The Watermelon Challenge

Recently, Rachel and I went to Peking Buffet for some delicious, yet extremely unhealthy Chinese food. During our meal, I found myself gorging on fried dumplings. I'm not sure what the hell the mystery meat inside the dumplings are, but the little buggers are quite tasty. So tasty, that I declared that I had eaten my weight in fried dumplings that night.

I seem to use this phrase quite often, primarily after a gorge fest of me shoveling said delectable item into my mouth. I'm pretty sure that I barely chew the food, it just glides down my throat, clogging up my arteries and sticking to my midsection as a constant reminder that I love to eat. Over the last few years, I have declared that I have "eaten my weight" in fried dumplings, Slim Jims, buffalo wings, pizza, Pizza Pringles, fudge pops, and pizza rolls. Obviously I have never actually eaten my weight in any of these items, which in all honestly would be plain gross (and possibly a little painful).

As we were leaving the restaurant, I came up with the amazing idea of really eating my weight in a particular food during a specific time period. The original plan was to eat my weight in cucumbers this summer, but that just sounded gross after awhile, especially at the thought of all those seeds. Plus, there also is the problem that cucumbers don't have much nutritional value, especially when you slather a coating of salt on top of the cucumbers. Then we're getting into the territory of too much salt in my diet, which would just be bad.

The idea continued to develop during our drive to Deptford, until finally, the two of us hatched an amazing plan that would put Benjamin Franklin and is kite to shame. During this summer, I will be challenging myself to eat my weight in watermelon over the course of 100 days. The actual day in which this challenge begins has not been decided yet, mainly because I want to begin the challenge at the beginning of watermelon season.

The rules of the challenge are quite simple, I must eat my weight in watermelon in 100 days. The weight of the watermelon will be decided after the rind has been cut off, since obviously I will not be chowing down on the hard, inedible portion of the juicy fruit. Over the course of 100 consecutive days, I shall consume 215 pounds of watermelon.

One ounce of watermelon has 8 calories, 2 grams of carbohydrates, and 2 grams of sugar. By eating two pounds of watermelon a day, I will only be consuming 256 calories in watermelon, 64 grams of carbohydrates and 64 grams of sugar. Obviously, the need to supplement my diet with other healthy foods will become necessary, seeing that a normal human being cannot live on 256 calories a day. Therefore, with the assistance of the lovely Rachel, the remainder of my diet will consist of lean proteins, a multivitamin, and other fruits and vegetables that will help keep my body running on a normal basis.

Berman pointed out the simple (yet important) fact that eating my weight in watermelon will surely become a natural colon cleanser. Going into this personal challenge, I was fully aware of my frequent need to use the bathroom and am quite prepared to tackle this feat. Chances are, I will be spending plenty of time in the bathroom during these 100 days, which brings me to my next challenge of reading at least 50 books off of the Time Magazines All Time 100 Novels. I shall go into that challenge in another entry though.

Once the watermelon season arrives, I shall begin my challenge and will keep you all posted on my success of eating 215 pounds of watermelon in 100 days.