WANT to gain a lot of weight in a very short span of time? Just follow the “Barkley diet”.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, former NBA star Charles Barkley recalled the time he gained an astonishing 20 pounds in 48 hours in an ultimately fruitless attempt to avoid getting drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1984.

“Back in my day we had a hard salary cap so you could not go over the salary cap like you can today and the Sixers had the No. 5 pick in the draft,” he said. “I left college after three years and in fairness, I was fat in college. I played at 300 pounds.

“The Sixers called me a month before the draft and said, ‘We want you to get down to 285 pounds and come in before the draft.’ So I get down to 283 and the night before we fly into Philly my agent said, ‘You do know if the Sixers draft you they are going to give you $75,000, right?’ I said, ‘Dude, I didn’t leave college for $75,000. We have a problem.’ He said, ‘You weigh about 283 now. What do you want to do? You beat their weight limit.’ I said, ‘Let’s go out.’”

The mission was to gain a few pounds, a mark Barkley obliterated.

“We went to Denny’s and I had like two Grand Slam breakfasts,” Barkley said of the meal that consists of two buttermilk pancakes, two eggs cooked to order, two bacon strips, and two sausage links, along with hash browns or a choice of bread, plus coffee and a small juice. “We went to lunch and I had like two big barbecue sandwiches. That night we went to a big steakhouse.

“The next morning I had two more Grand Slam breakfasts and when we flew to Philly, I weighed 302. I was like. ‘Thank goodness, the Sixers are not going to draft me.’ So when you look at my face when commissioner (David) Stern says ‘With the fifth pick in the draft, the Philadelphia 76ers select Charles Barkley,’ I was like, ‘Oh, s***.’”

Barkley ended up playing eight seasons for the 76ers before being traded to the Suns.

“When people go back and look at me walking, and they see that awful burgundy suit, everybody else is happy and Charles isn’t happy,” he told the website. “But it worked out great. The most important person in my basketball career was Moses Malone and he got me down to under 250 pounds and the rest is history.”