How NFL offensive linemen escape the 5,000-calorie lunch and transform in retirement

[Demovictory9]

It's 3 p.m., and Joe Thomas needs to eat. He's driving with his family but is getting hungry. Is it really hunger? He doesn't know. Throughout his entire NFL career as an offensive tackle with the Cleveland Browns, Thomas was conditioned to eat every two hours, because his job literally depended on it.

Thomas finds a McDonald's on the GPS. It will be quick -- just a bit of fuel between lunch and dinner. He orders two double cheeseburgers, two McChickens, a double quarter-pounder with cheese, one large order of fries and a large Dr. Pepper.

"Or another sugary drink," he said recently. "Just to add 500 calories, the easy way."


It wasn't easy playing 10,000 consecutive snaps or fending off football's most explosive pass-rushers. But it was just as hard for Thomas to maintain a 300-plus-pound frame. He had to consume an insatiable amount of food. Here's a potential day in the life:

Think breakfast: four pieces of bacon, four sausage links, eight eggs, three pancakes and oatmeal with peanut butter, followed by a midmorning protein shake.

Lunch? Perhaps pasta, meatballs, cookies "and maybe a salad, great, whatever" from the team cafeteria.

For dinner, Thomas could devour an entire Detroit-style pizza himself, and then follow it with a sleeve of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies and a bowl of ice cream. And finally, he would slurp down another protein shake before getting into bed.

"If I went two hours without eating, I literally would have cut your arm off and started eating it," the former offensive lineman said. "I felt if I missed a meal after two hours, I was going to lose weight, and I was going to get in trouble. That was the mindset I had. We got weighed in on Mondays, and if I lost 5 pounds, my coach was going to give me hell."

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29399747/how-nfl-offensive-linemen-escape-5000-calorie-lunch-transform-retirement

[soothsayer]

1. That's my quarantine diet

[W_HAMILTON]

4. LOL

[cwydro]

7. Bwahaha!

perfect!!

[MFM008]

11. Mine 2

[Demovictory9]

12. lol

[malaise]

14. ROFL

[underpants]

2. I'd read the article about Marshal Yanda

Without the weight they’d get bowled over especially by nose tackles who get well over 350.

That’s a lot of eating.

[dem4decades]

3. What will happen to these 300+ pounders when Covid gets into the NFL?

[Demovictory9]

13. I'm not sure that they are as vulnerable as an un-athletic obese person

[demmiblue]

5. Be like Kaepernick... just saying.

You're health is more important.


Also, fuck that shite.

[USALiberal]

8. Why is Cig icon? nt

[demmiblue]

9. Because Kaep is cool AF.

[magicarpet]

6. Well,... now we know who is buying all that toilet paper.

[LymphocyteLover]

10. that's insane and rather unhealthy

can the NFL possibly put a weight limit on their players to keep this BS away? Or a BMI limit?

[Blue_true]

15. The Olympic Champion Swimmer Michael Phelps eat almost as much.

He described his typical meals during a day. He had to eat enough to supply something like 10,000-12,000 calories, or some outrageous number like that. He “snacked” on junk food for the calories. The average male need 1,200-1,500 per day.

[Demovictory9]

16. Wow

[Blue_true]

17. He actually described each of his meals and snacks.

At each setting he ate an outrageous amount of food.

[Demovictory9]

18. Like a body builder with their nonstop chicken breasts and rice

[Blue_true]

19. Yes, that would be along similar lines, except maybe more protein rich for massive

muscle development.