Most of us know when we've reached our limit in terms of consuming food. However, there are some people who just don't know when or how to stop eating. It might seem odd, but for the people in the following stories, it can be an everyday struggle.
(Content has been edited for clarity.)
Sweet And Sour Chicken
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Suzanne Tucker/Shutterstock
“I was at a local Asian buffet when I heard some yelling from across the room. I noticed a chubby kid with his mother and both of them were using their outside voices to talk, and it was the most ANNOYING thing ever.
The fat kid stomped on over to one of the janitor ladies and screamed, ‘WHERE’S THE SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN?’ All I could do was feel bad for this poor old lady; it appeared she didn’t know that much English and was staring at him with a confused expression. I saw his mom come marching on over and I was praying that she’d whoop this fat kid, but NO. She screamed even louder, ‘WHERE’S THE SWEET. AND. SOUR. CHICKEN.’ After not getting a response, she rolled her eyes and walked away.
There were a nice 30 seconds of peace until the chubby brat started screaming at his mom, who was right across from him, ‘MOM! CAN I GET SOME OF THIS LO MEIN?!’ The mom had a look of disgust on her face and screamed back, ‘Gross, I’m not gonna eat any of that crap!’ The restaurant staff was in shock. Heck, the entire restaurant was in shock. The kid screeched back, ‘WELL I WANT IT, SO I’M GETTING IT!’
And with that, the kid took the ENTIRE buffet tray and poured it on his plate. A lot of it spilled on the floor; it was hard not to laugh. Then he proceeded to eat right there. All you can eat, right? I believe they were escorted out.”
Committing Suicide By Buffet
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file404/Shutterstock
“We have a glorious Indian restaurant in my city that serves one of the most amazing dinner buffets. I took my then newish boyfriend there for dinner one day. He is deceptively lean and svelte.
Anyway, he ate three of those giant dinner plates, stacked to the point of stuff falling off and then topped with a tower of naan. I watched with a combination of intrigue, disgust, and horror. It didn’t occur to me to tell him to slow down a little (he’s ostensibly an adult). At the end of the meal, his flat tummy was sticking out from under his shirt in such a way that it looked like he had swallowed a whole rabbit. He started making alarming noises as he was getting into my new car. I told him that if he barfed in my car, I would open the door and push him into traffic. We got to my house, and he laid on my couch, holding his protruding tummy, writhing around and moaning in pain. That went on for four hours. I kept asking him, ‘What were you thinking?’ He said all he was thinking was, ‘OMG! So good!’ He asked me why I hadn’t stopped him. He then asked me to please stop him if I saw him about to commit suicide by buffet again. Our code word for this became, alternately, ‘Stop before you eat a bunny!’ or ‘Are you about to East Indian buffet yourself?'”
A Week’s Worth Of Food In One Night
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Ollyy/Shutterstock
“I’m at around 215 pounds right now at 6′, but I was about 400 pounds when I stopped looking at the scale. A fellow 400-pound friend of mine and I used to go out for dinner every night. Big meals for sure, something like two-foot-long hoagies, soda, and a pound of chocolate-covered pretzels was average. But after a while, we started making a night out of it.
We called it the ‘grand finale’ because we always, always, legitimately planned on it being the last night we ate like this because our diet was going to start the next day.
Because it was going to be the last time we ate garbage, it was a little excessive. First, we would get ten-inch chocolate chip cookies made by a calzone shop. Then we’d head over to Starbucks across the street, and each get a brownie and a rice crispy treat with something like a venti mocha hot chocolate with heavy cream, espresso and whipped cream to wash it down.
Then we’d go to get the first course of the actual meal, which was endless soup/breadsticks/pasta at Olive Garden. I’d say on average we’d each eat two bowls of soup and two baskets of breadsticks and then three plates of the pasta. After three plates, they start giving you these half servings, and they take forever, so it isn’t worth sitting around for when you’re hungry. Also, I’d drink three or four sodas with this meal.
After that, we’d grab a few drinks at a bar to digest a bit, and then we’d head over to the cheesesteak place, and each get a steak sandwich, fries, and a soda. After that, a few more drinks at a bar, and then to McDonald’s to get large shakes, 20 nuggets, and a large fries.
