A Lot On Your Plate: Visualizing The Olympic Diet

How much does an average Olympian eat in a day? NPR's food blog explains that it can vary — from Michael Phelps' insane 12,000-calorie diet to the 1,500-calorie diet of an average sprightly fencer.

Can't get enough of the Olympics? We have just the blog for you.

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It's hard to imagine what several thousand calories looks like. So the website Nowness commissioned creative duo Sarah Parker and Michael Bodiam, along with sports nutritionist Dan Benardot, to take a stab.

They picked five hypothetical athletes (e.g. male triathlete, female hammer-thrower, etc.), devised a diet and arranged everything they'd eat in one day on a giant plate.

Lesson learned: To get away with eating a bagel, a sandwich, three eggs and a pile of french fries (and then some), I guess I have to start throwing heavy things.

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To get a sense of scale, notice the styrofoam cup to the right of the plate.

Courtesy of Sarah Parker

To get a sense of scale, notice the styrofoam cup to the right of the plate.

Courtesy of Sarah Parker

(See the original feature on Nowness.)