FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Dontari Poe still weighs more than 300 pounds, but the Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle feels much leaner these days.

It's been well-documented how Poe's one-year, $8 million contract included a $500,000 "weight bonus" which required him to weigh 340 pounds or less initially, then 330 pounds or less on three separate occasions from the start of training camp through early November. Well, Poe reported to camp "a couple pounds" under 330 to collect the second of two $125,000 bonuses. And there was a good reason why he met the requirement.

"I stopped eating so much late at night and so much bad food," Poe said.

Like what?

"Like mama’s cooking: fried chicken," he said. "Steak and potatoes. Stuff like that, I slowed down on."

A slimmed down Dontari Poe, right, and Grady Jarrett have become fast friends in Atlanta. Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

Poe now has a cutoff time where he doesn't eat anything after 8 p.m.

"The good thing about it is it makes you super hungry in the morning," Poe said. "So when you eat a lot in the morning, you burn it off through the day. So it evens out really good. I'll eat eggs, grits, oatmeal, turkey bacon, turkey sausage ... anything like that for breakfast."

Poe credited the Falcons' new nutritionist, Marie Spano, for helping him through the process. He began working with her before the break between minicamp and training camp.

"Marie is good at what she do, bro," Poe said. "She’s big-time. Now, I just eat a lot of lean meat -- not sweets and stuff like that -- which is not really bad because I didn't have a sweet tooth. I just ate a lot late at night.

"I feel lighter. I feel like I'm not as tired as fast. And I'm just out here playing."

Now that he's adjusted his body, Poe continues to adjust his play to the new system. He came to the Falcons as a two-time Pro Bowler with Kansas City, where he played in a two-gap scheme. He was listed at 346 pounds last season.

In Atlanta, coach Dan Quinn has asked Poe to play a more attacking style than he did with the Chiefs.

"I expected it to be kind of a slow adjustment, considering what I've known for the last few years and what I'm transitioning into," Poe said. "But it came faster than I thought, thanks to the coaches and how they kind of give me small stuff to get better at by the day. It's starting to come together.

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"Just the mentality of just getting off, just wreaking havoc instead of what I was used to doing, which was reading. Reading was natural. It was muscle memory. So now I'm transitioning into playing football, which is all the better for a D-lineman to just play instead of think."

It certainly helps Poe to have an ultra-competitive guy playing right next to him, nose tackle Grady Jarrett, a rising star who made his presence felt with a three-sack showing in the Super Bowl. Quinn has mentioned several times how great the chemistry has become between Poe and Grady. It's evident at the start of every practice as the two go through individual drills in unison. Poe said the the two "compete in everything" at practice.

"This is a dude who knows the defense, knows the mentality, who embodies it," Poe said of Jarrett. "He's a leader. He's a competitor. And he wants to get better every day. So it's great for me just having a dude like that right beside me."

Poe and Jarrett will be crucial elements to what could be a rather intimidating defensive front, with reigning NFL sack leader Vic Beasley and first-round draft pick Takk McKinley rushing off the edges. Players such as Adrian Clayborn, Jack Crawford, and Courtney Upshaw, among others, add depth.

Poe is expected to push the pocket with his brute strength, but slimming down and using his athleticism might lead to more opportunities for sacks on the interior -- or more sacks for Beasley and others based on the attention Poe could attract.

Poe's best single season for sacks was six in 2014.

"I don't set statistical (goals)," Poe said. "I set ones to challenge me as a player myself. I try not to get locked into a negative mindset. I try not to get locked into numbers because I feel like sometimes, numbers might be too big; sometimes they might not be enough. So you never want to get content.

"I just fight myself every day as far as being content, as far as being lazy, being whatever the fight is. I just try to keep pushing it every day. And if I keep doing that, turn it into the mindset that I want it to be, I'm just going to keep going for 16-plus games and I'm going to be where I want to be by the end of the year. This team will be where we want to be."