Matt Stonie might not be a household name, but in the world of competitive eating he
is a pretty big deal. The diminutive young man might not look the part, but he has conquered
monster meals to become a champion. So here are the top 10 untold truths of Matt Stonie.
Eating As A Career Choice
Matt Stonie was a normal student at Mission College in Santa Clara, California when he
first got a taste of the high stakes world of competitive eating and eating challenges.
He hadn't intended to embark on a professional eating career, he only started doing this
to get some free food. Then in 2010 when he was living in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire,
Stonie entered a Lobster roll eating contest. He defeated the local favorite by only half
of a Lobster roll, but it marked the beginning of a new path for the young man. He collected
the winning $1,000 dollar prize and started to believe he had hit upon something he could
be good at. This unexpected win stimulated his competitive juices to start flowing, and
he developed a plan to make himself into a competitive eater. The following year he entered
the Stockton Deep Fried Asparagus Eating Championship. At the time Matt entered this contest, he
was the youngest member of the competitive eating organization called Major League Eating.
This was the event that set him on a trajectory to eventually make a name for himself with
feats such as eating 203 cookies in 27 minutes and 113 pancakes in 8 minutes.
A Moment On The Lips
You might have wondered how some of these competitive eaters who consume huge amounts
of food during speed-eating contests maintain a normal weight. Matt Stonie is a small-boned
guy and weighs in only at around a modest 120-130 pounds. He is quick to admit that
he doesn't have an especially fast metabolism that would make it easier for him to routinely
consume thousands of extra calories with fewer consequences. Matt is pretty disciplined about
a workout routine that includes up to five workouts a week, consisting of either some
kind of cardio routine or weight training. He has pointed out that, "I’ve made this
my full-time job, and I spend a lot of time taking care of myself. It’s hard, it’s
not like we have superhuman metabolisms.” Although it may seem strange for a person
who regularly gorges himself, Stonie insists he works hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle
that includes a strict diet when he's not getting ready for a competition. He studied
nutrition at Mission College so he has an array of knowledge when it comes to how to
keep oneself healthy even as he subjects his body to the rigors of competitive eating—pretty
impressive.
Mattstonie.com
Matt Stonie has made a name for himself as a champion competitive eater, but he has also
had a considerable presence on the Internet with his web site - mattstonie.com. This site
is a good bit of self-promotion for the young competitor as it allows him to highlight his
past accomplishments and to invite fans to challenge him to new eating adventures. If
Stonie accepts an eating challenge suggested by a fan he will film it and post it on YouTube.
These challenges have created a library of videos people can watch and perhaps be inspired
by to take on their own eating challenge. He has become something of a big deal on YouTube,
with his channel drawing in almost 11 million subscribers. One of the more popular videos
on his channel was inspired by a video game character called 'Big Smoke' from the game
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, who places a huge order at a drive-thru. Stonie recreates
the order the best he can and explains that the food totals more than 9,000 calories.
He completed the challenge in just under 35 minutes. Because of his online presence, he
is able to connect with fans who offer suggestions for eating challenges they would like to see
him perform live. This seems like a pretty cool job to have if you can stomach it.
Training To Eat
Matt Stonie, like other competitive eaters, must prepare his body to cope with the rigors
of an eating contest. If you try to compete without "getting in shape", you likely won't
perform well, and your body will let you know you weren't prepared, with bouts of nausea,
cramps, and vomiting. What techniques and training do you need to master in order to
become a world class "gurgitator?" The most basic adjustment that has to be made is to
lessen the satiety reflex. This is a warning sign triggered by the brain when it senses
the stomach has been filled with about a liter of food. If any more food is added, vomiting
is likely to happen. Competitive eaters expand their stomachs by drinking large amounts of
water in a shorter amount of time. They need to get a lot in their stomachs, but they also
need to keep it down. They will practice suppressing their gag reflex by sticking their finger
down their throats. Jaw strength is another factor these athletes work on. Competitive
eaters will chew as many as 20 pieces of gum at once to exercise the muscles of the jaw
and mouth. Hot weather tends to suppress your appetite, but competitive eaters must overcome
this. It is common to see them dousing themselves with ice water to keep cool and keep their
appetites strong as a competition progresses.
Welcome To The Big Leagues
Major League Eating is the organization that oversees professional eating contests. The
MLE sanctions about 70 competitive eating events every year. Of course the MLE also
has a hand in famous events like Nathan's Famous July 4th hot dog eating contest that
takes place at Coney Island, New York. The MLE bills itself as the go-to organization
when it comes to legitimacy in eating challenges. It exists so that there is some consistency
and integrity in the process of these competitions. It also has a hand in promoting many of the
contests and providing the competitive eaters with a platform from which they can get maximum
exposure. Matt Stone doesn't seem to have any trouble in this department since he has
a website and a popular YouTube channel. There is no doubt that the proliferation of social
media platforms like instagram and YouTube have been a boon for the MLE and its members.
