Michael Phelps: the most decorated Olympian, oldest man at 31 to win an individual gold, winner of 23 gold medals, and consumer of 12,000 calories a day.
12,000 calories. That’s how many calories an average person eats in an entire week, but Michael Phelps eats it all in one day. I knew he had a superhuman physique, but I guess he’s a superhuman eater, too.
GIF courtesy of giphy.com
Why does the Olympic swimmer eat so much? His metabolism is so high that he essentially burns anything he eats, all thanks to his six-days-a-week, five-hours-a-day workouts. For Phelps, it’s never a matter of eating too much to ruin his training, it’s eating enough to fuel his training. I mean, don’t we all have that problem?
If there was an Olympic Games for eating, Michael Phelps would probably win 28 medals in that too. Here’s what the famed Olympian eats in one day:
Breakfast
Photo by Kelsey Coughlin
Phelps takes the whole “Breakfast of Champions” saying to heart with this morning meal. And to my surprise, it doesn’t include a bowl of Wheaties. But no worries, because it practically includes every other breakfast food out there.
The Breakdown:
- 3 fried-egg sandwiches with tomatoes, fried onions, mayo, lettuce, and cheese (lots of cheese)
- One five-egg omelet
- One bowl of grits
- 3 slices of French toast dusted with powdered sugar
- 3 chocolate chip pancakes
- 2 cups of coffee
Lunch
Photo by Alexa Rojek
Even though his breakfast is enough to practically leave someone bedridden with a food-coma, Michael Phelps is just getting started. Hours of strenuous traning leaves the Olympic medalist hungry starved, so he has to replenish with carbs. Okay, enough carbs to even put your grocery store’s bread aisle to shame.
The Breakdown:
- One pound of enriched pasta
- 2 large ham-and-cheese sandwiches with mayo, made on white bread
- 1,000 calories’ worth of Energy drinks. (That’s over 7 20-oz bottles of Gatorade, FYI)
Dinner
Photo by Mackenzie Barth
After a long and hard day of training, Phelps really needs the fuel to restore his muscles. I gotta say though, compared to his breakfast and lunch, he seems to be taking it slow for dinner. Well, if you consider an entire pie of pizza slow. To each his own, I guess.
The Breakdown:
- One pound of pasta
- One 8-inch pizza
- More energy drinks
There you have it, people. Michael Phelps is literally a machine, and after learning about his diet I’m really not confident he’s human. Maybe he’s part fish. Or better yet, whale.
Photo courtesy of @m_phelps00 on Instagram
I’ll leave you with this: don’t try this at home. No really, please don’t, even if you aspire to be Michael Phelps. I don’t know this from personal experience, but without the metabolism of this Olympic swimmer I don’t think eating this much will end in a pretty way. But if you’re really curious, someone did try it, and here’s the proof.