Michael Phelps' 12,000 calorie diet shows how far you have to go as an Olympian

The most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps is forever in the history books for his incredible feats in the swimming pool.

With 28 medals across four Games from 2004 to 2016, the 'Baltimore Bullet' flew the flag for Team USA during his illustrious swimming career.

The vast majority of his medals are gold, 23 of them in fact with a record eight won during the 2008 Beijing Olympics alone. Three silver and two bronze make up the magical 28.

But he didn't get there through genetics alone.

An athletic freak of nature, for sure, but Phelps' graft to become the best there ever has been took years of extremely strict discipline. And that included maintaining a monstrous diet of up to 12,000 calories a day.

What did Michael Phelps eat for breakfast?

Phelps had to train for six hours a day to achieve what he did.

To do that, your body needs fuel. And lots of it.

Some physique, right? (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Breakfast would see the now 39-year-old start the day off with a sandwich comprising of three fried eggs. That was accompanied with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise and fried onions.

There was a dessert, too, with chocolate-chip pancakes on the menu. Three of them, to be precise.

Then it's time for breakfast number two. We're talking an omelette made of five eggs alongside three sugar-coated slices of French toast.

He'd also wolf down a bowl of porridge and two cups of coffee.

The GOAT (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

What about lunch and dinner?

Given Phelps was putting his body through immensely taxing training sessions every single day, he could eat this and get away with it.

After training in the morning Phelps would have half a kilogram of pasta, which is a huge amount given the normal person has 80g to 100g in any meal.

This would be accompanied by two sandwiches with ham and cheese filling, both using white bread and covered in mayo. He'd wash this down with some more stimulant drinks.

Dinner would be another half a kilo of pasta, most often with a carbonara sauce.

He'd casually follow this up with a large pizza and some more energy drinks, bringing his calorie count for the day to between 10,000 and 12,000.

Did he enjoy it?

For Phelps, it seems like he just saw it as part of his journey to success.

"I was told that I was supposed to eat between eight and 10,000 calories a day," he said.

"I just sort of try to cram whatever I can into my body. It’s pretty much whatever I feel like eating, I’m going to eat."

Due to his training and competing, Phelps' body fat was just eight percent despite wolfing all that food down, day in, day out. We're not sure what's more impressive, the gold medals or the metabolism.