By Christian McLean

With the recent news that Kirstie Alley (most recently seen in “Fat Actress”) was consuming over 8,000 calories a day as her former heavyweight self, I decided to take a look at how exactly someone would go about reaching that level of caloric consumption. This is not a guide for how to become as overweight as Ms. Alley, but just a way of finding out what can put you way past your daily calorie intake.

The first thing I did was open my freezer. Sitting on the bottom shelf was a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. Ignoring the 24 grams of fat, I went directly to the calories per serving – 340, not bad, but a pint contains 4 servings. That’s 1360 calories in the pint. But I can top that, last Friday I went to the movies and had a large tub of popcorn with extra butter. God knows what the butter consists of, but on average a tub of popcorn with butter will run about 1500 calories, now add extra butter and I was edging toward 2000 calories. Sadly, I finished the tub before the movie started and actually got a second helping, and ate another 3/4 of that tub. If I would have to guess, I consumed almost 3200 calories in less than two hours.

Ever have one too many drinks and then down an entire Dominos pizza? Sure you have, it’s called college. Well, a 12-inch pie will register about 1800 calories. Now add that to the drinks you had beforehand and you’re looking at a 2500-calorie night on the town. Pizza doesn’t sound as good as it just did, how about wings? Ruby Tuesday’s frozen wings will run 109 calories per wing. In a box of ten, that’s 1090 calories. Oh, I forgot, the blue cheese is 126 calories per ounce.

Okay, so I’ve just outlined some of the most unhealthy foods we consume on a regular basis. So, let’s add it up. If I sat down and ate a pint of ice cream, 1 3/4 buckets of popcorn with extra butter, an entire Dominos pizza with a few beers, 10 Ruby Tuesday buffalo wings and an oz. of blue cheese, I would have consumed 8276 calories – par for the daily consumption for Ms. Alley.

I can eat. I can eat more than almost anyone I know, and still, I couldn’t consume that much food. Not even on my best day. Besides sheer calories, these foods are loaded with fat, cholesterol and carbohydrates, and besides the tomato sauce on the pizza and some calcium from the cheese, there isn’t much in the way of anything beneficial coming out of them.

To consume this many calories while eating healthy foods, you would have to eat 12 pounds of salmon in one day, or 320 cups of raw broccoli, or 96 cups of blueberries. Now, I’m not telling you to do any of those things, I just wanted you to see the sheer amount of calories in those unhealthy items compared to those in the healthy list.

The important thing is to eat properly and in proportion. Learning your daily calorie intake is fairly simple. It is a basic formula which takes into account your gender, age, weight, height, and physical activity. Visit any number of websites online to get a rough estimate of how many calories you need to maintain your weight. For a more exact number visit a nutritionist. They can also help calculate the best way to lose weight, if that is what you desire. Just be ready, because I’m pretty sure they will tell you to stay away from Buffalo wings and extra butter.

Next time you hover over a pint of ice cream, think about Ms. Alley. Sure she’s slimmed down and scored a TV show and a Jenny Craig spokesperson deal, but do you really think your pint of Ben & Jerry’s is going to get you a Showtime sitcom or is it just the first step on a slippery slope?