A Very Irresponsible News Story Today Regarding 11x Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps:

The news headlines are all reporting how Michael Phelps eats about 12,000 calories a day!

So watch now all the weekend warriors, wanting to be like Michael Phelps, start to eat 12,000 calories a day; then wonder “How Did I Get So Fat?”

The news article talks only about all the food he eats… but doesn’t mention a single thing about his training regimen or how many calories he burns training. Swimming burns more calories than almost any other form of exercise.

Mr. Phelps even says that all he does is “Sleep, Eat and Swim”. Now, this is during competition.

The average adult 30 year old male, I emphasize the word “Average”, needs to eat about 2,500 to 3,000 calories a day. That is taking into consideration that the average 30 year old adult male, sleeps 7 hours a night, works an 8 hour long job, walks about 10-20 minutes a day here and there, and gets about 30 minutes a day of exercise.

Sad to say, but most “average” adult males do not even get that much activity. I know several people whose main form of exercise is taking the escalator and typing on a keyboard at work. This is only speaking half-jokingly. After work they go home and eat, eat, and eat some more while they watch television or play video games.

So what is my point?

I am tired of the constant misinformation from the news media that gets reported to the public as factual news.

A world-class athlete (11 times Olympic Gold Medalist!) like Michael Phelps can afford to eat 12,000 calories a day while he is training for competition because a world-class athlete only becomes a World-Class Athlete by Training Several Hours a Day; using a very strict program.

Most of us should not go over 3,000 – 4,000 calories a day. Personally, I train about 2 hours a day: 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. I have a 40 hour work week on top of that. Mondays through Thursdays I stay below 4,000 calories a day. I am able to maintain a steady weight of between 160 lbs. to 165 lbs. this way. Of those 4,000 calories, the majority of it (about 2,000 calories) is whole grains and legumes; about 1,000 calories a day come from lean meats; and the rest of the calories are dairy products, fruits, and other simple sugars.

If you want to get in shape, responsible calorie counting is a must. But please please please beware of stupid and irresponsible news articles that say this athlete or that celebrity eats this and does that to keep fit. Most of these stories are loose facts and misrepresentations.