Shaquille O’Neal’s weight loss journey has proved to be a slam dunk — and he’s not done yet.
The ex-NBA star, 51, lost a whopping 55 pounds to get his weight down to 351 pounds and told Entertainment Tonight that he’s looking to reach “between 315 and 330” pounds.
“I was getting chubby and couldn’t even walk up the stairs,” the former Los Angeles Laker told the outlet. “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,” he said, admitting that he previously set “crazy goals” for himself that he never followed through.
The four-time NBA champion overhauled his lifestyle and eating habits, joking that he currently owns “a little 4.9 pack” but the goal is to get “an eight pack.”
O’Neal, who stands at 7-foot-1, said that in 2000 he weighed 345 pounds, and the following year he was 30 pounds heavier.
By 2002, Shaq said he ballooned up to 395 pounds at 30 years old.
Impressively enough, Shaq won NBA titles with the Lakers during all three years.
O’Neal trimmed his weight down to 315 pounds in 2004 after he was traded to Miami Heat, and soon found himself in the best physical shape in 2006 at age 34.
His impressive career saw him play for the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics from 1992 to 2011.
Prior to making it big in the NBA, Shaq played at Louisiana State University for three seasons.
In December, Shaq said he had already lost 40 pounds after switching up his eating habits.
“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,” the retired athlete recalled at the time. “He was saying, ‘You can do this, you can’t do that, [eat] more vegetables, [your] iron’s low.’”
O’Neal noted that he wasn’t “a salad eater” before but now takes supplements, drinks shakes and avoids soda.
“once I just started changing those certain things, it dropped,” the 50-year-old continued. “It’s all about eating right.”
He also noted plans to eliminate bread from his routine, explaining, “I think I could get the Marky Wahlberg look. I want to be known as the Black Mark Wahlberg.”
