How 19 NFL players lost weight after retiring and became unrecognizable, including one who used a 'water fast'

—OKUNG ????️ (@RussellOkung) June 6, 2023

"Trophies, accolades, I wanted it all," Okung said. "I would soon find out it was all empty. It didn't matter. It was nothing. I didn't have a relationship with my wife, with my children. I didn't even know who I was. So I prayed. I asked for guidance, for wisdom. And it came to me. I knew at that very moment, there was one answer: fasting. Long-term, water-only fasting. I did it."

USA Today spoke with a nutrition expert who called a 40-day fast "a little dangerous."

"It's scary when people (with large platforms) share this stuff and then everyone's like, 'I'm going to do it,'" Krista Varady, a nutrition professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, told USA Today. "Anything over five days, don't do this on your own and definitely not if you have any kind of medical condition."

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."

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.

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."

He recently told the media that he and his twin brother "ate like pigs" as players, and they now eat like rabbits.

—NFL on CBS ???? (@NFLonCBS) March 9, 2023

Pollack told Men's Fitness he just got smarter about what he eats and when he eats it.

Source: Independent

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 (@WillMontyNFL) June 24, 2017

He told the Washington Post he cut out sugars, no longer ate pasta and bread, and drank more red wine and less beer (Montgomery is on the left).

He was listed at 280 pounds during his career.

Source: WashingtonPost.com

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.

SOURCE: Challenge.com

"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."

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.

—Nate Newton (@NateNewtonKBI) July 31, 2017

Source: Dallas Morning-News

Source: TheSunChronicle.com

"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."