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Joel Embiid Lost 20 Pounds by Doing Nothing at All

In Tuesday’s Hot Clicks: Joel Embiid’s weight loss plan, a rugby player’s amazing mustache and much more.

It’s just that easy!

Joel Embiid at Sixers' practice facility

Like a walking clickbait article, Joel Embiid has discovered the one weird trick doctors don’t want you to know about losing weight: don’t do anything different.

Embiid, who has yet to play more than 64 games in the regular season, is hoping he’ll be able to spend more time on the court by playing at a lower weight.

“I just remember thinking I let my team down,” Embiid, who missed time in the playoffs with an illness and knee pain, told ESPN. “You can’t control sickness or when it's going to happen. Obviously my knee was bothering me the whole second half of the season and the playoffs. But all I was thinking was what can I do make sure I don’t let my teammates down again or my team. Or the whole city basically. That was to take better care of my body. To work on the stuff I never really paid attention to, and it’s been going well the whole summer.”

Embiid was listed at 7' 2", 260 pounds last year (compared to his draft combine stats of 7' 0", 240 pounds). In a promotional video for spicy chips published a few weeks ago, Embiid revealed that he had lost 25 pounds over the summer. He’s since added five pounds of muscle and at Sixers media day on Monday, he explained how he did it.

“I haven’t done anything differently,” Embiid told reporters. “I just try to eat the right way, cut out anything bad. I’ve just been extremely focused on what I have to do and I still have a long way to go. I’m not at my goal yet.”

See? It’s simple. If that doesn’t work, there’s always the strategy former NFL lineman Joe Thomas employed: “You just don’t eat until you feel like you’re gonna throw up at every meal and all of a sudden the weight falls right off.”

That’s a hell of a ’stache

Australia’s national rugby team is knee-deep in the World Cup right now but scrum-half Nic White still has time to kick back and watch Netflix. It’s even inspired his choice of facial hair. 

Australian rugby player Nic White's mustache

“I started growing it a little while ago,” White told reporters. “I’m into Peaky Blinders at the moment and Arthur Shelby has got a pretty good one.”

Arthur Shelby on Peaky Blinders

It’s a pretty eerie resemblance. 

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Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.