There’s always at least two totally different sides to every story, and typically the best solution is for both sides to compromise and meet in the middle. This philosophy applies to training to increase your stomach capacity too. Before reading this article, make sure that you have read and understand both How To Expand Your Stomach Using Food and How To Expand Your Stomach Using Water. Each article explains how to train to increase your stomach capacity using each particular method. While both methods can be effective in their own way, and each side has different pros and cons, the safest and most effective way to increase your stomach capacity is to combine both methods and train using both food AND water. So that you can better understand why combining both methods is most effective, and to help you decide how you will train, here are the pros and cons of each:
As mentioned in How To Expand Your Stomach Using Food, the best way to train your body to be able to eat more food is by training with food. While strictly using liquids can help increase your capacity, it won’t help your body adapt to all of the other body processes that are required to hold, digest, and process all of that additional food, in addition to the stomach being able to expand further. By training with food, your system can begin to adapt to the changes you are trying to make, and you will notice that you will begin to not feel the fullness effects as quickly as time goes on. The major downside to training with food though is that you typically take in extra calories, and calories that your body does not use end up being stored as fat. If you continually take in excess calories, you will gain weight which can be damaging to your health and figure, and also your performance.
As mentioned in How To Expand Your Stomach Using Water, the reason that many competitive eaters train with water and other liquids is that water is typically free financially, calorie-free, and it digests and gets processed through your body much faster which means that you won’t have a very long feeling of discomfort. The major downside to water training though is that it can be dangerous, and you can drown yourself if you are not careful. Also, as mentioned above, your stomach may get used to expanding, but your body will not get used to processing the increased amount of food if you only use water, and it adds excess stress on your kidneys.
To basically sum up how to effectively combine both methods, simply follow the one week plan that is referenced in How To Expand Your Stomach Using Food, but then finish each large training meal by drinking a significant amount of water that increases the stretch of your stomach muscles. For example, eat the one large meal on days 1, 2, and 3, but then try to drink an additional 1 or 2 quarts (liters) of water afterwards.
The larger meal will help your body begin to adapt to the increased amount of food, and the extra water will help increase the expansion of your stomach so that you can get an increased stomach stretch while avoiding additional calories and a longer period of discomfort. Plus, the water will help digest and metabolize the food you just ate.
On days 1-3 during the one big meal referenced, do not go overboard on the water stretch, but do drink enough to feel the additional stretch. You don’t have to worry about drinking too much water because your body is full of food and therefore you are not at risk of drowning yourself. You do not want to go overboard though, because if you try to drink too much water on top of the food, your body may throw up both the water and the food, which will diminish some of your training efforts. Start by drinking a quart, if you even have that much room. You may even want to start off with a pint and just keep drinking pint glasses of water until you have reached capacity. It is ok to drink 1 pint, take a break to burp up air, and then continue drinking until you are finished.
Eat your two meals each day on days 4 and 5 just like you would if you were training with food only, and don’t decrease the size of your meals just because you know that you are drinking water right afterwards. Days 1-3 were for preparing you to get more serious on days 4 and 5, so feel free to push your body a little harder on days 4 and 5 with the water stretch after your meals. As mentioned previously, don’t push too hard though. Your body will do the exact opposite of what you are wanting to accomplish if you push it too hard. This will help prepare you to max out on day 6. For more information about the max out meal on day 6, along with what to do right afterwards up until the time of your competition on day 7, please make sure you have read The 24 Hours Before Your Eating Competition in the Before The Challenge section, which also contains helpful guidance and tips.
Tips For Expanding Your Stomach:
The first and most important thing that you need to know is that your body does not like change. If you are going to make a change to your lifestyle, diet, exercise program, or anything else, you need to start slow and build-up gradually. If you change too fast, your body will counteract the changes and you will be in worse shape than before the change. You will hear a lot more about that in my Fitness & Nutrition Advice section. On that note, you need to start the process of stomach expansion slow, and then build from there. Obviously, if you are reading this, you must be interested in trying a food challenge or competing in an eating contest. Also, you may be just wanting to impress your friends at a buffet, or you want to be ready to "enjoy" a big holiday such as Thanksgiving. You are in luck!! Here are a few things you can do to prepare for the feast (Please keep in mind that this is using a schedule of 3 meals per day):
► Figure out the day that you want to do the challenge or event. If you are preparing for a contest or holiday, that date is usually already set. If its a challenge, you set that time and day yourself most of the time because 95% of food challenges are available during all normal business hours. You dont really need to start training more than a week before. Most people don't know this, but if you eat a big meal, it takes about 2 weeks for your stomach to return to its normal size. If you eat 5lbs of food one day for dinner, it does not help to completely fast the entire next day. With that in mind, you can spend the week gradually increasing your temporary capacity.
