According to a recent account by the New York Post, gold medal winning swimmer Michael Phelps consumes a whopping 12,000 calories a day during season, this is six times more than the average person’s calorie intake.
Phelps’ calories include a pound of pasta at dinner and an entire pizza simply as a side dish. During swimming season, Phelps is burning so many calories in his workouts and races that those 12,000 calories serve merely as a form of replenishing his body with the energy it needs.
Although Michael Phelps is an Olympic swimmer, Ouachita’s very own swimmers must also keep a close watch on their diets and make sure they maintain a consistent calorie intake throughout the season.
Nelson Silva, a senior Kinesiology and Dietetics major, consumes anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000 calories each day throughout the course of the season, to replenish the 7,000 calories he generally burns in one day. Phelps can generally eat anything because he is burning such an excess amount of calories, but Ouachita swimmers like Silva must be sure to replenish their calories with good nutritional foods.
“At the beginning of every season we have a meeting with the two dietetics professors, Mrs. Freeman and Dr. Brech,” Silva said. “They explain what we should eat and how important it is to eat and drink properly. Being swimmers, we have been told since the early ages that eating properly helps our performance, so we do not want to waste our hard training just because we are eating poorly.”
Summer Morris, a senior Psychology major, eats up to 4,000 calories a day during swimming season and knows that what she eats affects her performance in competitions.
“I stay away from fried food and soft drinks,” Morris said. “I also try to stay away from empty calories and really see food as a source of energy. I focus more on electrolytes, proteins and carbohydrates which can be best found in fruits, vegetables, meat, and bread.”
Being a swimmer creates an appetite that never goes away, so it takes real discipline to eat foods that are both nutritional and a good source of energy.
“I really believe a healthy diet can impact your performance,” Silva said. “So, I follow my diet as close as possible. Everyone trains hard at the high levels, so the small details are going to make the difference.”
Silva and Morris generally eat three big meals a day, but have to eat small meals periodically to sustain their hunger.
“During season I ate three meals a day plus extra carbohydrates whenever I get the chance,” Morris said. “Small meals periodically throughout the day help a swimmer to survive.”
At the end of swimming season, Silva and Morris alter their diet to maintain consistency with the amount of calories they are burning. But no matter how many calories they eat, they still keep a balanced and nutritious diet that will help them be successful in their sport.