Hundreds of videos showing off the exploits of competitive eaters are at everyones' fingertips,
so competitors like Stonie have been able to turn them into income.
Calorie Counts
The recommended daily caloric intake for the average adult male is 2,000-3,000 a day. It’s
typically a little less for women. These are the numbers Matt Stonie sticks to when he
isn't training for a competition. His normal diet includes a lot of protein shakes, fruits,
vegetables and nuts. But when he is in training, hold on to your fork, because the calorie
counts can get a little out of hand. It is not unusual for Stonie to eat 10,000 or even
20,000 calories in a day to get ready for a specific challenge. If you love Ben & Jerry's
ice cream, you'll love this challenge: Stonie decided he was going to eat 12 pints of ice
cream, or 13,400 calories. This amount of ice cream amounted to about 1/10th of Stonie's
bodyweight. He completed this challenge in 36 minutes. Believe it or not, the ice cream
challenge totalled about 1,000 calories more than the calories he had to eat for his championship
win at the 2015 Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest.
Nathan's Big Boy
Joey "Jaws" Chestnut had won Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest eight times, and many people
assumed he would win it a ninth time. But on July 4, 2015, Matt "Megatoad" Stonie pulled
off one of the more unlikely victories in the annals of competitive eating. Matt Stonie
consumed a stomach-churning 62 hot dogs in ten minutes to Joey's also impressive 60 hot
dogs. The Coney Island, New York event was televised live on ESPN, so the curious can
relive the event for themselves. Stonie was 23 at the time of his victory; he had placed
second the year before, so he knew exactly what he was getting into when he took on Chestnut
for another shot at the title. As many as 35,000 people were present at Coney Island
to witness this epic gastric event, and they were not disappointed. Joey and Matt battled
neck and neck til the very end, leaving all other competitors in their rearview mirrors.
And this time Stonie was the victor. For his efforts, Stonie was awarded the $10,000 prize
and perhaps more importantly - the mustard-yellow winner's championship belt.
The Science Of Gorging
Like contestants in other competitive endeavors, professional eaters leave little to chance.
They want every advantage they can get and many of them have realized that the more they
know about how the body works, specifically how the body deals with excessive amounts
of food, the better their chances of winning. One fact they have learned is that the body,
at a certain point, will just give up trying to digest and assimilate huge amounts of food.
So even though you've scarfed down two dozen donuts and several thousand calories, your
body will eliminate a good percentage of the food as waste without absorbing all the calories.
There's a lot that goes into achieving this, and like we mentioned earlier, training is
a must to be able to compete at the highest levels. At the top levels of competitive eating,
everyone is skilled and training hard, so you need more than just that to come out victorious
as many times as he has. Matt Stonie has experienced both the thrill of victory and the agony of
defeat and watching him go on this ride is awesome. He's a true competitor and one of
the most entertaining people to follow, long live Matt Stonie!
Big Mac Attack
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.
The Big Mac sandwich features a combination of flavors that is hard to beat in the world
of fast food burgers. This is why it has been a favorite with McDonald's customers since
its national debut in 1968. How much does Matt Stonie love Big Macs? He likes them enough
that he was able to swallow 25 of the famous double decker burgers in an astonishing 22
minutes. In case you're wondering what kind of calorie count you'd be looking at if you
decided to try this at home - the tally is a whopping 13,250. This is more than 5 times
your normal caloric intake. He also has the record for swallowing five Big Macs in just
60 seconds, which might be an even more impressive feat. Some people prefer flame broiled Whoppers
from Burger King, but no word yet on Matt accepting a 25 Whopper challenge.
The World Record Is Not Enough
Like most competitive endeavors, the world of professional eating judges and ranks its
members by who holds what records. Matt Stonie has been a professional competitive eater
since 2011. During his run, he has racked up an impressive list of records. He will
likely always be most known for the impressive victory at the 2015 Nathan's Famous July 4th
Hot Dog Eating Contest. At this renowned, event he ate 62 of the grilled sausages to
defeat the favorite and reigning champion, Joey Chestnut. The following is just a partial
list of the competitive eating records Stonie holds: 1 McDonald's Happy Meal in 15 seconds,120
Twinkies in six minutes, 71 pork ribs in five minutes, 41 cheeseburgers in eight minutes,
85 moon pies in eight minutes, 113 pancakes in eight minutes and 87 Aebleskivers in eight
minutes. All of these records are impressive, but some more than others. Even though a McDonald's
Happy Meal is not a lot of food it's still quite an accomplishment to consume a small
drink, hamburger and fries in such a short amount of time; no, he doesn't have to eat
the toy. He is still active, and his popularity is at an all-time high, so fans can expect
him to post some new records before too long. Until then, stay hungry my friends!
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