U.S. Olympic swimmer and gold medal-collector Michael Phelps will swim 17 times in nine days of competition at the Beijing summer games. He's a powerful swimmer, seemingly smashing world records every time he dives into the pool.
So what does he eat? Sit back and get comfortable. It will take a while to read his daily menu. The guy eats...are you ready?...12,000 calories a day. A day!
The New York Post, which cleverly called him "Boy Gorge" in the headline, got the scoop on Phelps' Olympic diet. When NBC asked the swimmer what he needs to do to win medals, he said simply, "Eat, sleep and swim. That's all I can do. Get some calories into my system and try to recover the best I can." And those calories total 12,000 a day – about 4,000 at each meal. An average man of the same age consumes 2,000 calories a day.
This is what Michael Phelps shovels into his mouth every day, according to the New York Post:
Breakfast: Three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise, 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.
Lunch: One pound of enriched pasta, two large ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayonnaise on white bread and energy drinks totaling about 1,000 calories.
Dinner: One pound of pasta and an entire pizza, as well as another round of energy drinks totaling about 1,000 calories.
Phew, did we hear you say?
--From the Editors at Netscape
