[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.