[bsoles]

Michael Phelps did outswim his diet. He famously ate a lot of junk food and pizza, and yet remained fit because of his huge daily calorie expenditure. A direct quote from an interview with him, where he states: "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".

[kelnos]

Sure, but I think we can still safely say you can't outrun a bad diet when only less than 1% of people who try are successful at it.

[71153750]

I think the challenge with swimming is that there is thermodynamics of swimming through water to also contend with. So your body is also having to keep warm whilst losing heat to better heat conducting fluid (water vs air). But I still agree, if Phelps was running or even walking with the same effort he could eat similarly.

[drdec]

How many hours per day was he swimming?

[recursive]

A lot. But a possible amount.

[drdec]

Clearly a possibly amount since he did it.

Would it be possible for someone who was not supporting themselves that way? I.e. for someone with a 40 hr / week job?

[recursive]

I don't know about possible, but I'm sure the Michael Phelps regimen is wildly impractical for everyone, including Michael Phelps.

My personal experience is that "outrunning" a poor diet is absolutely possible, and I kind of did it unintentionally. I started biking to work out of necessity. I wasn't planning to lose weight, but it happened. I had no weight loss ambitions or plans, but it was probably a good thing.

[audinobs]

The problem is comparing the average person to one of the greatest Olympic athletes is completely pointless because of genetics.

Shaq could easily dunk a basketball weighing 300lbs. You can't infer from that then that any person can weigh 300lbs and dunk a basketball.

[recursive]

I'm not the one who brought up Michael Phelps. Much less extreme cases have worked too. It's probably easier than dunking a basketball.