As a competitive eater and gamer focused on pushing boundaries, I took on the ultimate feat of strength challenge from my gaming community: surviving the daily diet of the world‘s heaviest man for multiple days. This meant striving to consume over 15,000 calories per day using my passion for challenges, science and tricking my metabolism.
My Background as a Competitive Gamer and Eater
I‘ve always sought out extreme experiences. My obsession with competitive gaming arose in childhood, playing 14 hours a day to become ranking leader in games like Warcraft II and Starcraft. My dedication and research into min-maxing human reaction times, actions per minute (APM), and customizing gear for optimized play made me a legend in local circuits.
But I eventually grew bored of the same tournaments. Seeking a new extreme challenge, I pivoted into the world of competitive eating where I trained my body to regularly stretch stomach capacity and rapidly digest 10,000+ calories in single sittings. Through regimented practice eating copious hotdogs, hamburgers, beans and blueberry pies, I gained notoriety on Major League Eating circuits for my mastery of discomfort.
Combining these two passions with a scientific curiosity to quantify extremes of performance, I jumped at the dare proposed by fellow gamers: could I survive eating according to the over 15,000 calorie per day diet of the world‘s heaviest man documented at peak size? They wagered I couldn‘t last a week. I aimed to prove them wrong.
The Rules and Planning for 15,000 Calories
The rules of the challenge were simple: consume 15,000 calories daily modeled after Jon Brower Minnoch‘s diet who reached 1,400 pounds eating massive portions of eggs, meat, breads, sweets and soda. No exceptions for weekends or rest periods – 15,000 every day for 7 days straight.
I gathered research around expected health impacts at this consumption level along with shopping lists, meal plans, gaming setup mods and the most elastic waistbands money could buy. I announced to my 10k social media followers I was undertaking this battle against bodily limitations and invited them along for the ride.
Macro Targets Per Day
| Macronutrient | Grams | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | 400g | 1600 |
| Carbs | 750g | 3000 |
| Fat | 250g | 2250 |
With calories sourced 50% carbs, 30% fat and 20% protein, I was locked and loaded for optimal weight gain to survive the heaviest diet on Earth. Now let the feasting begin!
Day 1 – Easing Into Over 15,000 Calories
I started Day 1 hungry, motivated and energized (with a fasted baseline weight of 165 pounds documented for scientificpurposes). Crushing my typical breakfast in one sitting of 12 eggs, bacon, sausages and stacks of buttered toast already put me over 2,500 calories quickly. Chasing it with a weight gainer protein shake and sugary Starbucks, I knew I was on track.
Lunch kept piling with a triple patty cheeseburger, two large orders of fries dipped in milkshakes and multiple slices of apple pie. My gamer friends watched via livestream both in awe and unease as I relentlessly stuffed myself hour after hour. I was already feeling sluggish, greasy and chilled from diverting bloodflow to handle relentless digestion.
Yet on I pushed through sheer competitive willpower for the glory of completing an epic challenge run never recognized by Guinness World Records. Nachos, pepperoni pizza, jalapeño poppers all served to inflate my tally ever higher. With swollen feet and a ready-to-burst bloated belly limiting my mobility, I gamed the night away from my sofa alternating between Call of Duty and candy binges.
Just before midnight I achieved a total exceeding 18,000 calories for Day 1 before passing out in a food coma surrounded by empty pizza boxes and soda cans. Followers cheered at the impressive benchmark. I knew tomorrow would be harder…but I had planned accordingly.
The Painful Price of 15,000 Calories for Multiple Days
While Day 1 went surprisingly smoothly aided by motivation adrenaline despite mild discomforts, the cumulative toll of consecutive days binging without a break rapidly escalated…
Symptoms By Day
| Day | Symptoms |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Stretched stomach, bloating, gas, brain fog, sore throat, chilled, swollen feet, mild headaches |
| Day 2 | Worsened headaches, joint pain, heat intolerance, poor sleep quality, muscle cramps, insatiable sugar cravings, depressed mood, severely diminished appetite |
| Day 3 | Spiked blood pressure, rapid heart rate, jaundice, electrolyte imbalance, kidney pains, exercise intolerance, distorted hunger/fullness signals |
| Day 4 | Brief blackouts, hypoglycemia, vomiting, cardiac arrhythmia, gout flare up, severely distorted stomach, debilitating cramps, dangerously elevated heart rate, reliance on mass gainers to hit daily calorie goals |
By Day 5, despite close monitoring by my physician, we jointly agreed to abort the mission for safety reasons as symptoms reflected early signs of refeeding syndrome on top of escalating obesity-related issues.
While I succeeded in maintaining the 15,000 calorie benchmark for nearly 100,000 calories consumed over four days, the rapid changes occurring in my body from excessive nutritional overload proved unsustainably dangerous. No trophy or bragging rights justified hospitalization or lasting damage. But I walked away all the wiser for deepening my understanding of bodily limits.
Key Learnings on Surviving Heavy Diets
Though failing to reach the full seven day mark eating like the world‘s heaviest individuals, the attempt offered numerous learnings:
- The body adapts rapidly to overfeeding – Within days, cells grew more insulin resistant slowing sugar uptake, digestion accelerated to eliminate waste faster, and my gut biome shifted to handle influxes of junk foods.
- Weight and health impacts build cumulatively – While day one of overeating brought expected discomforts, multi-day efforts compound damage. What seems tolerable at first can quickly spiral.
- Willpower decays – Despite qualifying as a "professional eater", maintaining motivation to keep eating through pain on zero days off proved nearly impossible. Periodic breaks are essential.
- Metabolic flexibility has limits – Even moving and supplementing to generate huge surpluses, deficits from this degree of overfeeding outpaced my ability to burn calories ultimately converting excess to adipose.
While the metabolic genius of the body keeps us alive through astounding conditions, nothing can protect against the extreme disregard for nutritional balance exemplified by the diet of the world‘s heaviest individuals.
Health Must Take Priority Over Challenges
As gamers chasing increasingly insane records and challenges to stand out, we often overlook health in the relentless pursuit of glory and bragging rights. Yet wise gamers recognize topping leaderboards means little from a hospital bed or early grave.
My greatest achievement wasn‘t the temporary title of "world‘s top overeater" but rather the decision to pull the plug when continuing posed real danger – exhibiting the rarest gamer trait of all: restraint. But next time, just maybe I‘ll make it the full week…