Kristaps Porzingis is hungry. To play basketball again, yes, after tearing his ACL in February 2018, just a few weeks after earning his first NBA All-Star nod. He is also literally hungry, though. Not quite to the extent as he was back in 2015, when the 7'3" rookie would stuff his face with anything and everything in a desperate attempt to bulk up. But hungry enough, thanks to a new low-carb, high-protein diet in which he’s given up dairy—including cottage cheese, a food he adores—to become a spryer, leaner, and more energetic version of himself on the court.

As he continues to rehab his knee with an eye on returning to the Knicks later this season, the still-just-23-year-old Porzingis took a few minutes to share with us what the last year of recovery has taught him about himself—and the one food for which he'll still break the rules.

GQ: I want to take you back to 2015, shortly after you were drafted. I read that you were eating at least 5,000 calories and downing somewhere around three steaks a day. How does your diet now compare to then?

Kristaps Porzingis: It has changed completely. The stuff I know now—I didn’t know 10 percent of it back then. I’m still having a lot of calories, but my diet now is low-carb and high-protein. I work out on an empty stomach, so I’m fasting in the morning, and that’s really gotten my energy levels up.

My whole life has been about trying to put on weight because I’m so skinny, but at the same time, I used to eat five or six meals a day, and I would just feel sloppy. You’re eating so much that your body is digesting food all the time, and you don’t really have energy. I’ve changed that. I eat three times a day, big meals, and give myself more time in between each one. It’s a big, big difference—I feel way better.

As you’re waiting to be cleared for basketball activities, have there been any challenges with keeping weight off? Or is your presumably-insane metabolism taking care of that?

Yeah, that’s just how my body is—I can live normally and eat normally and still get skinnier. I have to eat a lot to stay on top of that. For skinny guys, it’s just how our metabolism is, I guess. Right now, I can focus more on the rehab. I'm eating clean, and making sure I have enough energy to work out multiple times a day.

What does eating clean involve?

I’ll have a coffee in the morning first thing, before I work out. I’ll have my first meal around noon. That will be high in protein and good fats, and very low in carbs—sometimes even no carbs. Avocado or salmon, tuna, all that kind of stuff. After that, I’ll rest, and I’ll have my second meal around 3:00 or 4:00. It’s kind of the same stuff—maybe a few more carbs. At night, I’ll have a similar meal. I’ll take vitamins and supplements on top of that. No sugars, and almost no dairy products.

What’s your favorite unhealthy food you still sneak in?

I love Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

Which kind?

The one with the cookie—what’s it called?

Cookies and cream?

No, no. What do you call the substance before you cook the cookie?

Cookie dough.

Yes! Oh my God, it’s so fire. That’s one of my favorite things to eat when I’m cheating.

Watch:

Kristaps Porzingis Gets Interviewed… While Playing 1-on-1