The True Life of a Freak8R

I don't eat like this all the time.

Anyone who has actually watched me eat might find this hard to believe. Or maybe hard to stomach.

Tales of me are great and they are exaggerated. One friend suspected that I lived off a diet of 5-lb burritos, 12-egg omelets, 44-oz burgers, 20" pizzas, and 2-liter soda bottles.

It's the same story every time.... someone would see me eat one outlandish meal, and they would extrapolate that into my lifestyle. How else could I maintain my large consumption capacity?

The truth is out there. It's pretty simple. I eat an ordinary, humane diet most of the time. A typical day will see me consume 1800-2400 calories spread over 6-8 small meals. Six days a week, you will find me in the neighborhood gym doing strength training and cardiovascular exercise.

I stand 6'2, and weigh about 210 pounds. I'm not ridiculously muscular or waifish, but I'm also not morbidly obese. I take the condition of my physical health seriously.

It's just that - from time to time - I enjoy a good 'cheat' meal. I break the bounds of ordinary, and move into the extraordinary.

I've eaten 7000 calorie meals........ I've probably also eaten enough fat in one sitting to render most individuals senseless. I just don't make it into an everyday routine.

If I did, I'd need a much bigger pair of pants.

And, quite possibly, a doctor who makes house calls. Lots of them.

My cholesterol, heart-rate, and blood pressure numbers are in the ballpark for healthy individuals of my age range.

If I ever believed that my eating was endangering my health or life, I would give it up. Nothing is worth risking your life over. There's a million other pursuits I could pursue if I wasn't so busy pondering my next big meal.

By some miracle (okay, biology and physiology), your body is not really able to absorb the calories from food in monstrous doses. I can eat the occasional huge meal without great negative impact because of this fact. It mostly passes through - painfully sometimes - but it passes.

I might have a metabolism that's slighter higher than normal. I can't answer to that. But I do know that I have a stomach capacity that's higher than most people's.

And I enjoy being able to fill it.

I'd say that my 'cheat meals' (i.e. challenges) come about once per week. Typically, I won't eat anything else until the next day afterward.... often because it's physically impossible to stuff anything else in the tank.

I realize it's not healthy to habitually overeat and overwhelm your body. So, I have to let the machinery rest and recover.... even a star athlete can't run the marathon everyday.

I have my monster meal, and then I go back to my old diet and exercise plan.

.... get plenty of fluids, and lots of rest.

Back to the ordinary for another few days!