Michael Phelps’ Diet Consists of How Many Chocolate Chip Pancakes Each Morning?

Michael Phelps is going down in history as one of the best swimmers in the world. He is an Olympic hero, and he’s also a guy with a bit of controversial moments in his life. Of course, that happens when you’re a public figure and you dedicate your life to a craft from a very young age, missing out on some of the things that come with being a carefree teenager. Not that we are excusing his behavior, but it’s just what happens to so many young celebrities; and he simply was not immune to that. Of course, we have another issue with the young swimmer; his diet.

So many people ask about the Michael Phelps diet, assuming – if they don’t know much about it – that it must be something they want to try considering he is so svelte and healthy looking (that’s from the frequent swimming, people). However, if there is one diet you never, ever want to try, it’s the Michael Phelps diet.

He eats 12,000 calories per day. That’s more McDonalds supersized meals that we can even stomach thinking about. We did some digging and found out exactly what he’s eating throughout the day to keep up his energy to swim all day long. For example, he eats an entire pound of pasta for dinner. And then he follows that up with an entire pizza. Just for dinner. That doesn’t count the five egg omelets he eats for breakfast. Or the three chocolate chip pancakes or the three pieces of French toast he has along with this three fried egg sandwiches each morning. He’s got a bit diet and a bit appetite. His diet is more than 4-and-a-half times the recommended daily calories for a healthy 20-year-old man who is fairly active. When you think about it, he’s putting on several pounds per day and he’s still healthy. But he’s also a lot more active than most, swimming hardcore throughout the day. Don’t try this diet at home if you don’t want to become obese.

Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for ESPY