After that, we’d head out to the bars and drink until close, and then we’d go to Denny’s to get dessert. But, you can’t just get dessert at Denny’s if you’re wasted! They had so many fried foods and a nice multiple friend-sized appetizer platter that combined the best of them that we would each order with two sodas. For dessert itself, I’d get the hot fudge brownie ice cream sundae.
That was the grand finale. We must have done that exact thing a dozen times. I would inevitably spend the next day puking, which of course would strengthen my resolve never to do it again… until my bud would call me up and suggest it.
This happened six or seven years ago. I had just moved out of my parents’ house to go to school and moved about nine hours away from where I knew anybody except my one big friend. I had saved up a lot of money working full time, and I ended up spending those savings on food and drinks.
My only regret is the money spent. I miss eating like that, to be honest.
Food addiction can be just as devastating as any other. It might not kill as quickly as more severe vices, but it certainly ruins your life just the same. I have no one to blame but myself.”
Maybe The Unlimited Milk Wasn’t Such A Good Idea
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AndreyCherkasov/Shutterstock
“I worked at a Sunday buffet in high school. It was $7 a person. I could tell you some stories.
We essentially charged the customers, brought drinks, then bussed the table. My favorite was the 400-pound lady who would come in by herself, ask for four glasses of milk, and wave you down whenever she finished one for a refill. She would eat about five plates of our macaroni and cheese (probably the worst thing on the buffet), at some point slam all four glasses of milk, then proceed to puke milk, cheese, and noodles all over the bathroom.
She would then sit and drink milk and eat macaroni for another hour or two, then leave a hand full of change for the tip. We all drew straws whenever she came in for who got to clean up the mess.
One day she came in, and I only gave her one milk, she said she wanted four, and I assured her I would bring another one when she was finished with the first glass. She insisted that ‘the rules say I get as much milk as I want!’ There were no posted rules. I refused and ended up getting written up for not being hospitable.
From that point on, I would drop a gallon of milk on her table every time she came in (which she usually finished), but refused to clean up the puke mess. Whenever my boss tried to get me to do it in her passive-aggressive way, I’d say, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t offer unlimited milk refills if people are going to puke it all over the bathroom every week.”
Sounds Like A Balanced Diet
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Luis Molinero/Shutterstock
“I was out of town for work, and some friends let me crash at their apartment with them.
Around 8 p.m. one night, the building seemed to start shaking, like a dinosaur was walking around. I asked what that was, and they said, ‘That’s the chick in 104.’ They told me to go to the peephole and look across the hall.
I saw the biggest human I had ever seen. Rolls over rolls over rolls; how this woman could walk, I have no clue. My ex’s dad was close to 500 pounds, and this woman was way bigger.
I saw inside her apartment; it literally looked like a garbage dump, just knee-high trash, and every single piece was either a pizza box or an empty two-liter bottles of soda.
She walked to the door and came back holding three large pizzas and a bag with three two-liter bottles of Pepsi.
They explained to me that this woman lived on disability due to her obesity and ordered pizza and Pepsi at least three times per day, and would always place the same order: three pizzas and a big Pepsi for each pie. This is all she ate or drank.
As far as gluttony goes, I’d say that one wins.”
The Tale Of The Shrimp Log
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Jasminko Ibrakovic/Shutterstock
“My dad once told me a great story. He had this weightlifting buddy who was so huge that his car leaned to the side where he’d wrecked the suspension with his sheer mass.
So my dad goes with this guy to an all-you-can-eat shrimp buffet. The guy starts horking down shrimp at an incredible pace, without even bothering to de-shell them.
After consuming a few pounds of the shrimp, he looks stricken and excuses himself. My dad follows the guy outside to see him leaning against a lamppost, dry heaving. The man eventually regurgitates what my dad could only describe as a ‘shrimp log.’ The guy basically pukes up a compressed wad of shrimp shells, the way an owl pukes up a pellet of bones and fur after it eats a rat.