► The first 2-3 days, eat one considerably larger meal, and keep the rest of your day similar to your normal routine. I am not saying to max-out, just to make it a lot bigger. I recommend doing this for lunch. You can wait until dinner if you don't have time at lunch, but by doing it at lunch, you give yourself a lot more time to burn off the extra calories before going to sleep. Since you are not eating until you are completely full (maxing-out), this won't affect your work or school performance that day. Believe me!! I know from experience.
► On days 4 & 5, reduce your number of meals from 3 down to 2. Since you are doing that, increase your 2 meals to about the size of your 1 big meal from during the first 3 days. You may want to have your meals mid-morning (9am-10am) and late-afternoon (4pm-5pm).
► Comparing this training week to a weight-training week, day 6 is max-out day!! By now, you should know the approximate time of your big meal the next day (day 7). About 18-22 hours before your big meal, you want to have your max-out meal. Go to a buffet or make a bunch of healthy food at home. Try to focus on eating mostly vegetables & fruits which are more easily digested by the body. Try to limit the amount of meat that you consume. Eat as much as you can!! Don't overdo yourself though, because you don't want to hurt yourself. When you get to the point of chewing just because your body does not want to swallow, then you know that you have had enough. Remember this is still training, & not the main event.
► For more information about the max-out meal and the time leading up to your main event, check out Tips For Food Challenges & Tips For Eating Contests. Also, with the increase in calories, you will want to increase the amount of exercise you do. For fitness tips, check out my Fitness Training pages. Finally, you will want to eat healthier during your other meals outside of training. For nutrition tips, check out my Nutrition & Diet pages. For even more fitness & nutrition advice, check out my Fitness & Nutrition Advice pages.
Stomach Expansion Training With Water:
All the information above involved the simple use of food to train for a food challenge or contest. I recommend the use of food because your body is more easily able to tell you when you have had enough food. You simply just can't eat anymore, or you may puke. Now I will briefly talk about using water to train for contests & challenges. I don't recommend the use of water though because if you don't train correctly, you can severely harm your body. You can pass out & go unconscience, and you can even drown yourself by drinking too much too fast. We have all heard of at least 1 story involving somebody dying from drinking too much water. The reasons that a lot of people like training with water are because water has zero calories, and it goes through your body A LOT quicker than food. Also note that an excess of water in your body causes your kidneys to work harder to process all of it. Continually drinking an excessive amount of water causes a lot of wear & tear on your kidneys, which can cause damage over time.
Here are tips if you are thinking about training w/ water:
► If a lot of this information is new to you, please be honest & consider yourself a beginner. DO NOT try to drink over 1 gallon of water in one sitting, especially in less than 5 minutes. That can be bad news, especially if you are alone. Treat training with water just like training with food... increase gradually & safely.
► For days 1 & 2, just increase your daily intake of water considerably. If you drink 8 glasses per day, double it. I try to drink 1.5-2 gallons of water per day normally because water is a vital necessity for body processes and digestion. It also helps the cleansing processes and immune system. At most, you can try chugging a quart of water at one time if you want. Please note that with an increase in liquids, you'll have to go to the bathroom more.
► For days 3 & 4, try chugging a quart of water a few times each day. You should definitely not feel any dizziness or side-affects after that. Please note that you may want to avoid drinking a lot within 4 hours of going to sleep. Otherwise, you will have to get up a few times in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.
► For days 5 & 6, if everything went great while drinking a quart each time, up your intake to trying to drink a 1/2 gallon of water 2 or 3 times each day. You probably won't be able to drink the whole 1/2 gallon all at once. It's ok to take a few minutes to finish all of it. Your body won't let the water pass through the stomach that quick.
► If on day 5 you felt great after drinking the 1/2 gallons, you can consider upping the intake on day 6. Try drinking 3 quarts of water in one sitting. If you are wanting to do more than 3 quarts, I DEFINITELY recommend adding some gatorade or something to your drink for some electrolytes (sodium & potassium). Drinking that much water can washout all of your electrolytes, and thats when you can go unconscience & drown. Thats but bad easily preventable.
► For more information about what drinking too much water does to the human body, please click here to read a better article.
► For what to do on the day of your big event, check out my Tips For Food Challenges & Tips For Eating Contests pages.
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