Seeing Joe Thomas in person isn’t as easy as it used to be. Back when Thomas was a perennial All-Pro left tackle for the Cleveland Browns, he was quite conspicuous at 6-foot-6 and 325 pounds.
Now he’s down into the 250-pound range. Thomas has shaved off well over 60 pounds from his playing weight, as well as his hair. His rapid weight loss following his retirement in 2018 is one of several featured in an enlightening piece on ESPN about offensive linemen who reshape their bodies in retirement.
Thomas divulged his typical daily diet to keep his weight up. Here’s a dinner menu nobody should try at home,
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.
Thomas noted he dealt with constant heartburn and ingested copious amounts of anti-inflammatory drugs and pain medications to deal with the stress on his body frame.
The entire piece from Emily Kaplan at ESPN is a worthwhile read on the unhealthy measures Thomas and many other linemen have taken to artificially add weight to their frames. It’s a very enlightening look at an underreported phenomenon in football.