Actor Ryan Reynolds, author of an anti-competitive eating blog entry for the Huffington Post, is apparently not equally opposed to all activities which consume calories which could be redirected to the starving poor of the world. The website for People Magazine reports that the husband of Scarlett Johannson claimed on an episode of the Rachael Ray show that he ate almost 10,000 calories after finishing the New York City marathon.

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Following up on last week’s post about Michael Phelps’ 12,000 calorie a day diet, here are some other male athletes who reportedly ate over 10,000 calories a day (I will try to have a post up about female athletes sometime this weekend.)

• Michigan State offensive lineman Tony Mandarich, 12000-15000 cal/day from a 1989 Sports Illustrated article, a list of Mandarich’s weekly grocery shopping is also available (Mandarich’s diet may or may not have been steroid assisted)
• Judo competitor Myles Porter, up to 12,000 cal/day, from a MSNBC article and video about Olympians diets (1984 Nathan’s champion Birgit Felden was a member of the West German judo team)
• 1976 Olympics swimmer Gordon Downie, 13,000 – 18,000 cal / day
• Icelandic strongman Jón Páll Sigmarsson (now deceased), 10,000-20,000 cal / day from a caption from a youtube documentary
• Ultramarathon swimmer Skip Storch, who attempted to swim from Albany to New York City, 17,000 cal / day from a NY Times article
• Bodybuilder Victor Richards, 30,000 calories a day, reportedly from a daily diet consisting of:
  

  3 pounds of brown rice.
  25-30 chicken breasts.
  75-120 egg whites.
  10-12 cans of corn.
  5-6 cans of pineapple

• A Sports Illustrated article from 1981 about pro wrestler “Andre the Giant” lists a daily calorie consumption of 7,000 calories a day, but that figure comes solely from alcohol and does not include food and non-alcoholic drinks. (quote is from part 6)
  

  Like most people who drink because they enjoy it rather than because they have to, Andre isn’t bothered overmuch by the occasional dry period. Last year, for example, after an extended trip to Japan and Australia , he found that his weight had reached the unacceptably high figure of 540 pounds, whereupon he put himself on a strict diet—no alcohol, and only one meal a day. In four weeks he dropped 80 pounds, which becomes less surprising with the realization that he consumes approximately 7,000 calories in alcohol a day.

  As for his efforts at table, Andre seems to eat less than might be expected, though, of course, far more than the average person. Four eggs, bacon, hash browns, four pieces of whole wheat toast, a pint of orange juice and two iced coffees suffice to break his nightly fast, and his evening meal, generally taken several hours before his match, will depend on where he is in the world, although the quantity will be about twice that consumed by your garden variety gourmand. Occasionally, however, he will hold back on the alcohol and give full play to his appetite. He recently recounted an evening spent in a small, second-rate restaurant. “I was tired, boss, and I only wanted to have a quick bite and go to bed, but this waitress, she kept pointing at me and talking about me to the other customers. Then she asked me in a loud voice if a cup of soup and a cracker would be enough. And she laughed. I told her no, that I was hungry, and wished the entire menu to be brought, one dish at a time. It took me four hours to eat it all.”

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The New York Post has an article about the diet of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps which consists of 3 meals containing 4,000 calories each for a total of approximately 12,000 calories. Phelps’ typical breakfast:

Phelps lends a new spin to the phrase “Breakfast of Champions” by starting off his day by eating three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.

He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

The Wall Street Journal Health Blog and Bleacher Report have entries about Phelps’ food consumption. The eight gold medal hopeful is a regular patron of Pete’s Grill in Baltimore according to a MyFoxDC article, so perhaps he could enter that restaurant’s annual pancake eating contest.

The New York Times has a slideshow of Olympians which lists their daily calorie consumption:

• Christian Cantwell, shotput, 335 lbs., 5000 calories
• Deena Kastor, marathon, 103 lbs., 4000 calories
• Cheryl Haworth, weightlifting, 300 lbs., 3000 – 4000 calories
• Brett Newlin, rowing, 225 lbs., 6000 calories
• Sarah Hammer, cycling, 135 lbs., 4500 calories

Rower Jamie Schroeder estimates he consumes 8,000 – 10,000 calories a day.

Volleyball player Stacy Sykora has the highest daily calorie consumption I could find for a current female Olympian at 5,000, with a sizeable percentage of that coming from McDonald’s burgers.

