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The Draper Weight Gain Menu, 2006
Today, a few years after Dave’s daily menu was posted, a quick review shows change does happen, yet that boring Bomber diet remains… boring. His meat selection was swapped, and he must have gotten sick of red potatoes, but in nearly every other element, he and his diet are unwavering.
Let’s take a closer look.
In 2001 at age 60, 225 pounds with a desire to hold weight, training hard two hours, five times a week, he wrote:
Fact is, I enjoy the order and rigidness of my diet—brings me peace. No regimen, I feel sloppy and careless, guessing and out of control.
Total consumption for an average day:
4,520 calories, 426 g protein, 434 g carbs, 119 g fat
Approximate average daily nutrient percentages:
38% protein, 38% carbs, 24% fat.
I’m going to list the foods he eats on an average day in 2006, at 64, 218 pounds, still training as hard as possible, but a little lighter and a little less at four days a week for about 90 minutes. When I’m done, I’ll run it through fitday and we’ll make a comparison.
As noted above, Dave has switched from hamburger to skirt steak (from the Corralitos Meat Market) that he trims well and sears lightly on a Foreman Grill at least once and often twice a day. What goes with this is a large dollop of cottage cheese (Knudsen’s, 2 or 4% fat, alternating), a tall glass of milk and and a fistful of cherry tomatoes.
He takes a Bomber Blend protein shake for his post-workout drink that includes milk, eggs, creatine and a banana (for some reason he seems to be off peanut butter right now; I think it may just be that he’s uninterested in firing up the blender and wants to use a shaker cup instead). He also uses a quick shake of the Blend in milk once or twice a day.
His first calorie shot of the day is a couple of raw eggs (yes, he’s quite aware of salmonella and has chosen to slurp the eggs anyway) with a couple tablespoons of half and half, coffee and some kind of carbs on the side — half a bran muffin, a piece of walnut rye toast or a granola bar, something like that, which I usually find about half left over, wrapped in a bit of paper towel for a later than never comes.
A pop-top can of tuna and a can of sardines goes down the hatch at least once a day, along with a half-liter of water and maybe some lemon for taste. Our cat, Mugsy, usually joins him for this one.
Daily fruit is a banana, a handful of grapes, sometimes a half an apple or maybe some mango or an orange.
Daily vegetables of the raw sort would be a red bell pepper, half a cucumber, a baby carrots (count ‘em, 6) and a few more cherry tomatoes.
Dinner we have together most days of the week (4ish, or maybe 5), and will be some version of meat, fish or, less often these days, chicken, and usually without a carb side dish, although sometimes I’ll make a brown and wild rice mixture that we’ll chew on for a couple of days. Truthfully, that’s a favorite of mine (as are most carbs), but Dave eats so little that it’s a Tupperware left for me, which is not all that safe so it’s best to go unmade. We have steamed vegetables with dinner, and these would generally be broccoli or green beans, sometimes squash, cabbage, carrots.
On the days I don’t cook, Dave goes back for another run at the Foreman Grill, or once or twice a week will make himself an egg scramble: sauteed mushrooms, onions and meat, blended with four or five eggs and an ounce or two of cheese folded into the mix. Add more cottage cheese and another glass of milk on the side. On the rare occasion he toasts up a slice of winter wheat bread, it goes, stale, to the birds the next day with only a small semi-circle missing from one corner.
Final snack is usually a last shake of Bomber Blend or scoop of cottage cheese; occasionally in the morning I’ll find an empty Brown Cow full-fat, cream-on-the-top yogurt container at the top of the trash.
So let’s see what fitday figures up with all of this.
[I like fitday a lot and had planned to enter this online using a public journal so you could pick it apart, but the food choices are more limited than the paid version ($20); when I was unable to find a meat comparable to skirt steak, the first item on my list, I switched over to the program here on my computer.]
Now you’re not going to believe this. I kid you not:
Total calories: 3,713
Fat, 109 grams — 26% of daily intake
Carb, 283 grams — 30% of daily intake
Protein, 400 grams — 44% of daily intake
So there you have it. His calories are down, to match his lowered activity. His protein percentage is up, to hold as much muscle as he can, and he’s switched out his carbs slightly for a bit more fat.
