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Johannesburg - West Ham striker Benni McCarthy is battling to lose weight in time for the new Premier League season.
The South African has struggled for fitness since making a £2.5m move from Blackburn in January and in May his body fat was measured at 24.2 percent.
A healthy male athlete should measure between five and 12 percent on the Body Mass Index, with between 20 and 25 considered desirable for most middle-aged men.
After missing out on South Africa's World Cup squad, the 32-year-old returned early for pre-season training and has trimmed down to 16 percent.
However, West Ham chairperson David Sullivan has warned that McCarthy could be fined a week's wages - £38 000 - if he fails to lose another kilo in the next week.
McCarthy was out with a knee injury towards the end of last season although he admits a poor diet has contributed to his weight problems in the past.
"I eat well but it doesn't matter," he told the Daily Mail. "Me, I'm the type of person who, if I don't train hard, I pick up weight.
"With my bone structure, body structure, if I don't train with intensity, I will get bigger.
"When you're injured, you can't train. For three weeks, I was told to stay off my feet, just come in for treatment. I couldn't go in the gym. If I was on my feet, my knee would just swell up.
"I started to get worried because I know I pick up weight quite easily. I was out for five weeks, just doing rehab on the knee. When I started training again, I could tell I was too heavy, two or three kilos too heavy, and I didn't train at the same intensity I normally would do. I didn't feel right.
"I used to eat the wrong things at the wrong times," added McCarthy, a Champions League winner with Porto in 2004.
"Carbohydrates, you can't eat at night. You eat it during the day and burn it off when you train. If you eat it at night, you store it and get heavier. That was my problem."
McCarthy was ordered to lose weight towards the end of last year by Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce and Hammers' chief Sullivan has now warned he faces losing a week's wages.
"Benni has a rigorous weight-loss programme and if he doesn't lose the weight we will be fining him," he told the Daily Telegraph.
"We are not being unrealistic. We've given him a target of losing a kilo - 2.2lb - a week. He has to lose five or six more kilos.
"He's training very hard so he must be eating or drinking something very wrong. Short of spending 24 hours a day with him, we have to assume that.
"With the amount of training he is doing his weight should be going down with a normal diet. We are not starving him."
The South African has struggled for fitness since making a £2.5m move from Blackburn in January and in May his body fat was measured at 24.2 percent.
A healthy male athlete should measure between five and 12 percent on the Body Mass Index, with between 20 and 25 considered desirable for most middle-aged men.
After missing out on South Africa's World Cup squad, the 32-year-old returned early for pre-season training and has trimmed down to 16 percent.
However, West Ham chairperson David Sullivan has warned that McCarthy could be fined a week's wages - £38 000 - if he fails to lose another kilo in the next week.
McCarthy was out with a knee injury towards the end of last season although he admits a poor diet has contributed to his weight problems in the past.
"I eat well but it doesn't matter," he told the Daily Mail. "Me, I'm the type of person who, if I don't train hard, I pick up weight.
"With my bone structure, body structure, if I don't train with intensity, I will get bigger.
"When you're injured, you can't train. For three weeks, I was told to stay off my feet, just come in for treatment. I couldn't go in the gym. If I was on my feet, my knee would just swell up.
"I started to get worried because I know I pick up weight quite easily. I was out for five weeks, just doing rehab on the knee. When I started training again, I could tell I was too heavy, two or three kilos too heavy, and I didn't train at the same intensity I normally would do. I didn't feel right.
"I used to eat the wrong things at the wrong times," added McCarthy, a Champions League winner with Porto in 2004.
"Carbohydrates, you can't eat at night. You eat it during the day and burn it off when you train. If you eat it at night, you store it and get heavier. That was my problem."
McCarthy was ordered to lose weight towards the end of last year by Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce and Hammers' chief Sullivan has now warned he faces losing a week's wages.
"Benni has a rigorous weight-loss programme and if he doesn't lose the weight we will be fining him," he told the Daily Telegraph.
"We are not being unrealistic. We've given him a target of losing a kilo - 2.2lb - a week. He has to lose five or six more kilos.
"He's training very hard so he must be eating or drinking something very wrong. Short of spending 24 hours a day with him, we have to assume that.
"With the amount of training he is doing his weight should be going down with a normal diet. We are not starving him."
