--- title: Ryan Lochte Won Olympic Medals Eating Chicken Wings, Pizza description: Ryan Lochte revealed that the secret to his six-pack and 11 Olympic medals is a weekly cheat day consisting of pizza and chicken wings. canonical: https://time.com/4349680/ryan-lochte-olympics-pizza-chicken-wings/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-26T20:59:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:32:45.608Z og:title: Ryan Lochte Won 11 Olympic Medals Eating Chicken Wings And Pizza og:description: Even Olympic athletes need a cheat day og:url: https://time.com/4349680/ryan-lochte-olympics-pizza-chicken-wings/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ae47c66a0182106/69889536e20a876108a91051/ryan-lochte-diet-cheat-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Arena Pro Swim Series at Mesa - Day 3 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ryan Lochte Won 11 Olympic Medals Eating Chicken Wings And Pizza twitter:description: Even Olympic athletes need a cheat day twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ae47c66a0182106/69889536e20a876108a91051/ryan-lochte-diet-cheat-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ryan Lochte Won 11 Olympic Medals By Eating Pizza and Chicken Wings  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 26, 2016 8:59 PM UTC  MESA, AZ - APRIL 16: Ryan Lochte reacts after finishing last the final of the men's 100 meter freestyle at the Skyline Aquatic Center (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) MESA, AZ - APRIL 16: Ryan Lochte reacts after finishing last the final of the men's 100 meter freestyle at the Skyline Aquatic Center (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)Chris Coduto—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 26, 2016 8:59 PM UTC [Swimming champ Ryan Lochte](http://olympics.time.com/2012/07/19/ryan-lochte-michael-phelps-rivalry/) revealed that the secret to his [11 Olympic medals](http://olympics.time.com/2012/05/21/the-duel-in-the-pool-meet-ryan-lochte-the-man-who-beat-michael-phelps-and-wants-to-again/) (and a very naked [_People_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhOQ2OBDqxg) “Sexiest Man Alive” nod) is a diet that includes pizza, chicken wings, and a Mountain Dew every Friday. The 31-year-old Olympic athlete and one-time [_Vogue_](http://video.vogue.com/watch/on-set-with-vogue-exclusive-video-inside-vogue-s-olympic-cover-shoot) cover boy told the [_Charlotte Observer_](http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article79588492.html) that he’s indulged in a weekly “cheat day” every Friday since he started training 22 years ago. “I’ve been doing it since I was 9 years old,” Lochte said. “I’ve only missed it six times.” Pizza and chicken wings aside, Lochte also revealed this his biggest vice is sweet, not savory. “I have a weakness: Yellow Starbursts, and I haven’t had one in about two months,” he said. Lochte is currently training for the Summer Olympics in Rio, which means that even though the swimmer is cutting out the yellow Starbursts, he’s still eating six times a day, clocking in at about 8,000 calories daily. When asked by his personal chef, Glenn Lyman (who’s also worked for LeBron James and Jeff Gordon), to imagine how many more gold medals he might have if he had “not eaten pizza and wings every Friday for your entire life,” Lochte responded with a resounding no. “I refuse to give it up,” he said. Lochte has tapped into one of life’s most basic truths — gold medals may come and go, but pizza (and chicken) is forever. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4349680/ryan-lochte-olympics-pizza-chicken-wings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4349680/ryan-lochte-olympics-pizza-chicken-wings/"},"headline":"Ryan Lochte Won 11 Olympic Medals By Eating Pizza and Chicken Wings","datePublished":"2016-05-26T20:59:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:32:45.608Z","description":"Gold medals are great, but pizza is forever","url":"https://time.com/4349680/ryan-lochte-olympics-pizza-chicken-wings/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Summer Olympics","Ryan Lochte","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ae47c66a0182106/69889536e20a876108a91051/ryan-lochte-diet-cheat-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ae47c66a0182106/69889536e20a876108a91051/ryan-lochte-diet-cheat-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Arena Pro Swim Series at Mesa - Day 3","caption":"Arena Pro Swim Series at Mesa - Day 3","creditText":"Chris Coduto—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4349680/ryan-lochte-olympics-pizza-chicken-wings/","name":"Ryan Lochte Won 11 Olympic Medals By Eating Pizza and Chicken Wings"}}]}] ```