Posted: 6/25/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Donald Eggert Illinois' Mike Tisdale pivots around Michigan State's Goran Suton, Thursday, March 6, at Assembly Hall.

For most people, eating is a pleasure - although sometimes a guilty one. For Illinois sophomore Mike Tisdale, eating is a full-time job. The 7-foot-1 center's day is filled with consuming as much as he can.

In the morning, Tisdale makes a big breakfast before heading to morning workouts. After workouts, he gulps down "a few" protein shakes before going home to eat a few platefuls of lunch. He'll usually grab a pre-class snack and something again between and after classes.

After class, Tisdale heads to Ubben Basketball Facility for a couple hours' break from the seemingly never-ending buffet line of his life.

The Riverton, Ill., native will eat a couple more platefuls for dinner and chug it down with a couple protein shakes or a 1,500-calorie weight gainer shake. Before he hits the bed, he makes sure to eat another snack and another shake.

It all amounts to about 6,000 calories a day, three times the recommended daily total for the average person. This has been Tisdale's daily routine for a year in an attempt to add weight to his lanky frame.

"After you get done eating you're sweating," Tisdale said. "It's not as easy as people think it is because eating that much, you're full all day and feel sluggish sometimes."

Tisdale arrived on campus looking like a walking skeleton with only 200 pounds to fill his 7-foot-1 body. Illinois coach Bruce Weber realized his newest center would need to gain weight to compete with the big bodies of the Big Ten, but he was surprised when Tisdale bought into the weight-gain program right away.

"It takes and effort and discipline to do that, and to me, that's been the most impressive thing," Weber said.

Tisdale's effort has paid off. He has gained 35 pounds since last summer. More importantly, Weber said, Tisdale's been able to maintain the weight, something the 7-footer has struggled with his entire life. Tisdale said at his skinniest he weighed 185 pounds during his junior year of high school.

"I've always been the tall, skinny kid and never been able to gain weight," Tisdale said. "I mean I'd eat everything and other people's food and not be able to gain weight."

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