More: the skinny on eating contests

New York Times: By ANTHONY RAMIREZ

But Mr. Chestnut said the two were actually quite similar.

Mr. Kobayashi is a champion, he said, “because he’s healthy and controls his calorie intake.”

Mr. Chestnut — whose weight has fallen to 215 pounds from 240 during his two years of competing in eating contests — controls his intake with minimum-calorie meal-replacement shakes when he is not competing. The shakes are as important psychologically as they are physically, he said.

“I tell myself that there’s nothing solid inside of me,” he said, “so I can put 14 pounds of food inside. It’s a mental thing, to be able to convince your body that it can do this.” He added, “My body says, ‘Hey, I’m hungry.’ There’s a reason to eat this much food.”

In his short career, Mr. Chestnut has won more than $112,000 in prize money eating a dizzying variety of food, including deep-fried asparagus, waffles, chicken wings and Krystal Burgers (similar to White Castle burgers). Only crab cakes have made him throw up, he said, even though he loves crab.