Famous NBA superstar, Shaquille O’Neal, has gone on a recent diet that has already seen him cut two stone.
According to the Men’s Journal, O’Neal has replaced sandwiches with small portions of fruit, vegetables and fish.
The former multiple NBA champion explains this change in diet in a candid manner stating:
"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.
"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."
It appears that the wholesome part of the internet has helped to inspire Shaq on his new journey, but he has gone on to say that it was the late, great Kobe Bryant that was his inspiration to get himself into better shape:
"My sister passed away before Kobe. And then Kobe passed away and then I had 28 other people pass away.
"It 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 took to Instagram to share some of his progress.
It is incredible to see that the big man used a period of grief and pain as motivation to self-improve himself. This is probably the reason why he is one of the most loved athletes to come from America.
Of course, his recent weight loss is not just down to his diet, he has also been working out and putting the hours into the gym. Describing his workout regime, O’Neal said:
"I do 20 minutes of cardio, I’ll do some chest, bis, tris, sit-ups, back and then I’m gone. 30-45 minutes a day, plus cardio––so about an hour a day.
"I still got the bad hips and the achy joints, so I can’t be jumping and running around."
In a month where conversations are taking place about men’s health, along with the other important conversations into equality and equity in society, reading and writing about these kinds of stories is really inspiring and as the winter blues kick-in it is a source of motivation to self-improve.
Thank you, Shaq.