Inside Hunter McIntyre’s Nutrition Strategy: How the 3-Time Hyrox Champ Handles Cravings and Calories

If you’ve paid any attention to HYROX in recent years, you’ve heard the name Hunter McIntyre. A three-time HYROX world champion and former CrossFit record-breaker, McIntyre has been known as a freak athlete for well over a decade. 

In competition, HYROX athletes push their bodies to the absolute limit—combining cardio and strength with a brutal mix of sled pushes, wall balls, burpees, ski ergs, farmer’s carries, and, oh yeah, eight 1K runs. If you think your typical cardio session is tough, you haven’t seen anything yet.

So you might be wondering: What do these athletes eat to stay in the best shape of their lives without running themselves into the ground? According to McIntyre, he can basically eat whatever the hell he wants.

"I don't think people understand the common man versus the elite athlete is that I can do it however the heck I want because I work out so hard," he told Men's Journal. "A pint of ice cream, to me, is nothing as long as it fits in the numbers. At the end of the day, really, if you can just follow that and follow a plan, it's almost like a mathematical equation."

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It hasn’t always been that way, though. According to McIntyre, he’s tried just about every diet under the sun over the past 15 years—from a vegan diet loaded with lentils and grains to a carnivore diet made up of nothing but meat. But what he’s learned is this: It really doesn’t have to be as complicated as people make it.

"It all comes back to this," McIntyre said. "If you can take basic numbers of like, hey, my body weight's 200 pounds. I multiply that times about three to four for my carbohydrates, about one for my protein, and about 0.75 for my fats. As long as I keep that throughout the week, I can do just about anything."

And when he says anything, he means it—yes, even sweets. As long as they fit within the loose framework of his plan, they’re fair game. According to McIntyre, he’s kind of a self-proclaimed “sugar princess,” constantly craving something sweet—whether it’s a spoonful of honey, a CELSIUS before his workout, or a full pint of ice cream. But with the amount of calories he torches during his workouts, it’s no surprise he’s still shredded.

"Let's just say tomorrow's my hard workout," he says. "I'm going to go for a big workout. I specifically let my workout end at the grocery store where there's a cinnamon bun. It's my reward. In reality, it's not naughty. It's necessary."