Diet of whopping 12,000 calories per day secret behind Phelps' unprecedented success

London, July 24 (ANI): One of the main reasons behind American swimmer Michael Phelps unprecedented success is his whopping 12000 calories per day diet, as the record-shattering swimmer has his eyes set on adding to his tally of 16 Olympic medals at the London Games.

Phelps starts the day with a vigorous breakfast consisting of three fried-egg sandwiches, three chocolate chip pancakes, a five-egg omelette, three sugarcoated slices of French toast, and a bowl of grits (maize porridge).

Phelps' lunch doesn't get much smaller as he devours half a kilogram of pasta (enriched with vitamins and fibre) over lunch, two large ham and cheese sandwiches covered in mayonnaise and gallons of energy drinks.

For his final meal of the day, he finishes off the remaining kilogram of pasta, followed by pizza and more energy drinks.

"After morning practise I have a big breakfast: pancakes, waffles, cereal, bagels, eggs, everything," The Daily Mail quoted Phelps, as saying.

Phelps' personal trainer, nutritionist and weight management expert Jenny Dawes believes that, although Phelps' diet would be dangerous for a regular person, he needs that amount of energy for training.

"I would recommend that a regular competitive male swimmer would need around 6,000 calories a day but because Michael is at Olympic level will be training so hard that he will be burning it straight off," Dawes said.

"His cholesterol intake is very high but by constantly swimming, there is no time for the cholesterol to stick to his arteries. His cholesterol levels do need to be checked regularly to ensure he is not putting his body at risk for future cardiovascular disease," she added. (ANI)