most of the sumo wrestlers don’t eat breakfast. They skip breakfast because they go straight into training and take care of the metabolism process. When they do training without breakfast, it slows down their metabolism. When you have a full stomach, and you are eating again, it means you are slamming your body. They would start eating around noon, and you will be hungry enough to consume 5000 calories. 

During lunchtime, sumo wrestlers eat chankonabe. It is already described in detail. Sumo wrestlers also take several bottles of beer and 10 bowls of rice with humongous chankonabe. Some healthiest wrestlers drink 6 pints of beer during lunchtime. If they feel there is some space left in the stomach, they fill it with noodles. After taking lunch, they usually take 4 hours nap. This nap is mandatory to slow down their metabolism. 

An interesting thing about sumo wrestler’s diet habits is they don’t take snacks between meals. After lunch, they take 4 hours nap, and when they wake up, they take another meal. They spend the same amount of time at dinner as they do at lunch. During dinner, they usually consume about 5000 calories. After dinner, they go for sleep, and because they have taken a healthy meal, it allows them to be energetic and proactive in the morning’s training and exercise sessions. 

Green Tea and Water

A diet of sumo wrestler can never be complete without water and green tea. For a wrestler, hydration is the key that allows them to stay focused. Some well-known wrestlers have revealed their success story and routine of their diet. Although they lose lots of water during training, we can’t ignore tea consumption as a critical part of the diet. 

Noodles

Some wrestlers also take noodles during dinner time. Dinner time consists of salad, fish, and noodles. 

How Do Sumo Wrestlers Maintain Their Health?

When you are eating a chankonabe meal, it is not that easy to maintain fitness and health. This high-calorie meal doesn’t seem to affect sumo wrestlers. The main reason behind this is that sumo wrestlers have different strategies to store weight than a normal man. They mostly have extra weight under their skin, and it is not deep in their body. 

Their eating schedule helps them to remain fit. Despite taking a high-calorie meal, sumo wrestlers don’t have enough fat in their bodies; this is because of intense training and exercise sessions. They start to gain weight when they stop training. Until they are focused on training, they remain healthy. Sumo wrestlers rely heavily on their weight because weight can get them a chance to get into a competition. 

One thing is for sure, the heavier you are, and the more chances of winning you have. If a normal person wants to eat the diet of a sumo wrestler, he must have to be involved in regular training sessions to remain healthy. 

Conclusion

As the old idiom is: “The bigger they are, the harder they fall” because in sumo wrestling, the goal is to topple your opponent. The bigger the opponent, the harder it will be to drop him on the mat. Size and strength both are an integral part of this sport. So, the sumo’s wrestlers rely heavily on a healthy diet, that’s why they succeed in training sessions and competitions. They have proper dieting and training schedules. They have to consume 4000 to 8000 calories per day to stay healthy. They don’t develop much fat because their training sessions are hard. They eat only twice a day.