Most Big Macs eaten: Retiree continues setting world record by eating 2 per day

He's really lovin' it.

A 70-year-old American has once again made headlines by upsizing his Guinness World Records (GWR) achievement for the most number of McDonald's Big Macs eaten in a lifetime, after he devoured 728 of them in 2023 to grow his total to 34,128.

Donald Gorske used to eat nine Big Macs a day but has now cut it down to two — one for lunch and one for dinner — the retiree from Fond du Lac in Wisconsin said in an interview with the record-keeping organisation.

Before you grimace at his diet, Gorske does not have any health issues, because he walks more than 9km a day and does not eat French fries, said the former prison officer, who was just as acquainted with the Hamburglar as he was with burglars he used to guard.

"I like to joke with people. I tell them I walk around the block usually, but they don't know that it's six miles (9.66km) around our block," he explained.

"I'm healthy as a horse. I weigh around 86kg, and my cholesterol is 165," Gorske said. "I'm better than normal.

"Many people thought I'd be dead by now, but instead, I've been... one of Guinness World Records' longer-running record holders, so that's pretty cool to me," he said.

A Big Mac is made up of two patties, a special sauce, pickles, onion, American cheese and two toasted sesame buns, and contains 590 calories.

Gorske's love affair with the burger began in May 1972, some five years after it was introduced in the Greater Pittsburgh area.

"May 17, 1972 was the day I got my first car," he said in a video posted by GWR on X. "I drove to McDonald's, ordered my first three Big Macs, went in the car, and ate them.

"And I said right there that I'm gonna probably eat these the rest of my life, and I threw the cartons in the backseat and started counting them from day one."

He has each receipt from day one to prove it, including each box that the Big Mac comes packaged in.

Gorske has also proven to be a creature of habit, and eats only potato chips, ice cream or a fruit bar as an evening snack.

He once tried a Whopper burger from Burger King in 1984 but said that it did not have the same effect on him as a Big Mac.

Since he retired, he no longer drives to McDonald's every day and instead buys them in batches twice a week — to eat a fresh Big Mac on the day he picks it up and to microwave the rest at home.

His love affair was also featured in the 2004 documentary Super Size Me starring Morgan Spurlock. Gorske was followed around for a month while he ate food only from McDonald's.

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"People who have watched me eat a Big Mac often comment that I look like I'm eating one for the very first time," Gorske said.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.