The Real-Life Diet of Adam Schefter, Who’s Eaten the Same Breakfast Every Day for Five Years

Adam Schefter joins our Zoom call from the back of a car and immediately tells me, “You’re going to be shocked at my simplicity, plainness and routine.” The 58-year-old NFL insider is leaving an ESPN studio and heading home, but that doesn’t mean work is over. Schefter is essentially always on the clock, ready and waiting for the next bit of football news that will break the internet. Perhaps that’s why—at least when it comes to diet, fitness, and wellness habits—he keeps things extremely simple. There’s enough chaos in the other aspects of his life.

But between late-night phone calls with NFL general managers and constant appearances on ESPN talking-head shows, Schefter also has a life. He’s got a wife, kids, dogs, and an attic full of workout equipment he’s trying to keep from collecting too much dust. There’s only so many hours in the day, after all. One thing that he is passionate about, having seen his wife manage her Type 1 diabetes, is encouraging people to get screened for the disease. He partnered with Sanofi to raise awareness about the importance of type 1 diabetes screening, because for a guy who’s made his bones in the news business, being informed is always key.

“Information is sort of my currency, professionally,” Schefter says, noting that screenfortype1.com provides valuable resources. “I want everyone to know that early knowledge is critical when it comes to your health. Type 1 diabetes can’t be prevented, but it can be detected early. Talk to your doctor about T1D and tell them you want to be screened. I want everybody to go get screened.”

Days before leaving for Super Bowl week in New Orleans—another whirlwind stretch in the Schefter calendar—the intrepid reporter spoke to GQ about his breakfast of choice, his difficulties with staying off his phone, and the mighty green liquid that keeps him going.

GQ: You have a job that requires you to always be on the hunt for breaking news. What time do you normally wake up?

Schefter: I like to tell people I sleep in spurts. What time do I get out of bed in the morning? 6:30, 6:45. Sometimes a little earlier. Today I’m in New York City to do Get Up. I got out of bed this morning at 4:45. It just depends on the day. 4:45 on a Sunday morning in-season. The truth of the matter is on a Saturday night into Sunday, I don’t sleep very much anyway, because I’m getting injury updates. I’m on the phone, calls are coming in, news is happening. Sleep is—unfortunately there’s not a great routine there. Offseason? We could sleep a little bit more, hopefully.

Have you ever tracked your sleep? Do you know your average during the season compared to the offseason?

I think there are just certain periods where you just don’t sleep as much. Like, at the end of the season when coaches are being fired and hired and there are playoff games and pregame shows on Saturday and Sunday and Monday, you’re not sleeping as much. When you go to the combine in Indianapolis, which is really the unofficial start of the NFL offseason into free agency, you’re not sleeping as much. But let’s be honest. I’m not any different than anybody else. I think everybody in the working world has irregular sleeping hours.

Have you always been like this? As a 21-year-old, let’s say, were you fine on four hours of sleep?

I would say I’ve always kind of been up and at ’em, literally. I never slept great. My mind is always going in the middle of the night. I’ve written books before, and when I was in the midst of writing some of those, I’d wake up at 2:30, 3:00 in the morning with an idea about how to form a chapter and I’d start writing down notes. It’s very weird how I’ll be laying in bed and I’ll wake up at 3:30 like, “Oh, I got to call those three people.” It’s weird the way my mind works when I’m sleeping. That has happened throughout my entire life.

Are you a breakfast on-the-go type? Do you skip breakfast completely? How do you find time to sustain yourself?

Okay, so since the start of the pandemic, I’ve had the very same breakfast every single day that I’ve been at home. Now, there are times when I’m on the road, I can’t. But if I’m home—I don’t know, 325 days a year—there have been 325 times I’ve had this breakfast. Low-fat or no-fat, vanilla yogurt with blueberries and a little bit of granola every single day. In fact, I’m on my way home from doing Get Up, and the first thing I’ll do when I get in the door is sit down with my yogurt, blueberries, and granola. My wife looks at me and she’s like, “Don’t you ever get sick of that?” I’m like, no, because it’s different ratios of yogurt, blueberries, and granola. It’s always a challenge to get the exact right proportions. But that has been my breakfast basically five years running.

Now, lunch and dinner, we wind up having the same few dinners over and over. Sushi one night, Italian food one night. I like when my wife makes chicken meatballs. We have that, broccoli, salad, and a little bit of pasta.