Wesley Hitt/Getty Images While plenty of former athletes look forward to an increase in free time after their playing days are over, former Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas had something else atop his post-NFL priority list. Losing weight. Thomas, who was listed at 6'6" and 312 pounds, said on NFL Network's Inside Training Camp Live that he has dropped 50 pounds since calling it a career in March: "I was more eager to lose weight than almost anything in retirement." "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." For someone who never missed a snap during the first decade of his career, maintaining his playing weight was key for Thomas. However, now that he no longer has to battle down in the trenches, the future Hall of Famer has decided to slim down.<doc-sep>At his playing weight, now-retired Browns tackle Joe Thomas topped the scales at over 300 pounds. It’s not that he was unhealthy – it’s a job that requires fueling and fueling and fueling to be big enough to do it. So when he hung up his cleats, Thomas was most looking forward to one thing, he said on the NFL Network this week: Losing those pounds. “I was more eager to lose weight than almost anything in retirement,” he said. He did it in a pretty simple way – at least as he explained it. From NFL.com: “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 explained with a chuckle. This is how Thomas used to eat: 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 And now?<doc-sep>It has been just a few months since Cleveland Browns perennial All-Pro Joe Thomas announced his retirement. Turns out, retirement suits him. Or at least, it suits his scale. Thomas has shed significant weight since retiring Appearing on NFL Network on Monday, Thomas looked quite different, his face noticeably slimmer. He said he’s lost 50 pounds since officially retiring. “I was more eager to lose weight than almost anything,” Thomas said. Joe Thomas stopped having to eat like an offensive lineman, and he doesn’t look like an offensive lineman anymore. (AP) The 33-year-old, who played most of his career around 310 pounds, played every game and every snap of his career until last Oct. 22 against Tennessee when he tore his triceps while engaged with Brian Orakpo. ‘The weight falls right off’ Thomas doesn’t have a magic diet plan that helped him shed the pounds. Turns out, if you just stop eating as much as you need to maintain that kind of weight as an NFL left tackle – roughly 5,000 calories a day, or over twice what a non-elite-lineman should eat in a day – you get to buy smaller pants. “You just don’t eat until you feel like you’re going to throw up at every meal and all of a sudden the weight falls right off,” Thomas said. Given his weight loss, it’s a safe bet that if you were hoping your team would be able to convince Thomas to play one or two more seasons – say, for a team that actually had a chance to get to the playoffs – that’s not going to happen. Thomas joins other linemen who got skinny post-NFL Thomas is just the latest offensive lineman to get skinny, relatively speaking, quickly after his playing days ended. Pro Bowl center Matt Birk lost 75 pounds after his retirement several years ago, and more recently, former Chargers center Nick Hardwick lost 85 pounds and Panthers’ left tackle Jordan Gross shed 70 pounds. More from Yahoo Sports NFL: • Cowboys’ Tyrone Crawford to Madden: What’s up with the ‘Humpty Dumpty’ body? • No dough, no Julio: Jones reportedly won’t report to Falcons’ camp • 2018 NFL previews: Is it now or never for the Steelers?<doc-sep>
Joe Thomas retired in March following an 11-year career with the Browns that almost certainly will earn him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Thomas was one of the league's most dominant left tackles who played at about 310 pounds. That isn't unusual. That he's lost 50 pounds since the start of last season is, however. "I was more eager to lose weight than almost anything in retirement," Thomas said Monday during an appearance on NFL Network. Turns out, there's no great secret to the weight loss. Most humans aren't meant to weigh 300 pounds, even though who stand 6 feet 6 inches. But such is the life of an NFL offensive lineman. So how did Thomas shed the pounds so quickly? "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," he said. This isn't an uncommon story; former Steelers offensive lineman Alan Faneca dropped 100 pounds 2.5 years after he retired, and ran his first marathon in an impressive time of 3:56:17. Thomas, meanwhile, said he retired in part because "Playing in the NFL has taken a toll on my body and I can no longer physically compete at the level I need to." The third overall pick in the 2007 draft, he played every offensive snap of every Browns game for the next 10 and a half seasons. Thomas didn't miss his first snap until October 2017, when a torn triceps ended his season after seven games. All told, he was on the field for 10,363 consecutive plays dating back to his rookie campaign. The Browns plan to honor Thomas this season; the team will induct the number 10,363 into their Ring of Honor.