Marshal Yanda announced his retirement from the NFL in March after 13 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, eight Pro Bowl appearances and a Super Bowl championship.
In the first two months of retirement, Yanda revealed to ESPN on Sunday how he was able to lose 60 pounds. Yanda was listed at 312 pounds during his career and now weighs 245 pounds.
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Yanda, 35, told the outlet he was able to lose the weight thanks to his frustration from losing in the playoffs to the Tennessee Titans, a new exercise routine and some tuna.
“There are two words: It’s the ‘want to,’” Yanda said. “If you want to do it, you’ll do it. It’s how bad you want to. People want to talk about it, but at the end of the day, do you really want to? That’s important.”
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Yanda said he also developed a meal plan with the University of Iowa strength coach and his mentor, Chris Doyle. He went from eating 6,000 calories a day as an active NFL player to 2,200 calories as a former offensive lineman.
Former offensive lineman Matt Birk also lost significant weight in retirement. Yanda told ESPN he felt inspired by Birk, who was his teammate from 2009 to 2012. Birk lost 75 pounds in 2013 when he announced his retirement from the NFL.
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“When you retire, all of a sudden you have nothing to do and you have this competitiveness,” Birk said. “You like to have goals and focus on things. It’s like, well, football took up so much of that before and I don’t have that anymore. I might as well put some of that energy into dropping a few pounds.”
