Independent-London-One of Britain’s top competitive eaters insists that despite eating up to 20,000 calories in a single sitting, his diet is balanced and healthy.

Adam Moran, a 31-year-old from Castleford near Leeds, is a professional competitive eater as well as a top blogger - he has almost 20,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel, pretty much one for every calorie he ate in under an hour a few months ago.

Once every five days or so, Moran eats an excessively large meal, whether in a competition or for a video.

In the days before and after, however, he eats as if on a fast: “All I’ll eat is a little yogurt, a couple of protein shakes and some fruit in the days following a binge,” Moran told The Independent.

He explains that after eating four or five days’ worth of calories in one sitting, you don’t get hungry the next day. The trouble is, however, that your stomach has been stretched, so the hunger does eventually kick in. “It’s a discipline though - you know you can’t eat that much every day because if you do, you’ll get fat and probably die,” Moran says. In fact, Moran - like most competitive eaters - is completely healthy and very fit. He exercises a lot, has regular check-ups with his doctor, and is really into healthy eating: “I like making things like cauliflower rice and vegetable stir-fries with lean meat.” He admits he has a sweet tooth, but indulges it merely with yoghurt, cereal and fruit. At 5’10” and just over 11 stone, Moran is fighting fit. In fact, he’s in better shape than he was a few years ago before he started competitive eating.

It was after going on a long, low-calorie diet to get in shape for summer that Moran’s girlfriend suggested he celebrate by trying a Man vs. Food challenge at a local diner. It was then that Moran discovered his talent (“not everyone is as genetically gifted”), he did a few more local challenges, decided to start a YouTube channel and it went from there.

Despite his gift, Moran believes anyone can stretch their stomach.

To try and increase his stomach capacity, Moran eats a huge but low-calorie meal once a week. A lot of professionals choose watermelon, but Moran prefers dishes like chicken salad, chilli with vegetables or yoghurt. “I can eat about 10-12 lbs of food like that,” Moran says.