Jason Kelce is eyeing a transformation following his NFL retirement.
During Wednesday’s installment of the “New Heights” podcast he co-hosts with his younger brother, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, the newly retired Eagles center revealed he’s looking to lose weight as he embraces a new chapter off the field.
“I’m going to slim down. My goal is 250 [pounds],” Kelce, 36, said. “This last week I got down to 285 [pounds], cause I knew I was doing this, and then I had cake like three days in a row.”
Kelce, who called it a career Monday after 13 seasons, then added he doesn’t “subscribe to doing extreme diets.”
“There’s different ways to do this. I don’t personally subscribe to doing extreme diets like going all the way vegan or all the way carnivore or Keto… F–k no, I’m not doing that,” he said.
Instead, the seven-time Pro Bowler downloaded the health app, MyFitnessPal, to track calories.
“I feel like as long as I maintain my protein intake, so I keep my muscle, and just limit the calories, you’ll start to lose weight. So that’s the plan,” Kelce said.
The Kelce brothers’ conversation initially turned to weight loss after a fan pressed the All-Pro center about his post-retirement plans during the “No Dumb Questions” segment of the podcast.
The fan said they were “blown away” after seeing former NFL guard Alan Faneca after he hung up his cleats in 2011.
“Dude, I don’t know how Alan’s doing it,” Kelce said of Fanaca, who ran a marathon. “I’m not running on pavement. I tried that already with the 5K, not gonna make a living doing that. My knees are already messed up enough.”
Elsewhere on Wednesday’s episode, Kelce said the wear and tear on his body contributed to his retirement decision.
“The reality was, it was more firm than it’s ever been this year that I don’t think physically I can compete at the level that I want to anymore and really compete the way I want to. My elbow and my knees. It’s just gotten to the point where the deterioration and the recovery and that deterioration really hasn’t manifested on gameday yet,” the future Hall of Famer said.
“But I know it’s going to start doing that and I’d really rather not — I’m hard on myself and if I got out there and I’m not the player I want to be, it’ll crush me. I feel very confident in the decision I made. I know it’s time. I’ve had a really good run but that’s the biggest reason why.”
A sixth-round pick out of Cincinnati in 2011, Kelce spent all 13 years of his NFL career with the Eagles and was part of the team’s Super Bowl-winning roster in February 2018.
