During the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the media made a big deal about Michael Phelps eating about 12,000 calories per day. Fast forward four years, and I don’t recall one story about this. I would have liked at least one story in which he talks about what he will eat now that he’s done with competing.
Anyways, I thought I’d put together a meal plan that consisted of 12,000 calories. You can see it’s an absurd amount of food, even with calorie-laden items like doughnuts. At six meals per day, a person would have to average 2,000 each sitting, roughly the entire calories an average person eats per day. All numbers are from MyFitnessPal.com:
| Meal | Item | Calories |
| Breakfast | Biscuits and gravy (3) Corned beef hash (1 cup) Bacon (4 strips) Orange juice (24 oz) |
600 + 390 + 140 + 328 = 1,458 |
| Mid-morning snack | Jelly-filled doughnuts (2) Chocolate milk (2 cups) |
580 + 416 = 996 |
| Lunch | Medium Chicago-style sausage pizza (four slices) Breadsticks (4) Blueberry pie (1 slice) Mt. Dew (36 oz) |
1,120 + 560 + 390 + 510 = 2,580 |
| Afternoon snack | Poutine Deep-fried cheese curds Orange soda (36 oz) |
460 + 570 + 510 = 1,540 |
| Dinner | KFC extra crispy chicken (4 thighs, 2 wings) Garlic cheese bread (2 servings) Mashed potatoes and gravy Lobster bisque (1 cup) Cream puff Beer (36 oz) |
1,360 + 380 + 120 + 340 + 240+ 205 + 420 = 3,065 |
| Late-night snack | Gyro French fries Taco Bell Baja beef chalupas (2) Gin and tonic (2) Jack and Coke (2) Vodka and Lemonade (2) |
450 + 380 + 820 + 180 + 270 + 270 = 2,370 |
Total calories: 12,009
Wanna see someone eat 12,000 calories in one sitting? Check out this video:
