FOXBOROUGH - Vince Wilfork had a gut feeling.
The portly Patriots nose tackle isn't a voracious reader, but during a trip to
"Six-pack? I have a keg, that's how I'll put it," said the 6-foot-2-inch, 325-pound Wilfork. "I have a keg and I'm proud of it."
Why not? Nose tackles are supposed to be rotund, acting as corpulent clogs at the line of scrimmage.
But, aided by the book, Wilfork has learned that sometimes less is more. The svelter lineman earned his first Pro Bowl berth Tuesday in his fourth pro season, selected as a starter for the AFC squad. He said he owes the honor to the diligent work of his weight-watching wife, Bianca.
"My wife, she deserves a lot of credit for this," said Wilfork, who also thanked his teammates, the organization, the fans, and even the media. "The only thing I do is go out on Sundays and play, but from a health standpoint, she really kicked it into gear with me this year. I could sit here and take all the credit, but I'm not going to do that."
Wilfork said his wife insisted he spend the offseason reducing his waistline. Inspired by the book, which she commandeered before he could read it, Bianca was conducting weigh-ins and demanding three workouts a day, starting at 5 a.m.
"[We] got down to Florida and she still was stuck on trying it, so I was like, 'OK, we'll give it a go,' " recalled Wilfork. "And within a week I was like, 'Man, this book is pretty good.' I started feeling the effect; I started looking different.
"She went from taking measurements to weighing me in. I was like, 'Man, I thought I got weighed in every Thursday during the season. This is the offseason.' But she really buckled down, and she was like, 'We're going to do it the right way.' And I was like, 'OK,' once I saw she wasn't playing."
Wilfork said his new diet calls for him to eat six times a day, but eat foods that help boost his metabolism.
Bianca didn't just want Wilfork, 26, to be a better football player. She wanted him to be around for their two children, D'Aundre and Destiny.
Wilfork's parents both died before the age of 50. His father, David, had diabetes and died at 48 in 2002. His mother, Barbara, died six months later from complications of a stroke. She was 46. Wilfork and his wife host an annual NFL draft party to raise funds for the Diabetes Research Institute.
"She looked at my health, my family, the past history of my family and everything, and she said, 'This offseason we are going to really cut down, and really work on your midsection.' And I was like, 'Midsection? I'm always going to have a stomach,' " said Wilfork.