UrbanUpdate

After a standout career at Toledo during which he rushed for nearly 5,000 yards and lost exactly zero fumbles, Kansas City Chiefs rookie Kareem Hunt coughed up the ball on the very first NFL carry against the New England Patriots last September. It was a tough start, but it also ended up being a bemusing footnote to one of the best debut seasons for a running back in recent memory: Hunt finished the game with nearly 250 total yards and three touchdowns, and the 2017 season with almost 1800 total yards and 11 trips to the end zone. Numbers like these have already made the Pro Bowler one of the the league's most coveted fantasy football assets—and, of course, one of its most valuable in-real-life players, too.

At only 23, Hunt has crammed a lot of learning about diet and training into a relatively short period of time, and today, he's gone from devouring the biggest burritos you can imagine to subsisting on salmon- and veggie-heavy meals doled out in carefully-measured portions. We caught up with him recently to learn about how he's managed his weight from high school to the NFL; the right way to order at Chipotle; and the Scandinavian-themed candy he misses dearly.

GQ: How has your diet changed in the last few years?

Kareem Hunt: I used to struggle with eating too much. Like, I would get so full that I would have to take a nap or something like that. Especially when I would want to gain wait, I would just keep eating and eating.

Today, I basically.... don’t eat as much. Breakfast is oatmeal, or something else that's light, and I eat protein shakes for snacks. I have a lot of light meals—salmon and other fish, and broccoli and other vegetables. But I try not to stuff myself anymore.

At what point did you stop worrying about gaining weight?

I was trying to gain weight all through high school, so maybe my freshman or sophomore year of college. And it’s the way you gain it that's important—you can’t just eat bad food like burgers and fries and stuff like that. But I would eat anything, and I would keep eating even if I was full. My favorite thing used to be Burger King and Chipotle. I used to get the biggest burrito possible—double-wrapped, triple meat.

That sounds like eating a brick.

Yeah, I hit the weight I was going for, and I got hurt during my junior year. But I kept eating and got to, like, 235 or 236 pounds, and that was way more than I wanted to be. I felt sluggish and slow, and I noticed that my best weight was around 215. I learned that I had to maintain that, because I can put on or lose weight quickly by not eating right.

What was the biggest change for you when you made that decision?

I had to really discipline myself with the Swedish Fish. That's my favorite candy. I’m talking about every time I would go to a gas station or store, I’d have to buy a big pack, just so I could snack on them. I had to figure out that it’s not a healthy snack, and that I needed to stay away from them.

Watch:Want to Know How an NFL Athlete Really Stays in Shape?

Do you count calories? How do you handle knowing how much to eat if you aren't going by how full you feel?

If I feel like I’m not full after eating, I’ll have a snack if I still feel hungry. Like pretzels. But otherwise, I had a nutritionist who showed me the right portions and sizes, and I tried to learn more about that, and about not overeating. It leaned me out a lot. I dropped from 220 pounds to about 208, and it felt good to be that lean.

Now, I just try to stick to it and know that it's going to pay off. When I'm done playing football, I can eat as much as I want. For now, though, when I go to Chipotle, I just get a bowl, not a burrito. No sour cream. Not even cheese, really. Just lettuce.

What do you normally do for breakfast?

I’ve been eating oatmeal for a long, long time. That was my favorite when I was growing up—that and Cream of Wheat. When I was a kid, my mom would make it for me all the time, even as a snack.

No brown sugar or anything? When I was a kid I always went for sugary breakfast cereals, so oatmeal was never sweet enough for me.

Well, yeah. Apple cinnamon.

And after breakfast?

I go get a lift in, do some change-of-direction stuff, and then go work out. Then I chill for three or four hours and then move on to some field work, like running and catching the ball—just getting a good sweat and doing drills on the field. That's around 3:00 P.M., and I'm done with everything by 9:00 P.M.

I have a protein bar after my workout. For lunch, they usually make me salmon, or a cheese sandwich with lunch meat or grilled chicken. Dinner is usually a filet, since that's not too bad for you, plus vegetables like broccoli. Or seafood! I’m really big into seafood, like shrimp and lobster. I try not to use too much butter, though.

Have you got cheat days programmed in? That sounds like a pretty plain diet.

My cheat day is when I’m in Kansas City and go have barbecue. There’s this place called Q39—I used to get the spare ribs a bunch, with vegetables and baked beans. When I go there now, they have this great grilled smoked salmon with barbecue sauce on it. Salmon is one of my favorite things, so I usually get that. If I’m in the mood for ribs, though, I still go for those honey glazed ones.

Tell the truth: When is the last time you had a Swedish Fish?

Probably seven or eight months. I think I got a pack after our last game of the season. Someone gave it to me because they know I’m so into them. I don’t go buy it.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Luke Darby is a contributor to GQ, covering news, entertainment, and the environment. A Louisiana native, he now resides in Cleveland, and his writing has also appeared in Outside, the Dallas Observer, and Marie Claire.Related Stories for GQReal Life DietNFL