Shoudt and some of his competitors followed up their Labor Day meals by putting their gastric prowess to the ultimate test with a round of roller-coaster hopping at Kings Island amusement park in Cincinnati, where the eat-off was held.

"Joey [Chestnut] looked pretty sad after the first coaster," Shoudt said. "The first coaster was a little tough on me, but when I saw his face I knew I was good compared to him."

Contrary to early reports, which put his Cincinnati chili consumption at 11 1/2 pounds, Shoudt, 41, a Center City information-technology manager, who's ranked fifth on the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) circuit, actually ate 13 1/2 pounds of the dish for the win and $2,500 in prize money, according to the IFOCE.

"I can still feel pounds and pounds of pasta in my stomach right now," Shoudt said, more than 24 hours after the eat-off.

A Cincinnati dish, the chili was served in one-pound portions filled with 8 ounces of spaghetti noodles, 6 ounces of beanless chili and 2 ounces of cheese (also known as a "three-way").

Even chocolate has a place in the recipe, though Shoudt said he couldn't taste that or much else of the food he put down.

"It probably tasted good," he said. "But when you're in an eating contest you're just trying to find the easiest way to get it down."

Shoudt, who often competes twice or more in one weekend, said that summer is the busy season in "stomach-centric sports."

Even with three more competitions ahead of him before the end of the month, Shoudt hopes to lose 10 to 15 pounds - he's 285 pounds according to the contest Web site - to compete in the Krystal Square-Off Hamburger Eating Championship on Sept. 28. He's the current record holder at 39 burgers in two minutes - or one burger every three seconds.

"Used to be the big people dominated competitive eating," said Shoudt. "Now, it turns out, it does limit the ability of your stomach to expand if you have more fat."

When not eating competitively, Shoudt sticks to a vegetarian diet. After competitions like Monday's, he'll go without food for up to two days, followed by days of eating only between 400 to 500 calories.

"We pros take it very seriously," he said. "If we let on how serious we took it, we'd look like idiots." *