How did Shaquille O’Neal lose weight? Examining Lakers legend’s incredible drop from 406 lbs to 351 lbs
NBA legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal has made a conscious effort to be healthy and is proud and excited about the result.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, the four-time NBA champion shared his fitness journey and how he is now down to 351 pounds from 406 pounds when he began his shift.
Shaquille O’Neal, 51, said he decided to become healthier when he realized he already had difficulty climbing the stairs.
The Los Angeles Laker and Miami Heat great said:
"I was getting chubby and couldn't even walk up the stairs. I didn't like the way I looked in the mirror. I was like, ''I'm gonna lose 20'' and then I was trying to lose 20.’”
Shaquille O’Neal continued that his fitness journey has not been easy but with help of other people and his willingness to learn and improve himself have helped a lot, saying:
"I got a couple people involved -- it's all about eating right … I didn't know what the difference between a cab and a protein was at 50 years old, I never knew. So [my trainer said] you can't do that, more vegetables, my iron's low. And once I just starting changing those certain things, it [weight] dropped.”
The seven-foot basketball player-turned- Inside The NBA panelist said he is about 75% on where he wants to be as far as his weight is concerned, targeting somewhere between 315 and 330 pounds when everything is said and done.
Throughout his NBA career, Shaquille O’Neal dominated with his combination of size, strength, and basketball I.Q.
He won four NBA titles (three with the Lakers and one with the Heat), three Finals MVPs, one regular season MVP, was a 15-time All-Star, and was part of the 50 greatest NBA players, among other personal accolades.
"As a human being, he's not supposed to move like that" - NBA champion sheds light on Shaquille O'Neal's dominance during his playing days
Many were witnesses to the dominance that Shaquille O’Neal showed during his playing days, but few can say they experienced it firsthand, like Channing Frye.
The one-time NBA champion (Cleveland, 2016) shared his encounter with the NBA great in the mid-2000s on an episode of the combined Road Trippin and The Long Shot podcasts last year and how he was left in awe.
Frye said:
"I caught 05 Shaq... and if you look at the video, you're like damn he's so big, as a human being he's not supposed to move like that. I was playing in New York, we're up and I know he probably went out the night before so I'm like not gonna say sh*t right, Imma just let this game go by.”
He added:
"Third quarter comes and he's doing okay, they're down six, he looks at me, he's like, 'Okay, good game little Frye, we gotta win this now,' and boops and basically f***s me up for the whole quarter. There's no fouling, imagine trying to foul a tree moving like a cat, just dunk after hook shot after dunk. It's just impossible to move a human that big and that mean."
Check out the episode below:
While he was already late in his career, Shaquille O’Neal was still dominant, playing for the Miami Heat. He joined forces with a young Dwyane Wade and a number of veteran players to help give the team its first-ever NBA title in 2006.