August 13, 2008 --
Swimming sensation
Michael Phelps has an Olympic recipe for success - and it involves
eating a staggering 12,000 calories a day.
"Eat, sleep and swim. That's all I can do," Phelps, who won two
more gold medals today, told NBC when asked what he needs to win
medals. "Get some calories into my system and try to recover the best I
can."
By comparison, the average man of the same age needs to ingest about 2,000 calories a day.
Phelps, 23, will swim 17 times over nine days of competition at the
Beijing Games - meaning that he will need all the calories he can
shovel in his mouth in order to keep his energy levels high.
Phelps' diet - which involves ingesting 4,000 calories every time
he sits down for a meal - resembles that of a reckless overeater rather
than an Olympian.
Phelps lends a new spin to the phrase "Breakfast of Champions" by
starting off his day by eating three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with
cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.
He follows that up with 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.
At lunch, Phelps gobbles up a pound of enriched pasta and two large
ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo on white bread - capping
off the meal by chugging about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.
For dinner, Phelps really loads up on the carbs - what he needs to
give him plenty of energy for his five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week
regimen - with a pound of pasta and an entire pizza.
He washes all that down with another 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.
Phelps remains on course to at least equal Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals won at the 1972 Munich Games.
At these Summer Games, a typical day for Phelps starts with a 5
a.m. wake-up call. Most of his races have taken place between 8 p.m.
and 10 p.m. ET when in China - 12 hours ahead of East Coast time.