How Game of Thrones star Hafþór Björnsson lost 120 lbs

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson has had several careers. He started out as a basketball player, which makes sense given that he’s 6’9″. He eventually transitioned to being a professional strongman, which means he eats a lot so his body is big enough to do what it has to do. In that period he appeared on Game of Thrones as Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane, where he terrified viewers by crushing the skull of Oberyn Martell, among other fun pursuits.

And now, Björnsson has slimmed way down — he’s lost 120 lbs, in fact — for a whole new career: as an exhibition boxer. In preparation for matches against the likes of professional arm wrestler Devon Larratt, which he won easily, he’s gone from well over 400 lbs…

…to just over 300:

That’s still huge, of course — remember when we said he was 6’9″? — but a big difference. “I’m training more in boxing than I did for strongman,” Björnsson recently told The Sun. “I’m in the gym more because of all of the conditioning work, there’s a lot of conditioning work.”

"I’m boxing like six times a week, sparring three times a week, then I’m running like five times a week. There’s a lot of different training styles, in the gym like two times a day but that’s just what you do, so that’s the biggest difference. And the diet too, there’s a few changes in the diet, not eating nearly as much, in strongman I used to eat a lot. It was all about eating every two-three hours, big meals, while here I’m almost always hungry and always like to eat more."

Of course, not everyone is going to maintain that kind of workout schedule, but Björnsson is happy to share his routines if anybody is interested.

Hafþór Björnsson reveals his boxing diet

According to Insider, Björnsson eats the same five meals every day to get into fighting shape:

1. Two whole scrambled eggs with 200g chicken, a portion of Thor’s Skyr yogurt), 40g oatmeal, and 50g blueberries
2. 230g beef tenderloin with 140g white rice and 100g greens like spinach, zucchini, or green beans
3. 230g chicken with 200g boiled potato (sweet or white) with 100g greens
4. 230g salmon with 100g white rice and 100g spinach
5. Thor’s Skyr with 30g peanut butter and a scoop of whey protein

Björnsson worked up to this diet with baby steps, and still has a cheat meal once a week. “You can’t be a robot,” he said. “We’re all human, we all crave things.”

"It’s OK to go off the diet as long as you stick to it six days a week, or however you do it…My personal preference is to eat healthy six times a week, and then have one day off. You obviously don’t go super crazy and eat like a maniac, but if you want a pizza, have a pizza."

Any diet that completely eliminates pizza isn’t a diet worth trying, if you ask me.

Hafþór Björnsson appears on Logan Paul podcast

Seeing as he’s doing exhibition boxing matches now, perhaps it’s no surprise that Björnsson appeared on Logan Paul’s podcast Impaulsive, Logan Paul having been credited with popularizing the exhibition match with a series of high-profile bouts against other internet celebrities.

And although he’s very busy, Björnsson still has lots of time for his growing family:

Björnsson’s next big exhibition match will be against professional strongman Eddie Hall; it’s scheduled to go down in March of 2022.

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