When he finishes up, he wipes his mouth, lumbers back into the restaurant, and continues eating.”
A Child Ate That Much?
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ATeam/Shutterstock
“A 9-year-old girl at Subway was ordering in front of me. She got a foot-long for herself, and she wanted extra cheese, extra bacon, extra meat, extra mayo, and ‘a lot more mayo.’ It was sickening. This poor little girl was morbidly obese, and her parents just smiled and laughed as she ordered the foot-long triple bypass with a large soda. Your child is going to die. I don’t understand how you can just let that happen, let alone smile and laugh about it. It’s child abuse if you ask me, and they shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce.”
The Early Bird Gets The Cheap Buffet
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Spok83/Shutterstock
“I work at an all you can eat buffet. Breakfast is cheaper than lunch, which is cheaper than dinner. We have a few regulars who come in every so often and spend the day. Every few hours they might get a plate, but otherwise, they just hang out and chill at their tables…except for this one lady. She rolls into the restaurant in a wheelchair in the morning, paying the lowest price possible for the day. We get her a six top and pull out the chairs for her. She gets out of the wheelchair, gets a plate with a mound of food on it, sits down, and eats it. Gets up, gets another. This goes for a while. She will stop for a bit every now and then, sometimes she falls asleep, but eventually, she wakes up and goes right back at it. Plate after plate of steak. Twelve cotton candies and counting. Three banana splits. Six bowls of soup. On and on and on. At the end of the night, her caretaker comes in and wheels her out, and that’s all we see of her for a couple of weeks.”
She Ate Until Her Heart Gave Out
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Dalibor Valek/Shutterstock
“I used to work with a woman that was at least 400 pounds. Here are some examples of what she would eat for ‘lunch’:
Option one: two footlong Subway sandwiches, with double meat. Option two: sampler platters from Long John Silver’s. Option three: a large meat lover’s pizza (no leftovers). She would have a 64oz cup of soda with each option.
Unfortunately, she passed away a couple of years ago (at age 26) of heart failure. She just died in her sleep. She was unhealthy and constantly out of breath, but she never stopped eating.”
All Those Chicken Strips
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MIA Studio/Shutterstock
“There’s a place nearby me that only serves chicken strips. The strips are a pretty good size; anywhere between three and four inches long of succulent white meat. You can get them as an order of five, and you get a piece of toast, french fries, and a small serving of cole slaw, or you can get a family box which is an order of 25 chicken strips.
Generally, for me, five strips with fries, toast, and slaw is enough to be full. One night I was starving after work, so I got the family box all to myself (these events usually happen when my wife is out of town, so there is no one to yell at me). The family box comes with five servings of fries, toast, and slaw as well.
About 15 strips in, I started getting woozy, but just powered through the meal. I mean why put the leftovers in a container and eat them tomorrow when you can finish off the whole box tonight?
I finished the box and immediately had to go lay down. I threw up later that night.”
Eating So Much You Take A Whole Item Off The Menu
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Roman Stetsyk/Shutterstock
“I once had two guys in their early 20s come in after they were at the gym and order ‘Family Style.’ They reordered their Zucchini strips three times, Calamari three times, Stuffed Mushrooms four times, Chicken Parm four times, Beef Medallions four times, whatever pasta they had twice, and lobster tails, which we had on special, nine times. Every time I went back in the kitchen, the chef would yell at me (half joking), and all I could do was shrug my shoulders because they were, in fact, eating everything and asking for more. We eventually did cut them off though. They ended with two desserts each. It’s the most I have ever seen anybody eat. They were the reason we took the lobster tails off the Family Style menu.”
They Call Him “Meat Burgers”
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diy13/Shutterstock
“I know a guy that we call ‘meat burgers.’ This dude looks at veggies and says ‘That’s what my food eats.’ I once watched him eat two packages of fried hot dogs, a fried can of Spam, a dozen eggs, tons of bread, and a package of bacon, before stopping with breakfast sausages. He had a pot of coffee as well and washed it all down with 10 smokes. It was crazy.
