# Can I eat a whole watermelon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2002, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192 "2002-05-10T00:21:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Washte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Washte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washte)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/21 "2002-05-10T20:54:02Z")
Nummy!! I’ve done this a time or two - not timed but because I absolutely _ **love** _ watermelon. Especially on a really hot summers day… Quite refreshing… This shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It may look huge to begin with, but with all the water, the actual flesh will compact down once you start munchin’. You will wee quite a bit, but hey, you’ll have a happy, clean, bladder 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/22 "2002-05-10T21:28:32Z")
watermelons come in all sizes. There are some at my market that are barely bigger than a cantelope. yes, do it. it will be a breeze. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/23 "2002-05-10T22:00:39Z")
Definitely put money on this. Heck, I’ll post $20 for ya! Just pace yourself, and if you start running out of time, don’t worry about swallowing the seeds. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/24 "2002-05-10T22:40:54Z")
Take pictures and have someone post them on the People Pages. This is SDMB GOLD. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/25 "2002-05-10T22:41:05Z")
Yeah, you can probably do it. In the summertime, I often get watermelon cravings, and I can put away 1/4 of a large watermelon easy. I mean, without even trying. I’ll bet if you started out hungry and thirsty, you could do it easily. ---
**Author:** ![friggae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/45deac/32.png) [@friggae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friggae)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/26 "2002-05-11T05:04:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bouv \* > \*\*Oh, and as to the capacity of stomachs…the current record holder for the most number of Nathan’s hot dogs eaten (with buns) in 12 minutes is held by Takeru Kobayashi…he ate 50. Yes, 50 hot dogs and buns in twelve minutes. The human stomach can swell up pretty big if need be. And 50 hot dogs is a LOT more food than a watermelon…and hot dogs are NOT 93% water. \*\* Yes, but he’s probably spent years training his stomach to be able to stretch that much. Maybe you should follow advice from the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE): > [@](#): > > The only training regimen endorsed by the IFOCE is the “Water Method,” which is to drink quantities of water over a period of several days in preparation for a match. [http://www.ifoce.com/standards.htm](http://www.ifoce.com/standards.htm) ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/27 "2002-05-11T20:48:34Z")
Slightly related threads: [Physically impossible to drink an entire gallon of milk?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35463) [Why will you throw up if you drink a gallon of milk in an hour?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8575) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/28 "2002-05-11T21:30:50Z")
I thought it would be a peice of cake for you, until I saw the hour limit. man, I don’t know. Depends on the size of the melon. Is it one of those real big honkers, about two feet long?? Sheesh. if it is, I’m not so sure about it. I know I’d hate to be the one waiting to use the bathroom if you’re in there relieving yourself afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Stupendous\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Stupendous\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stupendous_man)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/29 "2002-05-11T22:15:59Z")
I would imagine that there is a lot of unseen empty space inside a watermelon. The liquid would be holed up in vacules, and if you could mash it all down to fill in the empty space, you might find that the total internal volume of liquid is reduced. Mash it up with a fork, remove seeds, and drink it down like juice… ---
**Author:** ![bee\_with\_an\_itch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@bee\_with\_an\_itch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bee_with_an_itch)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/30 "2002-05-11T22:55:16Z")
I’m not the biggest person around and I’ve managed to complete this task many a time. - - I’ve grown up with the whole “farm/garden” lifestyle. One year, my parents managed to grow some of the SWEETEST, BIGGEST, JUICIEST watermelons and cantaloupes in our city. Being the competitive person that I am, I challenged my sister to a contest - 1 ginormous watermelon and a knife (she was 10, I was 12 at the time). We both managed to finish with relative ease. This has become a summer tradition between my sister and I. If a couple young girls can do it, I’m sure a relatively healthy adult could. It’s easy. Have fun…but don’t choke on the seeds!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/31 "2002-05-12T05:48:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spider \* > \*\*It was probably a bar bet and their friends egged them on. I need more egging on! \*\* Wittle Spidey doesn’t think he can eat a whole watermewwon, does he? Pooooor baby. Does he need one of his wittle fwiends to help him chew it up first? Maybe he needs it cut up in little eensy weensy pieces for his wittle hands… ARE YOU A MAN OR WHAT? YOU’RE GOING TO GO BACK TO THERE, MAKE THAT BET, AND EAT THAT DAMN WATERMELON! Is that clear…? **IS THAT CLEAR?!!** :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Spider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Spider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spider)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/32 "2002-05-12T06:02:09Z")
