Eating at Chipotle has become a risky business, with many people foregoing a delicious burrito bowl or a super crispy sofritas-laden quesadilla (they’ll make it for you if you ask) due to fears that they might get sick. But neither rain, nor snow, nor a widespread E.coli outbreak can stop a Washington man from enjoying daily “guacamole is extra” meals (measured down to the tenth of an ounce).
Devin Cunningham is on a mission, and it’s not to prove that eating Chipotle will kill you. Instead, he’s doing it for the gains. According to Fox 13, Cunningham is eating Chipotle for 366-straight days to prove to America that eating at Chipotle can make you happy and healthy and help you lose all that weight you’ve been trying to get off since Christmas (looking back, those holiday cookies were really a turning point, weren’t they?).
Cunningham’s quest, which is almost at its end, is all about showing people that yo-yo diets don’t work and that cutting out what you love to eat isn’t the answer — moderation is:
“A lot of people try fad/crash diets like a no/low carbs diets that does not work and then get discouraged very quickly. I want to show people that they can be fit while still enjoying the food they love. When you enjoy what you eat on your “diet,” and you do it in moderation, it is that much easier to achieve your fitness goals.”
Cunningham started his journey by showing how easy it is to bulk up by eating only fast food. He gained 16 pounds by ordering all the food he could ever eat and then gorging himself on doubles of everything. Then, once he’d gained enough weight, he started to cut down. By eating only one burrito bowl a day and having Chipotle package things separately so he could do his own “portion control,” he slimmed down from 170 pounds (the height of his weight after eating all the Chipotle he could handle) to 146. Some might say that doing all the work of having to take the food home and then put it together yourself defeats the purpose of going to Chipotle in the first place, but Cunningham’s point is a good one: You can eat if you wanna, you just need to learn some damn self-control. That’s kind of hard to do when you don’t plan ahead.
Unfortunately, Cunningham was caught unaware when the E.coli scare began. In fact, he had to travel far and wide (Canada!) to get the burritos and bowls he was so committed to eating on the daily.
“Right when they were all supposed to open I was at the Issaquah store, but there was a sign saying it was closed. Then [I] ran to Bellevue, same sign … no one would come to the door and that’s when I started to panic.”
Cunningham said he even called friends in Spokane and looked up the fastest shipping prices which were way too high. That’s when he knew he’d have to make a trip north to British Columbia.
“You look pretty good for eating Chipotle,” the border agents told Cunningham as he explained his reason for visiting Canada.
“I got seven burritos and brought them back. I froze them and heated them up in my microwave oven for the next few days,” he said.
But it wasn’t all compliments and frozen corn salsa. At one point, Cunningham’s car window broke while en route to get his food, so he had to drive while getting pelted by the Pacific Northwest rain. Still, he’s committed to seeing his project through. He’s on day 314 and shows no signs of stopping (or dying). Every day he posts an Instagram shot of his Chipotle receipt to inspire others to follow their dreams (of eating burritos?) (the dude knows us so well!).
And he’s looking really good, too:
Could an endorsement deal be in the works? Maybe Devin Cunningham and his chiseled abs are just the ingredients that will turn Chipotle’s fortunes around.