Canadian rower Heather Clarke might have set the all time record for female Olympians when she consumed 10,000 calories a day in preparing for the 1980 games.

update

MSNBC has a video of all the food listed in the New York Post article
An article and video about Michael Phelps’ visits to Michigan restaurants are available.
Youtube has a NBC commercial about Phelps
RushLimbaugh.com has a commentary on Phelps’ diet and the British left-wing newspaper The Guardian calls Phelps a “right greedy pig”
ABC news has an article on Olympians diets
According to a Saturday Night Live transcript, Diana Nyad ate 12,000 – 12,500 calories a day while training for ultramarathon swimming, which is not an Olympic sport.

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The blog for former NFL offensive lineman Tony Mandarich announced in July that he has completed his autobiography and is shopping it to publishers (No followup entries about its publication status have been made) In 1988, the New York Times wrote an article about Mandarich’s diet and training:

Mandarich knows that some opponents attribute his muscular development to steroids. But he insists he has built his physique slowly with a rigid weight training program and a menu that provides 15,000 calories a day. ”I’m not a big eater at any one meal,” he said, ”but I have seven meals every day.”

Three are 3,000-calorie milk shakes, two are thin steak sizzlers, one a 3-ounce beef patty and the seventh a whole 3-pound chicken.

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Namu wrote a blog entry in Spanish about Natsuko “Gal” Sone and uploaded the video of her eating 40,000 calories in three restaurants to http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1m3er_gal-sone-40000-kc

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A video clip of Natsuko “Gal” Sone attempting to exceed the 15000 calories that it is believed Elvis Presley consumed daily near the end of his life is available at http://youtube.com/watch?v=nNP7rf2WVCg

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The youtube video of Natsuko “Gal” Sone eating 40K calories has been viewed over 200,000 times. A lot of cable television programs do not have 200,000 viewers. (The Gluttonous Queens video, which has been available for three months, has only been viewed about 10,000 times) I am curious whether the majority of the viewers are coming from Japan or the US. Hopefully “Gal” Sone’s popularity will result in her competing with American eaters in the not too distant future.

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From TV in Japan A clip of Natsuko “Gal” Sone eating a huge hunk of meat and then an Everest of ice cream has been uploaded to youtube. The total amount of calories in the consumed food is listed at 40,000. The courses take place in different restaurants.

Updated 7/13 12:26 – The ice cream mountain is apparently a regular menu item that retails for 20,000 Yen.

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The Guinness Book of World Records called Eddie “Bozo” Miller (born June 11, 1909) of Oakland, California the “world’s greatest trencherman” before the eating records section of that publication was excised in 1990. The 1981 edition of Guinness claims that Miller had been undefeated in eating contests since 1931, resulting in a fifty year winning streak. Despite a diet consisting of up to 25,000 calories a day (which was reflected in his former 5′ 7.5″ 280-300 pound physique), Miller turned 97 in June 2005. Miller has retired from competitive eating and currently weighs considerably less than he did during his gurgitating heyday.

Miller believes he received his nickname when his father, who travelled the country with Bozo’s mother in a vaudeville show, was performing as a clown. He married a former Princess of the Pasadena Rose Bowl. Miller worked as a restauranteur and then as a liquor distributor. Miller’s drinking ability was almost as impressive as his gastronomic feats. He once literally drank a lion under the table. Miller is an avid horse racing fan and witnessed many of the major races of the legendary horse Seabiscuit.

Eddie “Bozo” Miller’s eating records:

• 27 2 pound chickens Trader Vic’s, San Francisco, 1963
• 324 ravioli (first 250 in 70 minutes) Rendezvous Room, Oakland, 1963
• 63 Dutch apple pies in an hour, 1961

It is surprising that many of the country’s greatest eaters have hailed from Northern California (the LeFevres are originally from that area.) It would be interesting if Bozo Miller and Joey Chestnut could get together and possibly do a joint interview.

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Powerlifter Marty Gallagher has an article about his theory on how the more slender competitive eaters consume massive amounts of food and avoid gaining weight. He says that eating 6 meals spread throughout the day will produce less weight gain than one massive meal containing the same amount of calories. Sonya Thomas eating one giant meal seems to disprove Gallagher’s theory.

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