Michael Phelps Food Intake

Here is a typical Michael Phelps breakfast: Three fried-egg sandwiches topped with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. And that’s just to get his stomach warmed up for the main portion of his breakfast, which includes two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

A big league swimmers lunch is: A pound of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo on white bread. The most decorated Olympic athlete in the history of the Games then caps off the meal by chugging about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

Dinner features two more pounds of pasta and an entire pizza, which he washes down with another 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

Of course this is not really typical as there are no fruits and vegetables but here you can see the massive amount of food required for a great Olympic level athlete. Burning all of those calories and constantly tearing down the energy in his muscles means that the muscle glycogen has to be replaced.

So, that’s what 12,000 calories looks like. Amazingly, Phelps’ trainers say the elite athlete could probably stand to eat even more given his five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week swimming regimen.

"Eat, sleep and swim, that's all I can do," said the US swimmer, after winning his 11th Olympic gold.
Judging by the amount he eats and swims, that is not altogether surprising.