By Kyle Finneron
Shortly after my last show I had a little fun with my eating before going onto my next preparation cycle or “prep.” I read how some elite powerlifters eat over 10,000 calories a day. Now, keep in mind I’m talking about someone the size of The Mountain from “Game of Thrones” (who is a world class strong man) and is 6 feet, 9 inches tall and 240 pounds. But it got me thinking, how would a massive amount of calories in one day affect me?
It all started when I looked at the empty can of mixed nuts that were sitting on my passenger seat. I bought the nuts not more than an hour ago and they were delicious, and now all gone. Since nuts are high in fat and thus high in calories I wanted to see how many servings I just made disappear. Seven servings per container and 140 calories per serving. I did the math in my head and had to stop for a second to make sure I was thinking straight. Did I really just eat almost 1,000 calories? It turned out the math was correct and it got me thinking: What would happen if I went for it one day and ate 6,000 calories?
Normally I only eat for eight hours between 2-10 p.m, but I knew that wouldn’t work for that amount of food. I knew that a majority of the calories would come from fat and wanted to keep them as healthy as possible. My menu consisted of eggs, coconut oil, mixed nuts (about three to four cans worth), avocados, and steak. I also included broccoli and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s to round out the day.
Here’s the scary thing: it really wasn’t that hard. I will say eating that many Brazil nuts and cashews will wear on you after a while but it wasn’t as terrible as I thought. I wasn’t locked to the kitchen table shoveling food down all day. I actually ate a large majority of the food on the go. It took all day but in the end I had consumed 6,020 calories in less than 14 hours. Before I started I weighed myself and the next day I did the same. What was the result? I was one pound heavier, and 1 percent lower in body fat. Could I have gain a pound of muscle in a day? Highly unlikely. Chances are I was holding more water from the extra calories or a number of other possibilities.
After the mountains of food, what’s the moral of the story? A single day — even a 6,000 calorie day — will not change your body that much. If we ate like this for a month, that would be a different story. I have worked with a lot of people and have seen them on the verge of tears because they were human and broke down and ate something they shouldn’t. One meal or one day won’t wreck your diet, just like one workout won’t reverse years of inactivity.
Here’s my pro tip: schedule a guilt-free day if you’re on a diet or meal plan. For one, it will keep you sane; and two, it will help you stick to your diet throughout the week. If you know that you can have ice cream and beer on Saturday it will be easier to put it off earlier in the week. If you look at it as “I can never have ice cream again,” chances are you will binge and have ice cream and feel terrible about it. Being on a diet or eating healthy can feel like living in a pressure cooker — sometimes you have to release it.
