chapter 3

Michael got back to his apartment from the store at 3pm, with more food than his fridge could hold. He knew he needed to eat another 5k calories today in order to follow the drug plan, but he was getting overwhelmed with counting how much food he would need to eat. He figured he could eat 1000 calories every hour, and started grilling some chicken and vegetables. He wasn't hungry, at all, but he forced himself to eat the plate of chicken he measured out to be 1000 calories. He bit into the flavorless grilled chicken breast, thinking about how bland his healthy food tasted. After 30 minutes he finished his plate, his stomach full after eating. "How am i supposed to do that four more times?" he asked himself. Michael decided to take a nap to hopefully regain his appetite when he woke up. He set his alarm for 5pm and would eat more then.

Michael awoke up dazed and lethargic. He rubbed his eyes and checked the time: 9pm! He jumped out of bed and ran to the kitchen. "How did I sleep through my alarm?" He looked through all the goods he bought and cursed himself for buying everything in low calories. He counted earlier how much time he'd need to eat 4000 calories, and he certainly didn't have it. The time to cook the food and eat it would take him hours he didn't have. He decided he's text Chris for help.

"Hey man, I took a nap today and I'm nowhere near my calorie goal. Can you help?"

"I'll be right over." Chris texted back. Michael sat down and began eating away at some carrots, it was the only thing he could eat without preparing. In 10 minutes Chris knocked at Michael's door with 3 bags of McDonalds.

"Alright man, you ready?" Chris said as he began emptying the bags.

"McDonalds? You're eating this crap?" Michael asked.

"You wanted calories, so I brought some. Besides, it's good! The Doc said we can eat whatever we want, it's all turning to muscle anyways." Chris said, revealing the contents of the bag. He pulled out 5 triple bacon cheese burgers, 2 McChickens, 2 large chocolate milkshakes, and 2 large fries.

"You want me to eat all of THAT?!" Michael said, eyes wide with how much food there was.

"No man, half. I gotta eat too!" Chris said, unwrapping a burger and biting in immediately. Michael began to unwrap his own burger, staring at it. Were all these calories really going to turn into muscle? Isn't that the point of the experiment, to check that it does? Michael looked over at Chris who was already almost finished eating his burger. Michael decided to take a bite.

After eating strictly salads and flavorless protein for the past few years, this burger was the best Michael had eaten in a long time, and he couldn't get enough of it! He began shoving the whole thing into his mouth in delight, quickly reaching for another one. He saw Chris was nearly done with his second, so Michael took things into overdrive to catch up. He took large bites of the burger savoring any second, quickly finished and reached for the third and final burger before Chris could. When Michael finished the three burgers his stomach was bloated and he felt like he wouldn't be able to move for days. Then he saw Chris eating away at the McChickens. If the burgers were this good, maybe the McChicken was too! Despite the pain in his gut he leaned forward to grab the sandwich, again falling in love with the crunchy taste of the fried chicken and mayo. He decided to take some sips of his milkshake inbetween bites. Before he even realized it all Michael had left to eat were the fries, which no one could pass even with a full stomach.

By the end of their binging session it was 11:45pm, just in time to meet their daily calorie intake. Chris and Michael had both unbuttoned their pants, nursing their bellies, laying back with feet on the table of empty McDonalds wrappers.

"That was great man, thanks for bringing it over." Michael managed to say. "I haven't eaten anything that good in years."

"No problem man, my pleasure." Chris said, rubbing his own gut.

"Wait, so did you take a nap today too? Is that why you didn't reach your calorie goal?" Michael asked.

"No man, I met the calorie goal hours ago. The doc said we had to eat at least 6,000 calories, never said anything about going over!" Chris said, plopping a stray fry into his mouth.