Shaquille O’Neal was always an inspiration for younger basketball players and people in general. The dominance this man showed during his best days hasn’t been replicated. He was always a muscled guy, but things changed a little after he called it a career.
The Big Diesel found himself in a position where he looked old, eating poorly at any time of the day until he decided it was enough. Talking with Men’s Health magazine, the former player-turned-analyst explained what led him to gain a lot of weight and how he lost it.
At what point last year did you realize that you needed to make a change and get back in shape?
My sister passed away before Kobe. And then Kobe passed away and then I had 28 other people pass away. [2020] was a really bad year and I didn’t want to do anything. So, when you don’t want to do anything, but you need to stay out of trouble, there’s two things you can do: eat and Netflix.
He realized he couldn’t continue living life that way and started working on it.
Once you decided to get back in shape, how did you adjust your diet?
I just started to eat better and to make better decisions. My problem is, I’ve always been a sandwich guy. Sandwich for lunch, sandwich for dinner, sandwich for snack. And when all of that was going on last year, I couldn’t sleep. So, I’d wake up at three in the morning and make a sandwich, five in the morning and make a sandwich. But I was starting to look old and I didn’t want to. So I said to myself, I want to take my shirt off on Instagram one last time.
I saw this 70-year-old guy on there, and he had muscles everywhere. So I just decided to switch it up. No more bread, no more late-night lemon Oreos, no more Entenmann’s cakes, none of that. I’ve been doing this for six months and just eating fruit, protein shakes, salads, fish, chicken and asparagus or other vegetables. Very small portions and eating that everyday has helped me lose 25-30 pounds. I started to see stuff that I haven’t seen in 20 to 30 years—like a six pack. And I haven’t had one of those since I was on the 2006 Miami Heat.
Now I’ve been more active, I sleep through the night, I have more energy and I just want to work out all the time. And because I’m doing something big in March (TBA), I’ve got so much energy that I’m working out in the morning and at night.
As you can see in the pictures, Shaq looks a lot better now. He did a 180-degree turn, looking healthier and stronger than a lot of young folks out there.
This man still inspires people to find the best version of themselves. O’Neal always was great on and off the court, and here we have another example.
