Shaquille O’Neal would eat sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner till an Instagram realization impressed him to turn out to be more healthy.
In a brand new interview with Men’s Journal, the four-time NBA champion stated his food regimen ultimately “was beginning to look previous and [he] didn’t need to.”
“So I stated to myself, I need to take my shirt off on Instagram one final time,” O’Neal started. “I noticed this 70-year-old man on there, and he had muscle tissues in every single place. So I simply determined to modify it up.”
O’Neal stated he utterly reduce out bread, late-night lemon Oreos, and Entenmann’s truffles.
For the previous six months, O’Neal has been consuming “fruit, protein shakes, salads, fish, rooster and asparagus or different greens” in “very small parts.”
Not solely has the life-style change led to O’Neal shedding 25 to 30 kilos, however he additionally has a six-pack, one thing he hasn’t “seen in 20 to 30 years.”
“I haven’t had a kind of since I used to be on the 2006 Miami Warmth,” he quipped.
O’Neal additionally told Men’s Journal he misplaced his motivation for health after experiencing various private losses final yr, together with his sister, Ayesha Harrison-Jex, and good pal and former Lakers teammate, Kobe Bryant.
“My sister handed away earlier than Kobe. After which Kobe handed away after which I had 28 different folks cross away. [2020] was a extremely unhealthy yr and I didn’t need to do something. So, once you don’t need to do something, however it’s worthwhile to keep out of bother, there’s two issues you are able to do: eat and Netflix,” he stated.
When O’Neal shifted focus to health, he stated he “simply began to eat higher” and commenced to “make higher selections.”
“My downside is, I’ve all the time been a sandwich man. Sandwich for lunch, sandwich for dinner, sandwich for snack. And when all of that was happening final yr, I couldn’t sleep. So, I’d get up at three within the morning and make a sandwich, 5 within the morning and make a sandwich,” he defined.
Along with tweaking his food regimen habits, the 15-time All-Star additionally adopted a strict fitness center routine.
“I do 20 minutes of cardio, I’ll do some chest, bis, tris, sit-ups, again after which I’m gone. Thirty to 45 minutes a day, plus cardio — so about an hour a day. I nonetheless received the unhealthy hips and the achy joints, so I can’t be leaping and working round,” O’Neal stated. “Subsequent factor I’ll strive is jogging.”
O’Neal additionally took a shot at his “Contained in the NBA” co-host when discussing his health philosophy.
“An hour a day will maintain the Charles Barkley stomach away,” he stated.
