CLEVELAND, Ohio – The whispers began before the 2017 season ended. In the weeks following Joe Thomas’ elbow injury, the one that stopped his consecutive snaps streak at 10,363 and ended his 11th NFL season, it was becoming obvious.

Thomas was getting smaller.

Not height-wise, the Browns’ 10-time Pro Bowl left tackle was still 6-foot-6, but there was definitely less of him. He didn’t look the part of a 300-pound offensive lineman anymore. To those that saw him around the Browns’ practice facility in Berea or on the sideline on game days, it was clear that Thomas was losing weight.

When Thomas stepped to a podium on March 19, 2018, to officially announce his retirement from the NFL, he looked more like a former tight end than a former offensive lineman expected to be on the fast track for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But the reality is that we weren’t seeing Joe Thomas’ in a new body. We were seeing him in his normal body.

“I was always the 250 pound guy that I was when I was 18 years old coming out of high school,” Thomas said recently from his home in Wisconsin, noting how he had to gain weight to play offensive line in college and the NFL. But that “in my mind it was just natural when I was done playing, I would get down to a healthy weight, lose the weight, get down back to about, you know, 250 or so.”

When Thomas and his NFL Network crew visit FirstEnergy Stadium on Thursday to broadcast the Browns’ matchup with the Steelers – he’ll be working the NFL GameDay Kickoff show – fans will see that 18-year-old version of Thomas. Just with a lot less hair.

He said he weighs about 255 now. And if you want a visual of how that compares to where he was with the Browns, here’s Thomas with his ThomaHawk podcast co-host, Andrew Hawkins, in March.

And here’s Thomas in 2014, talking to Doug Dieken.

Former Browns left tackles Joe Thomas and Doug Dieken talk prior to a 2014 game when Thomas was still playing. (John Kuntz, cleveland.com)The Plain Dealer

Before we can explain how Thomas lost the weight, we need to explain what he went through to become – at one point – a 325-pound lineman.

In high school, Thomas would make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of a loaf of bread and eat one sandwich every half hour throughout the day, and wash it down with a glass of whole milk – on top of his other meals – then do it all again the next day. At Wisconsin he treated every meal like Thanksgiving, and down a special 900-calorie drink, to grow into a 300-pound lineman.

But it was always a struggle to keep the weight on.

“So while most people dealt with the scale every Monday at the Berea training facility nervous about how high the number was going to be, I was the one that was nervous about how low the number was going to be,” he said. “So, you know, sometimes I’d wear a couple extra sweatshirts or throw an extra two-and-a-half pound (weight) in my sweatshirt to occasionally make sure that my weight was up there and I wasn't going to be getting hell from the coach.”

But more than trying to cheat the scale, Thomas had to eat.

A lot.

“I really had to train myself to eat like a maniac really four or five meals a day until I felt sick, just to keep the weight on,” he said.

Thomas would consume 5,000-to-7,000 calories a day. Oatmeal and yogurt and nearly a dozen eggs and half-a-dozen pieces of bacon for breakfast. Big protein shakes for snacks. Loaded burgers and fries for lunch. Sleeves of Girl Scout cookies and bowls of ice cream before bed.

Back when I used to practice (llloooonnngg time ago😂) I used to drink 2 big glasses of whole milk and a sleeve of thin mint Girl Scout cookies before bed just to get enough calories in the day to maintain weight. https://t.co/KGqLeARGWH — Joe Thomas (@joethomas73) March 23, 2018

“I remember on Thursdays, we always used to order Jet’s Pizza for the offensive line and running backs and tight ends because after practice we’d always get in the meeting room and review film together,” Thomas said. “And I could always count on that day because, those who love good Jet’s Pizza understand that one slice of Jet’s Pizza is like 400 calories. So I knew if I ate 8-10 slices, I would be able to maintain my weight for that week and basically kind of boost it for our weigh-in on Friday.”

As Thomas neared the end of his career, wear on his body meant he practiced less and less. Knee issues made it difficult to even stand off to the side for an entire practice. So he often remained in the trainer’s room, doing different things to keep his muscles firing.

“So that’s when I started swimming,” Thomas said. “I would swim in the training room when the guys were out at practice.”

That led to the famous Joe Thomas Natatorium Swimming Championships for the offensive linemen during training camp in 2017 (Thomas lost in the finals to Spencer Drango). But it also stayed with him once he decided to leave football. Swimming was great for a guy with bad knees, and it helped him knock the weight off, along with a keto diet and intermittent fasting.

“The first 30-or-so pounds that I lost was basically just I stopped eating until I felt sick,” he said. “I was in the 270-range, and that’s when I had to kind of focus a little bit more on my diet and exercise to try and make sure I got down to 250.”

Facts: I think the first 25 fell off in a month, than I had to kick my butt to keep going. Swimming is the best from a cardio standpoint, and #keto w/ intermittent fasting is gold. I can eat 1500-2000 cals/day and feel full. https://t.co/HToJA3VVat — Joe Thomas (@joethomas73) March 17, 2019

Thomas has seen enough retired offensive and defensive linemen to know that if he didn’t lose a significant amount of weight in the first year of his retirement, he probably never would.

“Because your habits kind of become ingrained in you,” he said. “It just becomes really difficult.”

Thomas doesn’t eat breakfast, instead saving his first meal of the day for lunchtime. And that will include a salad or vegetables and some protein. No processed carbs. For dinner he’ll eat whatever his family is eating, but still tries to include lots of vegetables, fibers, proteins and fats while reducing his carbs.

On the weekends he lets himself have some freedom.

“That’s usually when you’re hanging out with family and friends and you’re going to events and there’s beer and pizza or whatever,” he said. “So I don’t want to miss out on stuff just because I’m dieting.”

To be clear, Thomas’ new diet isn’t just about looking good in a T-shirt, or in front of television cameras.

He had to save his knees.

Late in his career, when he was closer to 310 pounds, Thomas would get injections to help with the inflammation and pain in his knees due to arthritis. And before or after games he would have his knees drained to help with swelling. Those knees issues didn’t stop when he retired.

“I’ve gotten into intermittent fasting, which I thought was very powerful from a weight maintenance level, but also an anti-inflammatory standpoint,” Thomas said. “I needed to lose weight to try to take some of the weight off my joints. I also found that, as long as I was doing that, when I would fast, the inflammation went down and my knees felt better.”

Thomas doesn’t stick to a strict workout schedule. He’ll lifts weight in his basement, or swim, or do yoga, or ride a bike. Sometimes he just tries to fit in something good for his body when he can.

“Two weeks ago I was in Arizona for Thursday Night Football. It was beautiful weather. I was laughing at my friends in the Midwest who were dealing with snow and cold,” he said, “and I just walked for like 90 minutes and it was great. I felt refreshed, burned some calories and felt great about it. It was awesome.”

That’s a long way from not being able to stand through a football practice.

Thomas is happy with where his weight is at. And he seems to be enjoying the process of maintaining it. He admits that he loves food, and when he isn’t in position to eat good food, he just doesn’t eat. Instead, he saves up space for when he will be around good food.

“I go to the Browns facility and they’ve got a big sushi spread, or they’ve got Mission BBQ catered, I can eat like four plates and I don’t feel bad about it,” he said. “So that’s kind of been my strategy. Because I like to work out, so every chance I get to basically lose weight is good because that just means I can go and have more good meals down the line somewhere else.

“I’m not sure that dietitians would love that approach, but it’s been working for me pretty well.”

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