How Russell Wilson is losing weight by eating 4,800 calories a day

After a season in which Russell Wilson had a career-low 259 rushing yards and nagging injuries, something had to change. After searching for answers, he found it was his diet that needed work.

According to ESPN’s Sheil Kapadia, Wilson sought the help of Philip Goglia after recommendations from his wife Ciara, as well as his former trainer Gunnar Peterson. Goglia is the founder of Performance Fitness Concepts, a performance nutrition and rejuvenative health and wellness clinic.

Goglia increased Wilson’s daily caloric intake from 2,700 to 4,800, and cut out dairy and gluten. His days chowing down food look like this:

• Pre-breakfast: Tablespoon of almond butter and a tablespoon of jam
• Breakfast: Two cups of cooked oatmeal, six whole eggs, fruit, chicken breast
• Snack 1: Fruit and 12 almonds
• Lunch: Eight ounces of protein with a yam or a cup of rice or a potato and a vegetable
• Second lunch: Eight ounces of protein with a yam or a cup of rice or a potato and a vegetable
• Snack 2: Fruit and 12 almonds
• Snack 3: Fruit, 12 almonds and whey protein
• Dinner: Fish or steak and vegetables or salad
• Snack 4: Fruit and a tablespoon of molasses or shredded wheat, applesauce, almond butter, and jam

I know I’m not the only one who heard Kevin Malone from The Office when I read “second lunch.”

He still needs help with his memes though:

The diet has helped Wilson go from 225 pounds with 16 percent body fat to 214 pounds with 10 percent body fat.

“Still doing it religiously,” Wilson said with regards to keeping a strict diet. “Just trying to really focus on trying to eat really, really well and have great nutrition. I think it's critical. It allows you to wake up feeling good, feeling strong. It allows you to excel throughout the day and have tons of strength and energy.”

Wilson does get one cheat meal a week. “Date night,” Wilson said. “Ciara and I get to eat pretty good.”

This diet has not only helped Wilson slim down, but it’s also helped him become more mobile. The injuries Wilson dealt with last season prevented him from doing more conditioning, which caused him to put on weight.

“It was definitely tough,” Wilson told ESPN. “I normally run a lot in practice and after practice, the off days and everything like that. And I couldn't really do much because of my ankle and my knee.”

Now, Wilson’s able to put in that extra work, and it’s led to the results he’d been hoping to see. It also sounds like it was an important step.

“He really has a Ferrari-like structure metabolically," Goglia said. He added that Wilson has a metabolism that is so efficient, it will “bite him in the ass” if he’s not careful.