The Defensive Tackles Diet: 

It’s one of the sad facts about getting older: You just can’t eat the way you used to.

 

White collar guys often are less active the further they progress in their careers, and all of us use calories less efficiently as we age.

 

But imagine having to cut your calories by more than 60 percent just to keep from putting on pounds. That’s exactly what Dan Sizelove—a 23-year old former NCAA defensive tackle and a Belly Off! member—had to do.

 

“I was consuming 5,000 calories a day – and that was what they suggested,” Sizelove says of his coaches at Monmouth University in New Jersey. “I wasn’t eating what they suggested I eat, to make up that 5,000 calories, but I took that as free reign.”

 

Dan didn’t want to be another former football player with bad knees, back pain, and more padding than he’d worn when in uniform. So out went the burgers, pizza, meatball sandwiches, and late-night binges that had fueled him on-field. He replaced that with an eat-all-day plan of lean protein and a lot more vegetables, paring his caloric intake to the 1900-calorie range. The 290 pounds he used to muscle past I-AA offensive lineman are now a trim 210.

 

This isn’t the first time Sizelove has lost considerable weight, but it’s the first time he’s done it right: As a high-schooler, he crash-dieted to change wrestling weight classes, dropping from 215 pounds to 183.

 

“I went about it the wrong way—I was walking around school almost passing out,” he says.

 

This time, he’s not hungry, and he’s enjoying flavors he never would have before starting his program last May.

 

“My girlfriend is really into vegetables—and cooking—and when she used to do it, she’d have to put in more and more meat,” he says. “But now, I’m getting into more veggies. I’ve been getting into the squash recently, just slicing that up and putting it in a pan with a little olive oil.”

 

Dan’s also changed the way he lifts: Though many of the exercises are the same, throwing up massive weights for a few reps aren’t in line with his total body fitness goals.

 

“Sure, I’d love to be power-cleaning 350, squatting 500, bench pressing 400-450 pounds,” Sizelove says, quoting some of his playing time lifting numbers. “But I’m not looking at things purely from a strength perspective now.”

 

Here, the former run stuffer shares a trio of tips for pushing the pounds that have bugging you out of your middle.

 

Pick Up the Pace: When Sizelove was in the weight room with his Monmouth teammates, they had an hour to complete their workout. And while his exercise routine has changed, that pace and structure hasn’t. “If I’m in the gym any longer than an hour or an hour-twenty, I feel like I’m not working,” he says. “The rest was how long it took the other guy to finish his set, and that was it.”

 

Don’t Stop Learning in the Gym: The former Hawk does many of the same lifts he did as a DT, but realizes that changing just his intensity isn’t appropriate to his new life. With a cue from our own Mark Schlereth, Sizelove has begun to try new exercises to help shock his body into better shape. “You’re trained, and you know these lifts from years of playing,” he says. “But you still try to push yourself out of the box, and out of your comfort zone.” Stability exercises, an emphasis on stretching, and increased cardio have helped fuel his losses: “Our cardio used to be that we ran 100s on Mondays. That—and running to and from the field—was it.”

 

Chew Your Food: Sizelove says your mother was right—since making a conscious decision to slow down, he’s eaten considerably less. “A few weeks ago, I was at a habachi with my family, and they put this plate in front of me that I usually would have ripped through,” he says. But the DT divided the dish in half with his girlfriend—and then in half again. While others at the table ate the whole plate, he had leftovers the next day—and no heartburn. “You realize that what they’re giving you is four or five servings, and you wonder how you used to eat it.”

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