NBA player who went vegan quits after diet has unintended consequences
Portland Trail Blazer Damian Lillard is one of many athletes who have adopted a vegan diet.
Lillard said he chose the diet in order to lose weight and alleviate some of the pressure on his feet and ankles after he missed a handful of games due to injuries over the past two seasons.
His objective was certainly achieved as Lillard lost weight, but after five months on the diet he called it quits.
“I did it, but I started to lose a little bit too much weight with all the games and practices and all that,” Lillard said this week on ESPN’s “The Hoop Collective” podcast. “I had to balance it out, so now I’ve been mixing it up a little bit more, having vegan meals, still mixing it up with other stuff.”
He’s added beef and chicken back into his diet in order to keep his weight up.
Lillard said he reached his goal of getting back to his rookie playing weight of 190 pounds, but stopped the diet about a month ago because he ended up losing 17 pounds, which was more than he wanted to lose.
“About a month ago” also happens to coincide with Christmas and the holidays, so that could have played a factor in Lillard ditching the all-vegan diet.
He also may have just missed some of his favorite foods. About a month into his diet, Willamette Week in Portland reported he pined for Wendy’s and was eating the vegan alternative of the Sloppy Joe.
Lillard hasn’t completely kicked the vegan diet to the curb as he says he still eats vegan meals regularly. Teammate C.J. McCollum estimates that Lillard’s diet is now 80/20 vegan.
“I had to balance it out, so now I’ve been mixing it up a little bit more, having vegan meals, still mixing it up with other stuff,” Lillard said.
The change in diet and subsequent weight loss haven’t seemed to affect Lillard’s on-court production. He’s averaging 25 points per game for the third straight season, and the weight loss appears to have benefited him on the defensive end, as he’s averaging career highs in steals and blocks.
Lillard is in line to make his third All-Star team after missing the game each of the past two seasons. That was a source of frustration for Lillard, who said he felt like the “fall guy” when others have made it over him.
A number of athletes in many different sports have adopted a vegan lifestyle either temporarily or permanently. The Celtics’ Kyrie Irving is the most notable in the NBA.
“Been on more of a plant-based diet, getting away from the animals and all that,” Irving told reporters in November. “I had to get away from that. So my energy is up; my body feels amazing.”
Of course, most NBA players and other athletes shun the vegan lifestyle, favoring lean meats in their diet.
LeBron James’ preferred pregame meal is “chicken breast and maybe a little pasta,” he told Business Insider.
And the great Michael Jordan reportedly ate the same thing before every game: a 23-ounce steak and a baked potato.
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