the michael phelps diet

flipsit

What are grits?

bstamps12

I easily believe the 12K calories a day thing. As a mere high school swimmer, I ate 5000 calories per day. Full breakfast before morning practice, full breakfast after morning practice, morning snack, huge lunch, snack before afternoon practice, dinner, snack before bed...also with lots of milk and juice that added up to 600-700 calories per day just on the beverages. I was burning 1500+ calories per workout and of course I did not have near the muscle mass (hence the calorie burn) that an elite athlete has.

Sure, those eating habits KILLED me after I stopped swimming! But Michael Phelps' body is a fine tuned machine that could not do the miles, repeats, intervals, cross-training, etc. that he does without that many carbs and calories. I agree...lesson learned: eat your exercise calories and when you workout a lot, carbs are your friends.

On another note, I think it's interesting that he had NEVER lifted weights when he went to the Olympics the first time. All of his strength training was with resistance bands or his own body weight. Very intriguing...

arw060310

I easily believe the 12K calories a day thing. As a mere high school swimmer, I ate 5000 calories per day. Full breakfast before morning practice, full breakfast after morning practice, morning snack, huge lunch, snack before afternoon practice, dinner, snack before bed...also with lots of milk and juice that added up to 600-700 calories per day just on the beverages. I was burning 1500+ calories per workout and of course I did not have near the muscle mass (hence the calorie burn) that an elite athlete has.

Sure, those eating habits KILLED me after I stopped swimming! But Michael Phelps' body is a fine tuned machine that could not do the miles, repeats, intervals, cross-training, etc. that he does without that many carbs and calories. I agree...lesson learned: eat your exercise calories and when you workout a lot, carbs are your friends.

I agree 100% with this. When I used to swim competitively, I would eat around 4,500-5,000 calories a day. I was very healthy, very lean, and I ate like a horse. But once I stopped swimming, I didn't change my eating, and I got fat LOL

skinnylove00

thats IT!!! i am SWIMMING FROM NOW ON hahaha

SoCalSwimmerDude

Thank god a few competitive swimmers have replied to this post. I swam my entire life and through college. You're buying a big myth if you think that a vast majority of swimmers eat healthy (yes, even the elite ones). Of course, there are a few health nuts. It wasn't about getting enough cals or carbs, it was BEING ABLE TO eat whatever you want w/out worry. In college, my daily routine was 1.5 hrs (approx 5 miles) in the morning, then 2-3 hrs (approx 5-8 miles) at night, followed by either HIIT or weights.

I have NO idea how many I ate, but it was easily 7-8k per day. Add to that the fact that Phelps is naturally a skinny dude. Also, the OP is using the info used on Phelps during a little special they did during the Olympics last time around. His coach, Bob Bowman (who took a donut away from me at a swim meet when I was 8 BTW), is known for being a health freak so I'm guessing (just a guess) that as Phelps has gotten older, he's probably fixed up the diet a little bit.. but probably not. One of the health freaks (I can't remember his name) was a breastroker around 2000, I believe. He ate well during all of his training, but would have a Big Mac prior to big race days... ritually.

Ha, this is also why I have so many friends on here who are ex swimmers. All of us ate to our hearts content and then added like crazy when we stopped swimming.

SoCalSwimmerDude

On another note, I think it's interesting that he had NEVER lifted weights when he went to the Olympics the first time. All of his strength training was with resistance bands or his own body weight. Very intriguing...

Stamps, my coaches didn't let me lift until the summer before I got to college (and even then it was very light)... It was all bands, medicine balls, vasa trainers, core, and body weight stuff.

bstamps12

On another note, I think it's interesting that he had NEVER lifted weights when he went to the Olympics the first time. All of his strength training was with resistance bands or his own body weight. Very intriguing...

Stamps, my coaches didn't let me lift until the summer before I got to college (and even then it was very light)... It was all bands, medicine balls, vasa trainers, core, and body weight stuff.

Yep! A lot of people emphasize using weights specifically, but there are so many other ways to strength train other than heavier weights and more reps! It obviously worked for Phelps!

sarah307

of course he eats that much!! think about how much you burn with swimming! Assuming he's 170 lbs (i have no idea)... and lap swims for one hour.. vigorously.. he probably burns around 700 calories / hour!!! Even though that's just estimating, his calorie burn has got to be wayyy up there!

and yes, he does have a body of a greek god!

.. hellllo, swimmers! lol

sarah307

He eats his exercise calories....lol

Officially the most important post of the day.

By the way.. love this.. haha, it should be the MFP background for the home screen.

rolliepollie087

His facial expression is hilarious!

He eats his exercise calories....lol

Officially the most important post of the day.

By the way.. love this.. haha, it should be the MFP background for the home screen.

UpEarly

When I go on week-long backpacking trips, I eat 6,000 (or more) calories a day and still lose - most of them from carbs, especially simple carbs and sugar. I'm sure his training is even more intense than my backpacking. And he's young. And he's male. So, 12,000 calories a day - heavy on the carbs does not surprise me at all!

SoCalSwimmerDude

His facial expression is hilarious!

He eats his exercise calories....lol

Officially the most important post of the day.

By the way.. love this.. haha, it should be the MFP background for the home screen.

Does everyone remember when this pic was taken? It was after Jason Lezak (sp?) was a full body length behind on the anchor leg of the relay (behind the french team that said they would beat on us like an old guitar). Lezak pulled it out of nowhere and beat the French guy by a few hundredths of a second. Easily the best Olympic race I've ever seen. I imagine I had a similar response as Phelps... just at that time... a much fatter body.

ljbhill

Makes me hungry reading all that! Ha!

I too used to be a swimmer, every single person that I swam with (including myself) ate ridiculous amounts of food. Every single one of us put on ridiculous amounts of weight when we stopped.

I remember eating meat pies with chocolate milk at 6am in the morning after a training session, eating finger buns/cake with icing on my way to school and eating MacDonalds after night training . I was a toned, had low body fat and was athletetic. It was awesome! Lol.

When I stopped swimming, I put on a ridiculous amount of weight, It was the heaviest I'd ever been or was.

rachpiper720

One thing not mentioned....body heat loss in water is MUCH greater than in air. He not only is burning calories by actually swimming, but actually trying to keep his core temperature up to 98.6 degrees. Water cooler than the body will act as an unlimited heat sink. I wouldn't suggest eating all those calories unless you're going to be in a pool for 8 hours a day.