What does phelps eat

However, on the way to training if he felt like having anything more he would stop and have a go. For lunch, he would have half-kilogram of pasta, two large ham and cheese sandwiches on white bread smothered with mayonnaise, and another set of energy drinks. Whereas for dinner, add a pound of pasta with carbonara sauce, a large pizza, and energy drinks. This would make up around 10, calories a day which should ideally feed five average men a day! Even during competitions, he would stick to this diet so there would be no glycogen depletion - the result of not getting enough carbohydrates.

Often athletes struggle to reach their personal best, as they are not getting enough carbohydrates and that's what the muscles need for food. The demanding schedule of heats, semi-finals, and finals, in multiple events, often leave the athlete gasping for energy, but Phelps who weighed 85kg in , would always be on top of his game.

With that kind of turn-around, topping up his carbohydrate count is key, Ms Lewin suggested. The copious amount of refined carbohydrates consumed in the bread and pasta he eats will digest quickly and give the swimmer instant energy.

Phelps, who weighs around 85kg lbs , understands this. Asked what was needed to continue his gold-medal winning streak, he said simply: "Get some calories into my system and try to recover the best I can. Keeping his carbohydrates topped up between races, said Ms Lewin, is important for avoiding what athletes call "hitting the wall" - that stage in an endurance competition when the body has used up all its carbohydrate fuel sometimes known as muscle glycogen and instead starts the much less efficient process of burning fat for energy.

The Phelps diet is not recommended for everyone. Due to his muscle-intensive physique, the swimmer's metabolism - the process of converting food into energy - far exceeds that of a more average man, said Jeff Kotterman, director of the US National Association of Sports Nutrition.

Consequently, trying to emulate the Phelps diet by consuming up to 12, calories a day in order to attain his physique would more than likely come to a wobbly end.

One pound of fat has roughly 3, calories, so an ordinary man could put on almost three pounds of fat a day. But then again, Michael Phelps - who has now won the m medley, m freestyle, m butterfly, 4xm free relay, 4xm free relay and the m medley in world record times - is clearly no ordinary man.

By the end, Tennyson was lying on the floor exhausted, and said he felt like he needed more carbs to replenish his energy. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App.

Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Gabby Landsverk. He ate around 12, calories, with four energy drinks and two cups of coffee. He said swimming and strength training left him exhausted and he needed all that food for fuel.