Saturday is Snack Day: Taking Down 4,500 Calories in One Day in Raleigh

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may know that I am a strict follower of the “Slow Carb” diet. It’s basically six days of no bread, corn, refined sugars, or pretty much any non-vegetable carbohydrates… and then one day of absurd cheating.

Other diets offer a “cheat meal” or something, which doesn’t work for me. I am far too gluttonous. So I just eat like a saint six days a week and then sink into total depravity on day seven.

Lately I’ve made a game of seeing how many calories I can cram into my body on the cheat day… let’s see how well I did this time.

Breakfast

Breakfast was small, and I missed the photo. Oops. I had a bagel and cream cheese, so about 250 calories to start the day.

I learned early on that overdoing it in the morning can wreck my whole day - I’ll eat a pint of ice cream or something and then be too full to think about food for the next ten hours.

Calorie Count: 250

Lunch #1: Char Grill

Char Grill is a local Raleigh spot, basically a less absurd version of another popular fast food chain here called Cookout.

I’ve never eaten it before and it’s right by my house. Today I ordered a hot dog and a double hamburger, both with ketchup, mustard, and onions.

https://i.imgur.com/1j2AzFQ.mp4

This was tasty. Honestly it felt exactly like the kind of food I would make myself at home, so it’s basically just a faster / more convenient way to eat some grilled dogs and burgers. A good spot for a quick lunch, but nothing exceptional.

Maybe next time I’ll try the “1/2 lb Steak Hamburger”, which looked like the most deluxe thing on the menu. That could be dank.

Double Hamburger: 350 calories

Hot Dog: 250 calories

Calorie Count So Far: 850

Snack #1

I took down a sharing size bag of m&ms right after lunch #1. 520 calories never went down so fast. This is how you do it!

Sharing Size m&ms: 500 calories (let’s keep the math easy)

Calorie Count So Far: 1,350

Lunch #2: Random Chinese Restaurant

Chinese food (at least the way it’s sold in America at the cheap spots) is completely off the menu for my six days of healthy eating each week - it’s just so many carbs, there’s really no way to avoid it.

So it seemed like a good chance to check out the local Chinese spot… I grabbed the lunch special, some extra spicy Hunan Chicken w/ vegetables and an egg roll.

This was honestly not that good, I mean I was able to eat it, it was fine. I wasn’t too hungry yet after lunch #1 - this was maybe 3 hours later - so that might have played into it. The egg roll and soda were the best parts.

I doubt I’ll go back to this place… just didn’t seem like my style. I ate everything except for the heaping mound of rice - there’s better uses for my hunger than a bunch of rice on Snack Day!

I’m super eyeballing the calories here, it wasn’t a huge lunch special…

Chicken/veggies: 350 calories
Egg roll: 200 calories
Soda: 100 calories

Calorie Count So Far: 2,000

Snack #2: Full Bag of Salt & Vinegar Chips

The older I get, the more obvious it becomes that salt & vinegar is the best potato chip flavor. This is a huge calorie infusion, actually I'm only halfway through the bag now but I'm def gonna finish it, my stomach is feeling strong! So I’ll count all the calories now for simplicity’s sake:

Entire Bag of Lays Salt & Vinegar Chips: 1,280 Calories!!

Calorie Count So Far: 3,280

Dinner: Full Pint of Urban Bourbon Ice Cream (Ben & Jerry’s)

This flavor of ice cream is incredible. It’s non alcoholic, but it tastes like a hint of amazing bourbon mixed into some really awesome, super caramelized vanilla ice cream with chunks of chocolate. If you like bourbon, find this flavor and consume it, you won’t regret it.

I’m actually eating this right now as I work on the post… it’s melting!! This is a ton of calories. My face represents my impending sugar coma.

Pint of Ben & Jerry’s Urban Bourbon Ice Cream: 1,200 Calories

Calorie Count So Far: 4,480

I have a beer too that I might drink at @emelanson 's place in a little bit… in that case I’ll make it up to around 4,700 calories.

Final Score: 4,700 Calories. New Record!

I haven’t counted my calories so specifically before… so this is my first “High Score” for snack day. The guy who invented this diet, Tim Ferriss, claims that he can eat as much as 10k calories on a truly debaucherous snack day… I have much training to do.

This was fun! Now I am super ready for six days of intensely healthy eating, haha. Peace out!

*Disclaimer: Eating a healthy diet is one of the keys to good health. I regularly visit my doctor and do blood tests to make sure I’m not jacking up my health - please indulge responsibly!