Joey Chestnut once again proved himself to be the king of competitive eating on Monday, July 4, 2023, by winning the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest for the 16th time. Chestnut downed 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, breaking his own world record.
That's a lot of hot dogs. But how many calories did Chestnut actually consume?
According to the nutrition facts for Nathan's hot dogs and buns, each hot dog has 170 calories and each bun has 130 calories. That means that Chestnut ate 12,720 calories in total.
To put that in perspective, the average adult male needs about 2,500 calories per day. So, in just 10 minutes, Chestnut ate more than four times his daily calorie requirement.
Of course, Chestnut is not your average adult male. He is a world-class competitive eater, and his body is accustomed to processing large amounts of food. However, even for Chestnut, 12,720 calories is a lot of food.
In the hours following the contest, Chestnut said that he was feeling "full" and "tired." He also said that he was going to need to take a nap.
It's safe to say that Chestnut earned his victory. He consumed an incredible amount of food, and he did it in a very short amount of time. But even for a world-class competitive eater, 12,720 calories is a lot of food.