The part that I thought unbelievable is how similar the breakdown is these years later, but I think I’ll reconsider. If you don’t change your food choices year over year, why would your macronutrient ratios change?
Laree Draper
on November 13th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
Great article, Laree. In the first link, “Dave’s daily menu”, he lists his supplements as well. Any changes there?
Kyle E.
on November 15th, 2006 at 8:38 am
Very interesting, that he is still getting that much protein. If I could afford it, I would do likewise. Remember that silly period in time, where ‘they” tried to tell us that we did not need “all that protein”? They were wrong then and they still are. Don’t remember ever seeing photos of “they” or anything they accomplished.
on November 15th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
I thought that I was doing well with my 200 to 250 grams of protein a day. Maybe I should try to up it somewhat since I’m trying to reduce my body fat while keeping as much muscle as possible.
on November 16th, 2006 at 5:32 am
I am ex-frogman/seal whatever you wan to call it. Enjoyed the greatest fitness of my life. now I am 52. Cant run becasue of severe knee surgery. I can even do push-ups anymore(used to crank 10sets of 50 daily every morning before running). I am limited to walking(what a let down) and light weight training - more circuit, at least I have setup a circuit workout of about 18 - 20 different excercises (including leg lifts and some stretching, arm circles, etc, ) what excerxises I do with weights is about 12-15 reps, bench, sitting/standing curls,side arm raises, presses sitting/standing, arm extensions, reverse curls, clean and press, crunches, stretching.
I get a sweat but I want to really sweat, I want to know when I am done i can tell. Im self-motivated and would like a plan that would get me more benefit. Id love to lose about 20 pounds,.
what can you suggest for an overall program that would be a circuit with free weights and dumb bells and walking that would get me my most benfit ?
on November 16th, 2006 at 5:48 am
I just found my New Year’s resolution for 2007:
to mirror Dave’s food choices/food discipline, a
minimum of 5 days per week.
on November 16th, 2006 at 8:35 am
Kyle, I think I know the answers on Dave’s supplements these days, but will check for certain before I post.
Seal Tom, why don’t you re-post your question in the IronOnline forum? You’ll get better response there.
on November 16th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
The Bomber is like E.F. Hutton…enough said.
on November 16th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
The mere fact that I have become AWARE of what I put in my mouth each day has in itself done marvels for my 06 training. Thanks for printing what Dave does. I’m keeping an extensive food diary over the holidays and I will refer to this throughout the season
Bill Ivory
on November 28th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
[…] A couple of weeks ago we took a look at Dave’s current menu, geared to weight gain, or at least holding weight, and compared it with his menu from a few years ago. Let’s add one more thing to the mix: food supplements. […]
on November 28th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
Draper will always be the King of bodybuilding in my eyes . Once all the golden era grunts are gone, I have no idea who we will have to look up to?
on July 17th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Dave, great site, just found it! I remember your exploits from the 70’s, since I’m a 49-year-old woman and powerlifting/bb veteran. I’m currently competing on the USA National Women’s Kayak Polo team, and my upper body strength is a HUGE asset.
Frogman–have you tried kayaking? I had a total knee replacement last year, and am forbidden to ever run again (or I’ll wear out the plastic spacer), and it was huge for me to give up running, but I can still mountain bike, walk, and I do kayak whitewater like a mad woman!
on July 23rd, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Like Barney Shannon said, I too, thought that at my current weight of 200-206 pounds I was spot on regarding my protein intake. I have been doing about 200-210 grams per day. I think I’ll up that to about 300 and see what things are like in about 6 weeks.
Thanks for writing this L!
–Tim
on November 2nd, 2009 at 9:23 pm
I’m a 48 year old man, and can not seem to gain muscle mass or weight in general. Does Dave’s system really work? Andy
Hi, Andy, if by “Dave’s system” you mean overeating, regularly, daily, week in and week out, yes it absolutely works to put on weight. Most people can’t keep it up very long — a few days and making all that food, eating when you’re not hungry… it gets old, and people usually bail before it really starts working. Now, it turns out that’s not such a bad thing. We’re fairly sure Dave’s decades of forcefeeding to hold or gain size contributed to his arterial blockage and subsequent heart surgery. His was a case of low cholesterol, high inflammation, and there’s a real good chance regular overeating factored into that.