How 19 NFL players lost weight after retiring and became unrecognizable, including one who used a 'water fast'
Cork Gaines
- Russell Okung revealed that he lost over 100 pounds on a "water fast" after retiring from the NFL.
- Many former NFL players, especially linemen, lost weight with simple, less drastic diet changes.
Former NFL player Russell Okung weighed 310 pounds during his football career and recently lost over 100 pounds using a 40-day "water fast."
Football players, and offensive linemen especially, are often pushed consume massive amounts of calories to maintain their playing sizes, developing dangerous habits and disordered eating in the process. When retirement comes, the processs of losing the weight can be just as complicated as gaining it.
But while Okung's methods of achieving a healthier weight were drastic and controversial — experts told USA Today that people shouldn't attempt to fast for that duration without medical supervision — other former NFL players have lost weight in retirement by making simple changes to their diets, like cutting out carbs and swapping red wine in for beer.
Below, a look at 19 players who physically transformed after their careers ended.
10-time Pro Bowler and future Hall of Famer Joe Thomas is regarded as one of the best offensive linemen ever.
He spent most of his career playing at 310 pounds and told the NFL Network he was "more eager to lose weight than almost anything in retirement."
He is now an analyst for the NFL Network. It took less than nine months after his final NFL game to lose 50 pounds.
When asked how he did it, he chuckled and said, "You just don't eat until you feel like you're gonna throw up at every meal and all of a sudden the weight falls right off."
Thomas told ESPN a typical day of eating during his playing days might have included eight eggs, three pancakes, pasta, meatballs, two protein shakes, an entire pizza, a sleeve of cookies, and a bowl of ice cream. If he went to McDonald's, a typical order would be two double cheeseburgers, two McChickens, a double quarter-pounder with cheese, one large order of fries, and a large soda.
Pro Bowl offensive lineman Marshall Yanda played his final NFL game at 312 pounds and retired after the 2019 season after 13 years in the league, all with the Baltimore Ravens.
Five months after retiring, Yanda was down to 248 pounds by working out and eating less.
He told "The Pat McAfee Show," "I didn't really realize it at the time how much I was doing to keep that weight on, but obviously, it has come off really fast, and shoot, I feel so much better."
His brother, former Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey, was never the biggest lineman, but was still listed at over 300 pounds during his playing days.
David Pollack weighed as much as 297 pounds as a defensive lineman in college, and last played in the NFL in 2006 as a 260-pound linebacker for the Bengals.
After a career-ending injury, Pollack is now a 220-pound college football commentator for ESPN.
Pollack told Men's Fitness he just got smarter about what he eats and when he eats it.
David Carter was a 300-pound defensive lineman for the Cardinals and Cowboys.
Brad Culpepper (No. 77) was a 275-pound defensive tackle for three different teams and retired after the 2000 season.
Here is Brad Culpepper with his wife on the show "Survivor."
Culpepper told the Tampa Bay Times it was pretty easy to lose 80 pounds because he simply stopped eating all the extra food needed to maintain his playing weight.
Will Montgomery was a 305-pound offensive lineman with a size 42 waist who played for 5 teams in 9 seasons.
Mike Golic played for 3 teams in 8 seasons, most famously as a defensive tackle for the dominant Eagles' defense of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
He was listed at 280 pounds during his career.
Alan Faneca was a 320-pound offensive lineman for the Steelers, Jets, and Cardinals who last played in 2010.
Nick Hardwick was a 300-pound center for the San Diego Chargers who retired after the 2014 season.
He told the LA Times he had to eat "lots of ice cream, burritos, pizza" and "whatever else [he] could get [his] hands on" to maintain his size.
Matt Birk was a 310-pound center for the Vikings and Ravens who retired in 2012.
Jeff Saturday was a 295-pound center who spent most of his career with the Colts and retired after the 2012 season.
Saturday, left, now weighs 238 pounds and runs a program to help former players learn about healthy lifestyles.
Longtime Patriots star Vince Wilfork was listed at 325 pounds in his playing days, but when he last suited up for the Texans in 2016, he was probably much higher than that.
But despite being a well-known lover of food and a BBQ ambassador, he's changed his habits post-retirement.
"The only change to my diet really is the amount that I eat," Wilfork told Insider, estimating that he has lost about 80 pounds since retiring. "After football, I get full a lot quicker. My appetite isn't what it used to be."
He also credited his lifelong commitment to being disciplined and drinking lots of water.
"My son's little league baseball teams had practice three, four times a week," Wilfork said. "So I would always be in the Houston heat, and I would drink gallons and gallons and gallons of water. That's how I dropped it off. It just kept dropping.
"I love it because I would be getting home at eight o'clock at night and I'd eat a salad or something smaller and I'm going to bed."
Jordan Gross was a 3-time Pro Bowler as a 300-pound offensive lineman with the Panthers.
Seven months after retiring following the 2013 season, Gross looked a lot closer to 200 pounds when he visited training camp.
Gross told the Charlotte Observer that he went from 305 pounds to 235 pounds in seven months after retiring.
In an interview with ESPN, Gross called his playing size "artificial," noting people are not meant to be that big. During his career he loaded up on proteins and told the outlet that in one day he might eat six pieces of bacon, six scrambled eggs, two 50-gram protein shakes, four hard-boiled eggs and two chicken breasts" and that was all before 2 pm.
Gross also told ESPN he lost the weight by trying different diets including paelo and being a vegetarian, to the point where he believes he became a little obsessed with losing weight. After getting as low as 225 pounds, he backed off and settled around 240.
Antone Davis (No. 78) was a 330-pound offensive lineman who grew to 475 pounds after he stopped playing in 1997.
Davis was a runner-up on NBC's "The Biggest Loser," where he lost more than 200 pounds.
Nate Newton (No. 61), a 320-pound offensive lineman, played most of his 14-year career with the Cowboys before retiring in 1999 and growing to nearly 400 pounds in retirement.
Tom Nalen was a 290-pound center for the Denver Broncos who last played in 2007.
A thinner Nalen was inducted into the Broncos' Ring of Fame and credited continuing to work out after his retirement for the weight loss.
Source: TheSunChronicle.com
Tony Bergstrom, an offensive lineman who has played for 5 teams in 10 years, hasn't retired yet, but already has a plan for when he does.
"I have the diet plan already written out," Bergstrom told the Washington Post. "Offensive linemen go one of two ways: You either balloon up or you shrink to nothing. I'd rather shrink to nothing. Three months later, you'll see a whole different person. I'll come walking in and you'll be like, I don't know who that is."
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