It shouldn’t come as a surprise when you think about how many calories it takes to fuel the human rocket, such as Michael Phelps, achieving the most decorated Olympian title two nights ago bringing the world to their feet and the swimmer to a grand total of 15 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze Olympic medals and counting. This 6’4″ 27-year-old consumes a whopping 12,000 calories a day. Yes, 12,000 calories! His accomplishments are no stranger to anyone, but did you ever think about how much he has to eat for his body to perform at it’s prime?

Phelps states:

Eat, sleep and swim. That’s all I can do. Get some calories into my system, and try to recover the best I can

Olympian Michael Phelps isn’t someone who hits the gym once a day for an hour or so, rather he has 2-3 workouts in the pool along with separate lifting/gym workouts, just in one day. When you’re burning as many calories as Michael Phelps is in one day, you can afford to eat basically anything you want. His coach, Bob Bowman, actually encourages him to eat whatever his heart desires from the carbs to the fatty foods. If he didn’t eat 12,000 calories, his muscles wouldn’t recover from all the exercise, and he wouldn’t have the energy to continue day by day with the strenuous demand of his workout regime.

To give you an idea of how much Michael Phelps actually eats, here’s what a full day of meals looks like:

Breakfast:
- Three fried-egg sandwiches
- Three chocolate chip pancakes
- One five-egg omelette
- Three slices of French toast covered in sugar
- One bowl of grits
- Two cups of coffee

Lunch:
- 500 grams (approx. 1.1 lb) of pasta enriched with vitamins and fiber
- Two large ham and cheese sandwiches covered in mayo
- Several hundred calories of energy drinks

Dinner:
- Another serving of 500 grams (approx. 1.1 lb) of pasta enriched with vitamins and fiber
- A whole pizza
- Several hundred calories of energy drinks

Can you believe it? It’s actually incredible how much Michael Phelps can/has to eat. Compared to the average Joe his age who only consumes 2,000 calories a day, while Michael Phelps consumes 4,0000 calories a meal! If he’s not The Hulk, I don’t know who is! Even compared to an average competitive male swimmer who needs ~6,000 calories, Michael Phelps is still eating two times as much as a competitive male swimmer. At the Olympic level, with his intense training regime, he can and needs to be eating 12,000 calories.

Now what about the junk that he eats? How can that be healthy you ask? Because of the amount of swimming and exercise his body is enduring, all the cholesterol he is eating doesn’t even have time to linger in his arteries and stick to the walls. Michael Phelps isn’t at any risk for future cardiovascular disease because of how active he is. He burns every unhealthy calorie that enters his body in the pool.

Now you know what fuels the greatest Olympian of all time! Remember to burn off more than you intake and you can look as great as Michael Phelps, while eating whatever you want!

Photo courtesy of: Speedo