I also knew a dude named Jeffrey. This guy was a slob. We had a bar-be-que, and I brought some homemade chorizo. Usually, three links are good for a group of 10 to 15 people because they’re so heavily spiced. Well, this guy ate three of them off of the grill, scalding hot chorizo went down like candy bars. He even ate them like chocolate bars. He also devoured chicken in a way that was beyond words. He smoked a joint and then disappeared. My friend later sent us a video saying he found him. He was at an all-day, all-you-can-eat breakfast place eating an entire plate of bacon, an entire plate of sausages, and an entire plate of scrambled eggs. I don’t see how it was humanly possible.”
Never Ending Pasta
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Dean Drobot/Shutterstock
“My buddy had nine bowls of pasta during Olive Garden’s never-ending pasta event. When we first got to our table, he asked the waiter what the most someone ate, and the waiter said seven bowls. My friend then said jokingly he was going to beat that, and two and half hours later he did. Towards the end, staff were gathered around our table and were cheering him on.”
Food Was His Only Friend
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Photographee.eu/Shutterstock
“I was sad because I had this fun get together at my house planned for my friends and me, and every single one bailed at the last second because of some stupid Penn State football game.
I was left alone with lots of food and lots of drinks, so I sat on my couch, ate two entire pizzas myself and drank a six-pack. It was a big mistake. My belly was literally bulging and I looked like a pregnant man. I couldn’t even fit my t-shirt over it.
I passed out and woke up to immense stomach pains for the next two hours.”
Shoveling Sushi Like It’s Nothing
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Paulik/Shutterstock
“I was staying for a week at a high-end hotel in Jakarta where we were staging an event. As we were working in the ballroom setting up, we took all of our meals in the main dining room of the hotel and over the course of the week, we got to know some of the servers.
They all started whispering and giggling one morning, and when we asked them what was up, they told us about the ‘Tai-Tai’ (rich wife) who would be showing up that day for lunch and the spectacle she’d be making.
It seems that they had an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet that they featured every week and this Tai-Tai was infamous for her gluttony. Sure enough, one of the servers gave us the high sign when she walked through the door. A fat lady dressed all in Hermes, Gucci, and Prada, topped with lacquered hair, slathered in makeup and dripping in gold jewelry and attitude, the Tai-Tai put on quite a show. She was heaping several plates with sashimi and sushi, shoving the food into her mouth like she hadn’t eaten for a week, chewing with her mouth open, snapping her fingers for the server’s attention and making an ostentatious pig of herself.”
Too Much Chocolate Can Be A Bad Thing
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Charoenkrung.Studio99/Shutterstock
“I found this rather large set of assorted German chocolates my mother had brought home. There were two boxes, and I somehow got away with hiding one in my room.
They came in a plastic tray with indentations shaped to fit the different pieces that were also deep enough have a few of each stacked upon each other. Most of them were differently shaped wafers dipped and drizzled with different chocolates.
One day, when I was home alone, I decided I was going to eat them all.
And I did.
But then there was another tray beneath that one containing another identical set.
And I ate that too.
I was partly satisfied and angry with myself.”
Obese Couple
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imtmphoto/Shutterstock
“I know a morbidly obese couple who were kicked out of a buffet.
Supposedly, the story goes that they stayed for hours eating nonstop, and the buffet manager kicked them out.
More than five years ago, I saw the couple at a party, and they both had gotten gastric bypass surgery. They both shed so much weight their skin began to sag. After that party, and some years later, I saw them again at another gathering, and they had gained all the weight back.
It was weird, mainly because they were in a commercial for gastric bypass years before they gained all the weight back.”
The Poor Car Rose
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kurhan/Shutterstock
“I went to a buffet once with a group for a while, and I noticed this group of three obese people. Well, it seemed like they’d been there for a while before we’d gotten there because of the plates on the side. Anyways we ate, and everyone talked. I think we were there for like an hour and a half. I was interested by this group because they weren’t talking much, just eating. After we left, they were still going at it.
Also. Unrelated, but this one time I was in a parking lot, and this little old Honda CRV pulled up in front of me, and four large people got out. That poor car rose. It rose high.”