( CNN ) -- He 's used to making waves in the pool , but Ryan Lochte has caused a few ripples of excitement on social media after tweeting out a photo of himself in front of what he claims was 10,000 calories worth of food , including piles of chicken and asparagus . It 's not clear whether the five-time Olympic gold medalist was about to tuck into the food in one sitting , but eating what amounts to around four times the recommended daily calorie intake for an adult male would not be unusual for someone like Lochte , says a leading sports nutritionist . `` It 's quite a lot of food ! '' Lewis James , a lecturer in nutrition at the UK 's Loughborough University , told CNN . `` I would expect someone like Ryan Lochte to have 10,000 calories in a day but in one meal it sounds like quite a lot . '' Lochte , who turns 30 at the beginning of August , is n't the first swimmer to reveal a gargantuan appetite . His former U.S. swimming teammate Michael Phelps once famously claimed to consume 12,000 calories a day , before later saying it was a myth . Swimmers ' grueling training schedules , combined with their larger bodies , mean they require many more calories than most other top athletes , James says . `` Generally , if you look at athletes , most of the guys that are larger do n't do so much exercise , '' he explains . `` The guys that tend to do a lot of exercise and have a lot of hours of training tend to be smaller . Look at the typical Tour ( de France ) cyclist -- they are somewhere between 60-75 kilos , most of those guys . `` So they are doing an awful lot of activity but their body weight is a lot lower , so they have less weight to sustain essentially , '' he adds . `` During a day on the Tour de France , you 'd perhaps expect total energy expenditure to be between 6,000-7,000 calories for most of the cyclists . '' Unlike Tour riders , who can top up their energy reserves with energy bars and fluids en route , swimmers ca n't do the same , explains James . `` People like Ryan would be training for very long periods at a time , ( meaning ) they have long periods of their days when they do n't get any food in at all . '' `` You 've got someone who has a higher requirement ( for calories ) but technically has less hours to consume that requirement because he 's in a pool for three to four hours a day . '' You are what you eat , so the saying goes , and it seems athletes are only going to be as good as their last meal . `` Everyone should be working hard to make sure they have got the appropriate diet for their sport or their event , making sure they are well fed and have consumed the right nutrients at the right times so that we can really maximize performance , '' James says . `` Messing your diet up or not eating properly in a lot of events can really impair your performance . '' Read more : Olympic athletes ' extreme eating habits .
Five-time Olympic champion tweets photo of 10,000-calorie meal . Elite swimmers require so much energy because of their size and grueling training schedule . Most athletes requiring endurance are a lot smaller , says UK nutrition expert . `` Messing your diet up can really impair performance , '' Lewis James says .