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World Eating Champion Diets through the Holidays
Hot dog king says strict training and exercise is a secret to success
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At a time of year when most people start packing on the pounds and stuffing their faces, world champion competitive eater Joey Chestnut adheres to a stringent diet. It’s off-season, and he’s trying to lose the weight he gained by eating thousands of calories in minutes.
“This summer I gained a little bit more weight than I wanted,” said the soft-spoken 24-year-old from his home in San Jose, Calif. Chestnut weighs 212 pounds, and his goal is to shave that to under 200 before he starts competing again in February 2009.
It’s no wonder he’s gained some weight. Chestnut is the world’s top-ranked competitive eater, as ranked by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), and he’s set 15 new world eating records in the past two years. The most recent was in New York City last fall, when over Columbus Day weekend he ate 45 slices of 16-inch pizza in ten minutes.
Competitive eaters participate in contests like Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, the Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship, the Spike TV World Pig Skin Eating Contest and the World Deep-Fried Asparagus Eating Championship. Typically, an eater gobbles as much of the designated food as he or she can in a limited amount of time, usually 10 or 15 minutes.
Competitive eating has become increasingly popular in recent years, so much so that a sports franchise called Major League Eating has been established to regulate all of the these events.
Ryan Nerz, a Major League Eating executive and emcee of events, credited the rivalry between Chestnut and ex-champion eater Takeru Kobayashi of Japan as bringing attention to the “sport.” Kobayashi was the reigning champion of the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest until 2007, when Chestnut beat him by three hot dogs.
Topps, the sport trading card company, recently created a Chestnut trading card in its World’s Champions series. Chestnut says he gets five or six cards to sign in the mail every day. “I don’t think it’s something amazing,” Chestnut said. “It’s just eating.”
But it’s more. The IFOCE doled out almost $350,000 in prize money in 2006 for eating competitions.
“I don’t make that much,” Chestnut suggested. Yet in 2007 he earned over $100,000 in prize money and appearance fees at competitions, as well as at bar mitzvahs and private parties. Because Chestnut is the world’s champion eater, sponsors are willing to pay him just to come to a contest, and cover his expenses.
Nerz said the money comes from sponsors, who gain advertising value. The Associated Press paid for the recent contest where Chestnut broke the pizza-eating record, and the Nathan’s and Krystal Square Off contests are featured live on ESPN.
Despite the big bucks, Chestnut still considers competitive eating to be a fun weekend hobby. He works as a projects engineer for a construction company in San Jose, while he studies for a degree in civil engineering at San Jose State University.
Chestnut trains extensively for the big eating competitions, and compares his training to that of a marathon runner. He emphasizes the need for a rhythm, in which all of his muscles work like a machine, to chew, swallow, and breathe. He achieves this rhythm through practicing eating the contest’s food.
“It’s about knowing your body,” he said. “That’s the biggest deal.”
He drinks gallons of water to stretch his stomach and focuses on exercising his esophagus muscles to handle swallowing pounds of food in a short amount of time.
The most critical training time is right before a contest. Three days before, he stops eating and ingests just protein powders, so he can step onstage with an empty stomach.
In 2005 his little brother entered him in his first contest, a burrito-eating competition in San Jose. He remembers feeling awkward – it was his first time onstage.
“It’s something you never expect to do in front of an audience,” he said.
He won, and moved on to lobster-eating in Reno. His break-out performance was at the 2005 World Deep-Fried Asparagus Eating Championship in Stockton, Calif., where he beat renowned high-ranked eater Richard LeFevre and attracted the attention of many in the competitive eating world.
“That’s when I really got addicted to it,” said Chestnut. “I really wasn’t that into competitive eating at first, until I realized I was actually good.”
After that, Chestnut said he just kept pushing himself. “I always convinced myself I could eat more. I enjoy pushing myself and being able to measure myself against other people right then and there,” he said.
This winter, he’s pushing himself to lose weight and get in better shape. Lately he’s been eating about a thousand calories, and running three to three-and-a-half miles a day.
He wants to stay in competitive eating, even if he doesn’t end up participating in the big competitions in the future. His favorite contests are smaller and more community-oriented.
“As long as I’m healthy, as long as I’m having fun, and as long as I have time, I’ll do it,” he said.
After Joey Chestnut (right) beat Takeru Kobayashi in the Nathan’s annual July 4 hotdog-eating contest, he found himself on the world competitive eating circuit. Here they are competing in 2008.
Photo by Charlotte Walton