Adam Richman weight loss: 'I wanna look good when I take my shirt off at the beach'

Adam Richman has put his days of competitive eating behind him and you can tell.

Five years on from Man vs Food, the show that saw him attempt to eat the spiciest, largest, richest foods in America, the 39-year-old cuts an impressively svelte figure but he insists there’s no great secret to his weight loss.

'For me, Man vs Food finished nearly five years ago but people seem to think that my weight loss is linked to the show ending,' he explains to Yahoo.

'It actually began last March and it was Soccer Aid that motivated it - I wanted to be match fit.'

But despite shedding nearly four stone, football fan Adam hasn’t turned his back on his favourite foods completely.

'If I want to indulge I’ll indulge but then I’ve got to work hard. If I’m not getting a chance to work out then I have to eat super clean.

'I was in Hawaii recently and there are some foods there that I will not miss when I’m on holiday. Short ribs, pork chops, and garlic shrimp – I knew I was going to eat them.

'So that meant, wake up and go hiking or take a football down to the park and run drills. Because you know what, I want to look good when I take my shirt off at the beach.  

'I really think if you’re vigilant and intelligent about the way you treat your body, you literally can have your cake and eat it.'

Not only is Adam back with a trim new frame, the Brooklyn native has got a brand new show, Fandemonium, about the cultural phenomenon that is tailgating.

'The name comes from when people would pull up their pick-up trucks and let the back down – that’s called the tailgate.

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'You’d sit on there, have a beer, have some sandwiches - it was a tailgate party. It’s now become a verb – like barbecue – and now people bring grills, smokers, hibachis, deep fryers to the car park, show up hours before the game and cook up a local specialty.

It’s a full on celebration before the game to such an extent that people will turn up to sold out events just to tailgate outside and listen to the game on the radio.'

Alas anglophile Adam doesn’t see the trend making its way as far as Old Trafford or White Hart Lane thanks to the way we Brits treat our football.

'You can’t have it in the UK because the rivalries here take on such a tone of warfare that I think it would be dangerous to have the fans in such close proximity,' admits the life-long Tottenham Hotspur fan.

'In the US, you can have fans from opposing teams tailgating next to each other and you know there will be some smack talk but there won’t be any smacking. Whereas over here, it’s very different.'

Adam Richman's Fandemonium starts on Friday 7th March at 9pm on Food Network.