Man celebrates milestone, eats his 25,000th Big Mac

Don Gorske taking a bite at his 25,000th Big Mac

After buying his first car on May 17, 1972, Don Gorske of Fond fu Lac, Wisconsin, decided to celebrate the occasion by buying also his first Big Mac, eating nine that day of the sesame seed buns with two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions inside.

It has been 39 years since his first bite of the famous double-patty sandwich and ever since nothing hardly changed in his eating habit such that at 58 years of age, Gorske, a retired prison guard, consumed his 25,000^th Big Mac!

Gorske remembers only eight occasions that he missed eating his favorite food: when his mother was dying and he granted her wish, which was for him, perhaps, to stop eating Big Macs all the time and during Thanksgiving of 2000, when he forgot to stock up and the store was closed for the holiday.

Despite the negative factors attributed to fast food, such as the 2004 documentary Super Size Me, which Gorske himself appeared for his renown McDonald eating habit, he is trim and says that his cholesterol is low and was recently declared healthy by his doctor. Gorske walks regularly for exercise.

McDonald’s says there are 540 calories in a Big Mac, which is more than a quarter of the calories a person on a 2000-calorie diet would consume. The burger also contains 29 grams of fat and 1040 grams of sodium, which are both more than 40 percent of the Food and Drug Administration’s daily recommended value for a 2000-calorie diet.

Unfazed with these numbers, Gorske says, “I plan on eating Big Macs until I die. I have no intentions of changing. It’s still my favorite food. Nothing has changed in 39 years. I look forward to it every day.”

What he normally does is he buys six burgers on Monday and eight on Thursday and freezes or refrigerates them and warms them when he wants to eat them, so he doesn’t have to run to the restaurant all the time.

For his feat, Gorske has been recognized by the Guinness World Records and as he took in his 25,000^th Big Mac, McDonald Corporation said, “We’re honored that Don Gorske continues to be a longtime, loyal customer. We look forward to serving him for many years to come.”