Tom Brady Says Stories About His Diet, Fitness Regimen Are ‘Blown out of Proportion’

Tom Brady was a starting NFL quarterback for 22 seasons before retiring at the age of 45. Naturally, there was a lot of talk about his workouts andd fitness and training and diet, especially in the final years of his career. There were stories about him drinking 25 glasses of water a day, eating avocado ice cream and employing the TB12 diet to stay atop his game.

Ultimately, Brady did have to do a lot of maintenance to keep himself going, although he told the members of the Pivot podcast that things did get “blown out of proportion” at times (21:40 mark).

“I think so much of that got blown out of proportion, because like with everything they want to make it to the extreme, and I would say, when I started in 2000, I was like everyone else, going 2001, 2002, 2003. Well then I was like, well my elbow was killing me. How do I start getting my elbow to feel better? OK, I got to get more muscle work on it. OK, great. Now, why do I not feel good after I traveled and I drank alcohol? Well, I got super dehydrated. OK, how do I improve that. All right. How do I get to be more fit? OK, I got to change my diet a little bit. So it wasn’t like it all happened like I was some robot. Like this was 23 years that I had to refine all these things…”

Brady’s answer was in response to a question from ex-linebacker Channing Crowder regarding the extreme stories that have come out in recent years, and he specifically mentioned hearing that the quarterback “hadn’t eaten a strawberry in 22 years.”

Brady did tell Dayne Evans of The Cut in 2016 that he hadn’t eaten a strawberry in his entire life.

The then 39-year-old also had this to say about cheeseburgers: “I don’t believe you could be a 39-year-old quarterback in the NFL and eat cheeseburgers every day. I want to be able to do what I love to do for a long time.”

He did do what he loved for seven more NFL seasons, winning three Super Bowls after that interview for seven overall. So although his diet and fitness regime may not have been as maniacal as what it appeared, whatever he did clearly worked en route to being currently considered the sport’s GOAT at this time.