Michael Phelps Eats 12,000 Calories A Day

The Olympic swimmer who won his 3rd Gold medal at Beijing claims he eats a 12,000-calorie-a-day diet of pasta and pizza. His message is basically: eat like a pregnant woman, and you'll win Olympic gold. Next thing we know, he'll be announcing an endorsement of those weird new pasta dishes they have at Pizza Hut.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[parrotkisser]

Give it to Mikey.....he'll eat anything.

[orchidlilly]

Give it to Mikey.....he'll eat ANYTHING.

[TianZi]

What's missing from this "story" is a key fact: according to an interview about 6 months ago with Phelps in a fitness magazine I read, this guy works out ***8 hours a day*** 6 days a week (2.5 hrs swimming in morning, eat, 1 hr weight training, eat, 1 hour running & abs, eat, 1 hr some other type of training, eat, 2.5 hrs swimming, eat).

Running at a 7 minute mile pace for 30 minutes at 180 lbs, I burn over 600 calories in 30 minutes. And of course Phelps effort every half hour / hour far exceeds my own. The lion's share of the calories he consumes is burned off just in the 8 hours he exercises.

[johnnynyc]

Personally I have a hard time believing Phelps eats that much then sits in front of a computer all day and night posting about things he knows nothing about but has an opinion about.

But if you can make it work for you, go for it.

[rh654]

When training heavy I will lose weight on anything less then 6000 calories a day and I am no where near the number of hours that Phelps is training - and I am still very hungry at that level.

But as for what Phelps really eats - I would bet that if someone really tracked what he ate he would be a much cleaner eater than what he is saying but 12,000 calories a day - I would believe that, I know of athletes who regularly consume 9k to 10k calories a day and they are not quite at the full bore athletic level of Phelps but they are training hard over long periods of time also.

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

I wonder what his thermostat is set too?

[yngcelt]

Chuck Norris doesn't eat food. He fights it, destroys it, kicks its butt and then devours its soul!

[yngcelt]

Chuck Norris lives on the pain and suffering of his enemies.

[yngcelt]

Chuck Norris can eat a whole buffalo without barbecue sauce without leaving his saddle.

[chrisb]

I love how the number of calories increases each time I read an article about it. First, it was 8,000... then 10,000... now it's 12,000?? It's like the fish that got away.

Anyways, WebMD says 10,000 is probably an exaggeration... it's not physically possible to eat that many calories in one day.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20080813/the-olympic-diet-of-michael-phelps

[karlitohungus]

I was watching Super Obese on Discovery Health channel and those dudes eat almost 40,000 calories a day, so check your facts buddy.

[clearthinker2008]

This, I do not believe.

[Bright Creature]

If we all worked out as hard as Phelps has to we'd all be as skinny as he is ;-)

[TianZi]

If oyu are correctly quoting from webmd.com, that site is run by a fool.

Working out at very high intensities for 8 hours DAILY, you must consume an extraordinary amount of calories to fuel continued performance. I burn over 600 calories at 180 lbs just running for 30 minutes at a 7 minute mile pace, which is a crawl compared to an Olympian. Figure Phelps is consuming well over 1200 calories per hour for the 8 hours he exercises, and then factor in a very high resting metabolic rate as an after effect of his regimen (which includes 1 hr weight training daily); do the math.

[clearthinker2008]

That's why on the biggest loser they drop so much weight each week. They workout like 6 hours or more a day. Everyday. 10,000 calories is not unreasonable for a profession, young, male, athlete who trains 6 to 8 hours per day.

[majormoderate]

i heard obama eats 20k calories a day and once beat phelps in the 100m freestyle... thats just hwat i heard though...

[Hagrid]

I heard John McCain eats 1000 calories a day and beats his wife... think he broke her wrist.

. . . but that is just what I heard

[MiddleRoadLiberal]

I heard Dick Cheney eats babies...that's just what I heard though.

[lilimay]

I heard that, too. Now she has to take pain pills again.

[jpcline004]

Man a 1000 calories of Ensure a day...I would hate to be the person who has to change McCain's diaper.

[TKI]

Yeah, how did she really break her wrist? The story about a handshake is not credible.

[ohiomark]

Hey HuffPo.

You have "censored" my comments 300 times and you let something like THIS through?

I guess if someone said the exact same thing about Obama, it would never see the light of day. Thanks for the double standard.

[Quotidien]

Glad to hear that I have something in common with Michael Phelps.

[Big0725]

Same here. Only I'm well over 300 lbs.!

[clearthinker2008]

To the pool with you!

[ScandalousCandice]

I used to be a swimmer, and I could not stop eating. You have to eat like that. The amount of calories you burn by being in the pool is phenomenal. You use every single one of your muscles while being in the pool. As a 12 year old swimmer, this is a rough example, I would eat 4 bowls of cereal in the morning, and a couple of Entenmann's Chocolate donuts. Then at lunch I would have, 4 grilled cheese sandwiches, or PB & J's, with 2 packets of Ramen Noodles. And then At dinner I would eat something like Taco Bell with 2 or 3 Mexican pizzas, 3 meximelts, cinnamon twists, and a large orange soda. All that on a daily basis when I was 12. I was in the pool every day all day. I can only image the amount of food Phelps has to eat.

[speedingpullet]

No kidding Candice.
I used to cycle professionally, and my daily intake would make people gag ;-)

Funnily enough, it was quite hard to keep demand up with supply.
I actually got bored of eating, because I had to do so much of it!
And, obviously, as you need to be alert and not completely stuffed, you had to balance eating with performing - which meant eating 'small' meals (yeah....) about times 8 a day.

I reckoned on 6,000 - 8,000 calories a day, depending on the distances involved, so I can easily see someone in the water all day having to eat even more..At least on a bike, you're not batting hypothermia.

[Jessegirl]

He makes me hungry but not for food!...Seriously, who cares what he eats now, that will all have
to change eventually...I think this guy needs to be served up some "Jessegirl"!!!!......sweet

[clearthinker2008]

Yeah, being a champion, and rich in endorsements must make someone hot. I like Phelps, he seems like a nice guy and the best swimmer who ever lived...but he isn't really a looker.

[nighthawk808]

"Michael Phelps Eats 12,000 Calories A Day": which just goes to show, once again, that you can't eat your way out of ugly.

[BearsLeft]

Sounds like the voice of experience. Maybe you should try a belt sander.

[Furby]

Ouch.

[nighthawk808]

I was going to try that, but when I saw your before-and-after picture on the box, I ran from the store screaming.

It's good to see that even people like you can still find work, though. I saw you in Time Magazine yesterday. You were Bonobo No. 6 in this week's conservation photo essay, right?

[victoria]

roflmao