Monday, July 23, 2012

Michael Phelps' 12,000 Calorie Diet

The Daily Mail is saying that Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps eats 12,000 calories a day, and that his medal-earning performances are, according to Phelps, down to his high-calorie diet.

Breakfast
  • Three fried-egg sandwiches
  • Three chocolate chip pancakes
  • A five-egg omelette
  • Three sugar-coated slices of French toast
  • A bowl of corn grits (maize porridge)
Lunch
  • Half a kilogram (one pound) of pasta
  • Two large ham and cheese sandwiches covered in mayonnaise
  • Gallons of energy drinks
Dinner
  • Half a kilogram (one pound) of pasta
  • Pizza
  • Energy drinks
It must be difficult for athletes to transition to a non-performance diet. I wonder if he eats broccoli. I bet he eats broccoli. He's not coming clean about the broccoli.

They also say that his "arms span 6 feet 7 inches (201 cm) — disproportionate to his height of 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm)." He's like an underwater bird.
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7 comments:

  1. RonaldJuly 23, 2012 at 12:28 PM

    Why did you splice Michael Phelps' head onto a picture of my body?

    ReplyDelete
  2. caulfieldkidJuly 23, 2012 at 1:32 PM

    I only point this out, because I saw it recently. Apparently the 12k calorie diet is "a myth."

    I'm sure it's still pretty substantial though.

    shaun

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 23, 2012 at 2:06 PM

    Carbs make you fat.

    ReplyDelete
  4. kimcAugust 2, 2012 at 1:44 PM

    The liver stores 340g of carbs at any one time. Everything over that get stored as fat IF it isn't burned off. At 4 k/cal/gram that's 1360 cal to get rid of the stored carbs. I'm sure that he burns a lot more than 1360 cal/day between the workouts and the continued calorie burning afterwards. I could see 6k. Besides doesn't he eat at subway?

    ReplyDelete
  5. BixAugust 2, 2012 at 2:33 PM

    In grad school we had to design a diet for a professional cyclist, ~8,000 calories a day. I thought, no sweat. Not exactly. When someone is active most of the day, you can't have the food not be calorie-dense for the mere fact they don't have that much time to eat. And to digest - we had to watch the fiber, not too little but certainly not too much. And, at the time, you were looking at about twice the protein requirement, 1.6-2.0 grams per kg body weight instead of the usual 0.8g/kg. And lots of fluid! I came away with great respect for sports nutritionists.

    I read that swimmers use even more calories to maintain their body temperature, as going in and out of water draws heat away. I don't know how you would assess that need.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Angela and MelindaAugust 2, 2012 at 4:32 PM

    I'm not fat; Bix isn't fat. We both eat considerable amounts of carbs, Anonymous.
    Ronald, it's great to see you're in such good shape on all those carb calories!

    ReplyDelete
  7. BixAugust 3, 2012 at 1:21 PM

    I had wondered where you were, Ronald. Now I see ... you were in training.

    ReplyDelete