12,000 calories a day

by Bev Sklar (Subscribe to Bev Sklar's posts)
Aug 14th 2008 12:30PM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Celebs & Entertainment, Nutrition & Supplements

Olympian swimmer Michael Phelps counts lap after lap in the pool, but he doesn't need to count calories. He eats to the tune of about 12,000 calories a day. Every time he throws his arms skyward to cheer another gold medal, I can't help but notice Phelps' six-pack is more like a 60-pack -- muscles pop across every nook and cranny of his statuesque frame. An army of Pac-Mans, those muscles need to eat, eat, eat.

I've read ultra-high-altitude mountain climbers slip a stick of butter into their hot chocolate thanks to tremendous caloric-needs, yet Phelps isn't exactly swimming in the 23,000-ft-and-above Death Zone. He trains with Club Wolverine in Ann Arbor, MI at 840 feet. However all those Pac-Mans steaming ahead during his five-hour a day workouts need shovelfuls of food. Here's a sample day's menu Phelps-style:

Breakfast: Three fried-egg sandwiches topped with lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayo; one five-egg omelette; grits; three slices french toast and three chocolate chip pancakes.
Lunch: One lb of enriched pasta; two ham 'n cheese sandwiches with mayo on, gulp, white bread; 1,000-calories of energy drinks (must be PureSport).
Dinner: One lb of pasta (again?), a pizza, more energy drinks.

Michael, where's the fruit? WARNING: To stay fit and trim, do not eat like Phelps at home. Pic from Getty Images.

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Comments (4)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Kevin 8-15-2008 @ 6:06AM

Michael Phelp's diet has been in the news a lot lately. I realize that it is a lot of food, but he is very active, and the last thing he needs is to loose a ton of weight with his olympic training. You ask where the healthy fruit and stuff is in his diet, but let me ask you this, how would you like to eat 12000 cals worth of healthy food? He couldnt do that if he tried. The only way for him to get enough to keep from loosing weight is to eat calorie dense food. Im not a fan of his choices, after all, any fat based food is going to be equally dense, such as Peanut Butter, which would probably be much healthier, but I figure he knows what he's doing. BTW, Phelps is in no way "ripped" swimmers require a moderately high %BF as athletes go, in order to stay buoyant. I cant remember ever seeing Phelp's abs, he could be a lot more ripped than he is now, with all of his exercise, but it is counter productive to his success.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/OtherSports/2008/08/10/s081016A.jpg

marcie0305 8-15-2008 @ 10:49PM

Simply put: if you are sitting at a desk all day, etc. you can't eat a diet like that. He needs a **ton** of energy to do what he does. It's all about balance, between exercise and food. But I agree some of those food items could be replaced with more healthy items, I hope he doesn't continue to eat that way into his forties :)

~Marcie

Strongman 8-17-2008 @ 3:04PM

I think it is absurd for this kind of misinformation to be spread around. Simply put, he DOES NOT and CAN NOT eat that many calories in an entire day much less in three meals. Ask any body who knows anything at all about exercise science/physiology and they will laugh in your face. I am a competitive strongman who weighs in at a lean 305lbs at and I struggle to consume 7-8000 healthy calories in a day during the competition season (7-8 meals). I carry twice the muscle and can burn more calories during a competition. I can't believe that GMA would even put this kind of BS on national tv. Phelps is an amazing athlete and has had an amazing run at the Olympics, lets keep it at that- the facts.

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