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One year after his retirement, Joe Thomas is completely unrecognizable

It’s probably safe to say that Joe Thomas was carrying a little more weight than he needed to while serving as the Cleveland Browns’ left tackle.

Three days removed from the first anniversary of his retirement, Thomas’ podcast co-host Andrew Hawkins shared a photo showing that the 34-year-old now looks skinnier than the average tight end.

You can insert your own Cleveland Browns before and after jokes here.

CLEVELAND, OH - NOVEMBER 27: Cleveland Browns Offensive Tackle Joe Thomas (73) on the field during the third quarter of the National Football League game between the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns on November 27, 2016, at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, OH. New York defeated Cleveland 27-13. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Joe Thomas does not look like this anymore. (Getty Images)

Losing that amount of weight was apparently something that Thomas had looked forward to for a long time. Back in July, when Thomas had already cut 50 pounds from his 300-plus playing weight, he told NFL Network he was “more eager to lose weight than almost anything in retirement.”

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That makes sense. You need to be around 300 pounds to survive as an NFL offensive lineman, but maintaining that weight while still staying in shape has to be exhausting and probably harmful to your health in the long run.

However, cutting such a large amount of weight in such a short time span must also be exhausting, even it’s a more healthy way to live. Thomas revealed on Twitter that an embrace of swimming, yoga and a ketogenic diet, as well as a banishment of breakfast, were the keys to his weight loss.

Of course, Thomas’ transformation had at least one detractor in Browns defensive end Myles Garrett.

Fair enough, but we’ll see what Garrett looks like once he hangs up his cleats.

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