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Nick Hardwick consumed an insane amount of food to play center in NFL (Shutdown Corner)

When San Diego Chargers center Nick Hardwick appeared at his retirement press conference, it was shocking. He looked like he was half the size he was for his last NFL game.

Not quite. But he lost 85 pounds in less than five months. That, of course, prompted speculation on how someone could quit the NFL and look like a new person in less than a half of a year.

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Hardwick talked about the weight loss in a great story by Emily Kaplan of The MMQB, but the story has to begin with the weight gain.