Video: 20,000 Calorie Challenge

Finally, here's the video of the 20k calorie challenge. Some referred to it as the 20k intestinal run. Trail mix was simply a bad choice for a volume challenge. The pumpkin ice cream made the experience palatable at least.

The video is more or less a parody of "Epic Meal Time" crossed with Man v Food. My students did a good job asking questions and providing commentary during the challenge. This production will likely serve as the starting point for a multimedia club at my school. Hopefully we will find more interesting things to record besides food.

Epic Fail Time

20,000 calories may be possible in one meal, but you aren't going to get there by eating 8 lbs of trail mix. I learned that the "hard" way last Friday. Everything in the bag required laborious chewing. Nothing softened, even doused in pumpkin ice cream.

The concept was still a success. It was arranged as a school-community event in Yucca Valley, my students were invited to watch and complete observational assignments, and everyone else who came to watch loved it. The Hi Desert Star actually mentioned the event in last Saturday's paper. Channel 2 News in nearby Palm Springs requested event photographs and a write-up.

One of these days, I'll find an effective way to concoct an edible 20k calorie meal. Trail mix seemed smart: it's calorie dense, so you get high calorie counts without adding on a ton of weight. Maybe I'll take a cue from Johnnie Excel and load up on mayonnaise next time out.

I stopped after eating for 80 minutes... wasn't so full as much as I was tired and disgusted. Even turning the leftover portions into thick, blended smoothies didn't help. You'd be surprised, but they tasted pretty good.

In an epic encounter, food won. There's a large amount of video footage from this stunt, and it will be making its way onto YouTube shortly.

20K Is Pho Real

There haven't been many updates on this site lately. So, here I go. You're looking at the Pho Real Challenge, offered at the Bamboo Cafe in Simi Valley. It's comparable to most other pho challenges I've done.. 2 lbs of noodles, and 2 lbs of meats. I powered through the bowl in 18 minutes. That was second best to the house record of 12 minutes, set by another competitive eater a month before. Winners get a free shirt and a $25 refund.

The funniest detail of this challenge came from a customer seated several rows behind me. He ordered his own pho challenge bowl several minutes before me, but was still working on it long after I'd been declared a winner.

"What the hell? He's done? That guy's a beast. He's gotta have a tapeworm or something."

Well, tapeworm or not, it made for some good eating.

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20K Club Revisited

Though the subject has sat dormant for months, I will be making a serious attempt at entering the 20k club tomorrow. If this subject makes no sense to you (or if you think I'm about to go running), 20k refers to calories consumed. Matt Stonie, Johnnie Excel, and I were discussing the feasibility of eating 20,000 calories in one sitting using real foods and nothing much came of the project but research.

Tomorrow comes action. Pictures and a report will follow.

The 20K Club

Insomnia strikes at inopportune moments sometimes. I figured I may as well do something productive.

This post is a reflection on the "20K Club," an informal competitive eating association borne of a Facebook conversation between Johnnie Excel and Matt Stonie regarding the feasibility of consuming 20,000 calories in one sitting.

That's a hell of a lot of calories to put down in one run. For the sake of perspective, 4 lbs of peanut butter would only get you to 11,000 calories.

Come to think of it, there's many of us who might have yet to enter the 10K Club. It's tough to say... but plates like the one pictured above might certainly help.

That's a heap of soft serve ice cream buried under five dense pieces of cheesecake. It reminds me of those ridiculously oversized dessert plates you would see on Ben Monson's bodybuilding.com page, though clearly Ben did it bigger.

You're gonna need to eat several of these plates to even remotely approach 20k. Maybe you could try candy bars - between 90 and 100 would take you to 20,000 calories.

The 20K Club has some rules in place that make the task even more daunting. For example, you can't simply eat large quantities of calorie-dense ingredients such as butter or mayonnaise to achieve high totals. You have to consume actual foods or ingredients assembled into legitimate dishes. Foods used must also be sourced from nutrition labels so that the calorie counts may be verified. And: the consumption must be captured on one continuous video clip for posterity.

That's complicated enough. And pretty straightforward.

There's many ways to enter the hallowed Hall of Fame (which is still barren). Do 11 lbs of animal crackers sound good to anyone?