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Source: Patrick McMullan / Getty

 

Shaquille O’Neal has lost some weight recently and Charles Barkley was one of his motivations. The Inside the NBA co-host and former baller, who’s gained some weight since his playing days, said that he didn’t want Barkley’s ‘dad bod.’

The 50-year-old TV personality lost 40 pounds and wants to lose 20 more before his birthday on March 6. He told Entertainment Tonight’s Nischelle Turner that he attributed the weight loss to changing his eating habits after a doctor’s visits turned up some concerning results.

“I got a couple people involved — It’s all about eating right,” he told Turner. “I got some blood work done, a friend of mine called me and said, ‘You’re fat,’ and she gave me this guy’s name, and he did some blood work, and you know, ’cause I was the athlete — I wasn’t a salad eater. I won’t pay attention to any of that.

I don’t care about none of that. I didn’t know what the difference between a carb and a protein, at 50 years old I never knew. So, he was saying you can’t do this, you can’t do that, more vegetables, my iron’s low. And once I just started changing those certain things, it dropped.”

He said he’s also taking supplements and drinking healthy shakes and that he’s cut out his favorites – bread and soda.

“I was looking at myself and I had that Charles Barkley retirement body,” O’Neal told Logan Paul on his podcast Impaulsive two months ago. “I didn’t want my stomach to be over the belt anymore. So I was just like, ‘Let me go ahead and get slim.’

He posted a video showing his abs that generated over a million likes in September.

“After that went viral, now I’ve got to live up to it,” he told Paul.

While O’Neal admits he has access to a personal trainer and a chef, he says even someone without his resources can make a change.

“Start off, if you can, by walking 30 minutes a day,” he told Turner. “A lot of people can’t do that ’cause I know, you got the kids, you gotta get to work. But if you can, start off by walking 30 minutes a day. Put your headphones on, put on your favorite song, 30 minutes a day.”

O’Neal showed off his weight loss on his immersive virtual reality New Year’s Eve special The Shaq’tacular Spectacular as DJ Diesel.

Shaq Reveals 40-Pound Weight Loss: “I Didn’t Want That Charles Barkley Retirement Bod”  was originally published on cassiuslife.com