Olympic swimmer’s burn tremendous amounts of calories during their daily training regimens and competitions. What they eat, or more specifically, how much they eat helps keep them on course to achieving these Olympic level goals.
It has been studied and found that the daily average calorie output for Olympic swimmers is around 10,000 per day. As it is nearly impossible to consume 10,000 calories in a day due to time to eat, digest and prepare the food, Olympic swimmer diets concentrate of high density foods rich in carbs and good fats.
The average Olympic swimmer’s diet begins with a large breakfast filled with eggs and breads. Cheese omelettes and whole grain toast and bagels are staples. Between breakfast and lunch the swimmer’s diet contains lots of nuts such as cashews and almonds, often consumed with one of two bananas. Waffles with fruit syrups or pancakes with high carbohydrate density are often part of the swimmer’s breakfast.
Lunch is carb dense. Pastas with sauces, lean protein such as chicken breasts and fish, and a large side salad with dark green leafy vegetables round out a healthy and calorie packed lunch.
Snacking in the afternoon consists of lots of nuts, cheeses, pizza, and anything else carbohydrate rich with sources of protein and good fats.
The average swimmer’s diet in the evening meal typically consists of carbohydrate rich meals such as pastas and potatoes, served with more healthy and lean protein. Dessert is not skipped, but the intake of the type of sugar consumed is modified. Refined sugar foods are exchanged for desserts that have fruits with anti-oxidants such as berries, or baked goods such as fruit pies, fresh cake made with whole wheat flour and frostings that use all natural ingredients. The average dinner for an Olympic swimmer is typically around 1200-1500 calories.
After dinner and for snacking in the evening, the Olympic swimmer’s diet consists of tortilla chips with cheese, nuts, bananas, and pretzels or other carb heavy snacks.
Because the energy output for Olympic level swimmer’s is so high, it is important they take in as many calories as possible during the day, with the notated specific types of foods that provide healthy fats, proteins and carbohydrates.