Bryant McKinnie bought and used the juicer Ray Lewis suggested. He* *worked out multiple times a day, and that's not including playing tennis. He felt he ate healthy.
While the massive left tackle has lost a lot of weight, he hasn't dropped as much as he expected.
McKinnie stepped on the field for his first training camp practice Friday after passing his conditioning test, but his battle with weight is still on his mind.
"It's real frustrating because I'm putting in the work," he said after Friday's practice.
"The misconception is people think I'm not working hard enough. No, actually I am. We realized I was doing all this work and just staying the same."
McKinnie didn't give his current weight, but said he's 20 pounds lighter than at this point last year. He said the target weight the Ravens wanted him to hit was 348 pounds, not 345 at previously reported.
McKinnie said he was near that weight before injuring his back on the eve of training camp. That forced him to get off his feet for five days, and the pounds crept back in.
Asked how much he put on in five days, McKinnie said, "I can gain 12 to 14 pounds so fast and lose it so fast. Who can do that? That's not normal."
McKinnie said his troubles maintaining his weight began three years ago. He tried to manage it last season by playing tennis for an hour and a half* *after Wednesday and Thursday football practices.
"I was still staying the same and I would have to do all that other stuff," McKinnie said. "I was like, 'OK everybody is resting and I'm up for another hour and a half playing tennis in a sweatshirt and sweatpants.'"
McKinnie said he told Head Coach John Harbaugh about his difficulties dropping weight during their meeting when he first reported to camp Sunday.
Despite the weight fluctuation, McKinnie still expects to be good to go. He said he'll participate in two practices to get acclimated before jumping into 11-on-11 drills. He only did individual work Friday afternoon.
McKinnie anticipates stepping back into his starting left tackle position, where he started all 16 games last season.
"I should be back there," he said. "[Michael Oher is] more comfortable, I believe, at right. So when I get back into the swing of things and acclimated I'll be good."
Compared to last year, McKinnie feels "a lot better" overall. While his weight issues are something he'd like to figure out, he doesn't think they will prevent him from playing this season at a high level.
He expects he'll be better in pass blocking this year and feels he can return to the Pro Bowl level he was at in 2009 with the Minnesota Vikings.
"I can move my feet a lot better," McKinnie said. "In run blocking, all you do is lean forward. When you're heavy, you can dominate in the run game. But in pass blocking, you get out of breath. You're doing a lot more moving."
