Footy great Dale Thomas has revealed the radical step he took to control his weight after becoming the ‘butt of jokes’ when he piled on after coming out of the game
- Retired during the Covid pandemic
- Stacked on the kilos
- Found a dramatic way to make them disappear
Former AFL excitement machine Dale Thomas has admitted he ‘eats his feelings’ during the Covid pandemic and had to seek radical treatment to curb rapid weight gain in his post-retirement life.
The 35-year-old retired in 2019 after 258 AFL games with Carlton and Collingwood – which coincided at the height of the Covid pandemic and associated lockouts.
The sudden stop of professional training and the enforced stupor of the Covid lockdowns meant that Thomas piled on 13kg – and his mates let him know all about it.
‘Yes, I’m happy to be full of a few jokes but it will get you in the end,’ he told Channel Seven.
‘It doesn’t matter how hard I work, it just doesn’t fall off.’
Thomas celebrates his partner Natasha Bongiorno’s birthday with a feed from McDonald’s. He struggled with weight gain during the pandemic
The combination of retiring from the AFL and heading into the Covid lockdowns means the former Collingwood and Carlton star is loaded with weight
Thomas revealed he ‘absolutely hated’ footy in the years leading up to his retirement when he appeared on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2020.
The former Magpies and Blues star consulted medical specialists who recommended a ‘metabolic reset’ which involved a once-a-day injection as part of a tailored weight loss programme.
Since taking the dramatic step, Thomas has lost 10kg and is back to his original weight.
‘Genetics play a big part in weight loss which is something I didn’t understand. Playing a professional sport for a long time, you just expect that if you gain weight, you’ll train more and lose it,’ he said.
Thomas was a fit and lean specimen during his AFL playing days for Carlton and Collingwood
‘No surprise if you put on the best part of 12-13 kilos that need to change and many of us through Covid it’s a case of eating your feelings – I certainly do that.
‘The only time I experienced weight gain was after playing professional sport. Training so often throughout the week and throughout the year this has not been an issue.
‘From what you consider to be out of shape or not at peak performance [when being a professional athlete] and what it actually looks like now after the race, is completely different.’
Thomas showed off his pain before he took part in a fitness challenge and metabolic reset to shed the kilos
Thomas also took part in a grueling 45-day fitness challenge he dubbed ISO 2.0 that helped him reach his goal.
‘It gave me a new lease on life. [I’ve] was able to lose a few kilos and [get] back to really enjoying some things I didn’t do when I was at my heaviest – running, being active and enjoying myself,’ she said.
‘I suppose I was bigger than I am now. I still have probably four to five kilos to get back into my playing weight.’
