Kobe Bryant tweets he lost five pounds within a day

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For someone who described himself two days ago as a “fat ass,” it appears Kobe Bryant has already ditched away the donuts and sugar cookies he craved as he stayed sidelined for the past six months with a surgically repaired left Achilles tendon.

Before leaving for a week-long trip to China for a pair of exhibition games and NBA promotional events, Bryant provided the news Friday in a form of 140 characters.



The Lakers’ training staff have instructed their players to eat grass-fed meats and vegetables while avoiding sugar, carbohydrates and processed food.

Apparently, the man who constructed his image as an unyielding perfectionist didn’t listen.

“Six months of eating whatever the hell I wanted to eat and not running and stuff like that caught up to me a little bit,” Bryant said on Wednesday. “I can do it in about three weeks of rigorous conditioning. I have the green light now to do that.”

The Lakers leave on a 13-hour flight to China before playing in a pair of exhibition games against the Golden State Warriors in Beijing (Oct. 15) and Shanghai (Oct. 18). Bryant will also keep plenty busy in China, a country that beloves him after visiting the country frequently through his Nike promotional touts and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But it’s unclear how much physical activity Bryant will do.

Bryant said he needs to condition for three weeks so he can fully restore his stamina, explosiveness and flexibility before returning to play. He said he he will begin those exercises once he can run and jump without feeling like he has what he called “Bambi legs.”

But trimming down his excess weight sure appears like the next step Bryant has taken to bring himself closer toward returning.

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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter. E-mail him at mark.medina@dailynews.com