I have to learn to ignore my feelings. Not just the feeling of hunger and the feeling of full, but the feeling of embarrassment, too. I have to remember that this is only weird if I make it weird.
— Joey Chestnut
I'd never eaten lobster before. I was 21. I didn't know what the heck I was doing. I was scooping guts. But I tied for third. And the two men who beat me didn't look good. One was Bob Shoudt. He seemed in pain. And I felt fine! I was 'Oh, my God, they look like they're dying. And I can eat so much more!' I knew I was made for it after that contest.
I've slowly made my body adapt and understand what's going to happen.
If there's something I like, I'm going to eat a little more of it than most people.
It's addicting, beating the heck out of people and eating hot dogs and making people smile. I do feel like garbage afterwards, but so what? Most people feel like garbage after a long day of work.
I don't mind losing because it really shows me what the other eaters are capable of.
Once I get a rhythm going, I can jump those hot dogs down.
There's a couple of foods that if you see me eat them in a contest, you can tell I like them. Grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken wings, ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza. I mean, those, they go down like I was made to eat them.
The hardest is foods I am not familiar with. Gyros, I lost that one; I don't like tzatziki sauce very much. I did kimchi in Korea, which was rough: fermented cabbage and spicy.
My birthday is always around Thanksgiving, and I always had to have turkey on my birthday. My mom was always, 'Let's celebrate your birthday on Thanksgiving.' My other siblings got to have special dinners they liked. I resented turkey. For a long time, I hated turkey. I've kind of gotten over it.
There's no better feeling than knowing I'm going to break the guy next to me. His body will shut down, and I will keep eating. Then I will look out and see a crowd of happy people.
Seafood is one of the easiest things to digest - a bratwurst is really hard on the body.
Military caregivers play an essential role in the recovery process of our veterans and are more than deserving of our support.
I remember as a kid watching that movie - 'Cool Hand Luke' - with my grandfather.
Competitive eating is something I can control. I know I can control, and if I push hard, I can win.
Everything at a baseball game is pretty much health food if you subscribe to the theory that you're eating what makes you happy.
The way I see it, I love to eat more than anybody.
I'm more than just a competitive eater. I'm a smart guy. I could be an awesome park ranger.
There have always been a lot of critics of competitive eating. You can be a critic of anything. It's easy to be a critic. You can say negative things about golf, the amount of water wasted on golf courses. Or NASCAR. There are wastes in everything.
I can't tell you all my secrets to how I can eat so many. Someone out there might copy it. But I will tell you this: The night before the competition, I sleep only four hours. That means when I actually do eat, my stomach will want to digest the food quicker.
I have to eat healthy, and I recover. I run, and I lift weights.
I travel pretty much every weekend of the summer. And then during the winter, I still do appearances and a couple contests here and there.
I think that happens to anybody, when they train for things over and over again, and then they just realize, 'What do I train for now?'
I know I hold the contest record for downing the most hot dogs, and the record for most Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Contest championships, but it was really cool to be a part of a Guinness World Records official attempt.
That's one reason I like hot dogs. Nice and clean. And you can count them as they're going down.
When I started doing contests, I didn't look at it as a sport, but when I realized I was looking at it that way, I had to acknowledge it as a sport.
Traveling around the world to eat, it's a weird life, but I love it.
I know that when I'm fitter, I breathe better. If I breathe better, I can eat more.
I didn't just eat hot dogs. I studied how the food went into your system and how it would be digested.
I have the greatest job in the world, and my life revolves around my love for food - particularly devouring hot dogs.
I'm getting paid to eat. It's not too bad of a life.
I think I get out of bed because I love to eat.
It's pretty rare for me to be someplace that serves hot dogs and not eat one.
I love food, and not surprisingly, I often suffer from stomach upsets when I overeat in general, let alone when I'm competing.
Kobayashi won't talk to me. He hates me.
Honestly, I'm so competitive that sometimes I don't understand what other people are going through.
I do know when my body is ready or when it's going to perform best for me.
It doesn't get old. Just like running doesn't get old to people who like to run. I just love to eat.
I don't want to train for every contest the way I do for the Fourth of July. It would be impossible.
Pretty much all I'm doing during an eating contest is being uncomfortable and not forgetting to breathe.
I love hot dogs.
I usually stay away from sweets.
The most important thing in any contest is finding your rhythm and making your body work for you.
I'm getting older, and I'm smarter about how I eat.
You need to stay calm the day of the contest. Not let the weather bother me and just relax.
Honoring our nation's heroes and their caregivers is a cause very important to me - especially on Independence Day.
There's nothing worse than getting third.
Winning tastes pretty good.
Kobayashi was the man. The other competitive eaters, they thought of him as unbeatable... He wasn't an eater. He was a god.
I go to the doctor every four months to get my blood work done to make sure everything is working right.