All the nay-sayers aside (I appreciate devil-advocacy), those who have given their votes of confidence have given me the courage to continue. On tuesday, a locally purchased melon of the water variety shall travel from the Garden State to the Empire State to my desk, where I shall blow my lunch hour trying to consume it. I appreciate everybody’s contributions. BTW, my theory is to cut it in half lengthwise and just spoon like crazy. Any better techniques? ---
**Author:** ![ejrn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a6a055/32.png) [@ejrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ejrn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/33 "2002-05-12T06:41:15Z")
Your technique sounds fine. Don’t feel you have to rush. Your lunch hour is more than enough time. The only problem I can forsee is trying to stuff it down as fast as you can and making yourself sick. You can do a practice melon at home with no ill effects. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/34 "2002-05-12T07:30:24Z")
This is only a challenge if this is a huge watermelon. If it’s one of those tiny melons, smaller than a football, with a thick rind, it’s going to be the equivalent to drinking a pint or so of weak fruit juice. My granny could do that. In fact she did once, except it was a canteloupe melon filled with port. Now if it’s one of those HUGE, zeppelin-style mothas… then we’re talking. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/35 "2002-05-12T07:44:06Z")
Not only do I think you can do it… I am sure you can I just have a horrid morbid curiosity about the aftermath. Please post all the details. Even the TMI ones. (Hey thats why I spent 20 thou on nursing school. To daily ask people personal questions regarding bowel habits, frequency , consistancy, colour, odour, etc…)(Not really but sometimes it seems that way) ---
**Author:** ![Iguana\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@Iguana\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iguana_Boy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/36 "2002-05-12T11:22:23Z")
Who is buying the watermelon? If it’s one of the people betting against you, you can be sure they are going to get the godzilla of all watermelons! Is there some neutral independant person who can make the purchase? Even if it **is** huge, you should still be able to do it. As **ejern** said, don’t feel you have to rush. Take it slowly at first to give your stomach time to react, and you can speed up later on if need be. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/37 "2002-05-20T11:36:37Z")
This bloody search feature gives me **no** results for keyword: watermelon/user name: Spider in MPSIMS, not even this thread! So I have no way of knowing if you gave the results in another thread. How’d it go? ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/38 "2002-05-20T16:16:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rilchiam \* > This bloody search feature gives me **no** results for keyword: watermelon/user name: Spider in MPSIMS, not even this thread! So I have no way of knowing if you gave the results in another thread. Doesn’t the search thing have problems when you put a query in both of the text boxes? > [@](#): > > How’d it go? Yeah! Any unfortunate side effects? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/39 "2002-05-22T21:56:37Z")
Good Lord, he drowned… ---
**Author:** ![Spider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Spider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spider)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192/40 "2002-05-22T22:21:15Z")
Nope, just too ashamed. In my defense, I was out quite late the night before and came in marveling at how even my hair hurt. My stomach was in no condition to face such torture. I begged to postpone one day, but the individual who brought in the watermelon said that if she lugged it in, I was damn well going to eat it. Then she unveiled the damn thing. Now the rule was that it had to be bought at a grocery store, not at a county fair, but I think she went out of her way to find this thing. She was, of course, one of the primary naysayers in response to my claim. I figured maybe the dehydration thing would work in my favor, considering what had been posted by others, so I cut it down the middle, grabbed a spoon and went to work. I quickly found out that to keep my melon from becoming a swamp, I also needed a straw for flood control. I do believe that this was my undoing. The watermelon was fine, the gallons of juice I sluiced through the straw was just unpleasant. I finished the first half of the laughing green beast at the 25 minute mark, but already all was not well in Spider’s world. His tummy is used to being given a good layer of grease after being abused with the Beam for a night, so the avalanche of sweet mush was certainly a surprise. At the half way mark Mr. Tummy decided the joke had gone on far enough. As I dug into the second half, I figured I had plenty of time, but certainly was not at the top of my game. Just so everybody knows, I WAS IN NO WAY FULL. I was nauseous. Too much sweet, too fast. I reached three quarters with about 15 minutes left, and while employing my straw to drain a puddle of juice, my tummy shut down. Knowing the many moods of my digestive system, I could tell that this was a time to not pick a fight, so I set down my weapons and slowly backed away from the watermelon. Had I been at a picnic, just eating slices and making a mess, This would have been no problem. Seeing as how I was sitting at my desk in a suit, I had to be neat and let nary a drop spill. I might also add that I failed to hold my audience’s attention, and as the crowd diminished I lost the fighting spirit. Just to make my stomach happy, I used the last 15 minutes of my luch hour to eat a sandwich. I have admitted defeat, although, like a pansy I made excuses for it. Be gentle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-eat-a-whole-watermelon/108192.md?page=3)