After enjoying too much of his mum’s fine home cooking, Ross County attacker Liam Boyce had to shed two stone to weigh-in with goals for the Staggies.
The Northern Ireland international is now shaping up as a lean, mean scoring machine after netting a hat-trick against St Mirren in County’s most recent Premiership game.
But it was not that way last year after Boyce’s dream move to Werder Bremen did not work out and he returned to his native Belfast to rejoin Cliftonville.
Boyce was still scoring on his return to part-time football but home comforts took a toll.
It has taken hard months of sweat and toil under Staggies management duo Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds for Boyce to shed the pounds but, with four goals in his last two matches, his potential is beginning to be realised. He has also worked with County’s sports scientist Ross Hughes to transform his physique.
The 24-year-old recalled: “When I arrived here I weighed 99.7kg.
“I thought I knew what I had to do to get fit but, looking back, it’s way more than I thought I would have to do.”
Boyce’s dietary needs and carbohydrate intake are now carefully monitored.
He added: “When I was living at home I just ate what my mum made me. I didn’t really think what was good or bad for me.
“Obviously my mum didn’t know what was good or bad for a footballer. And when I’m not training I’m not burning it off.
“Ross told me what I should be eating on certain days. Depending on how hard the next training session was I would eat only so many carbs. I knew I could score at this level but I think I needed a season to get my level of performance up to where it had to be.”
Boyce headed the winner against St Johnstone before netting the fine treble against St Mirren, taking his County tally to eight for the season.
The attacker, now settled in the Dingwall area with his girlfriend, will be hoping to add to his tally when Partick Thistle visit Victoria Park today.