He spoke with Entertainment Tonight ahead of his New Year’s Eve countdown special, The Shaq-tacular Spectacular, opening up about his recent weight loss and his ongoing plan to lose more in 2023. O’Neal said, “I lost 40 pounds. I need to lose about 20 more, but impressive.” As for why he was inspired to undergo such a change, O’Neal mentioned a fun goal he has, stating, “Imma get real chiseled up and do an underwear ad with my sons.” O’Neal has three sons: Shareef, Shaqir, and Myles. He had both Shareef and Shaqir with his ex-wife, Shaunie O’Neal, while Myles is Shaunie’s son and O’Neal’s stepson. The star turns 51 years old on March 5, which is the date he wants to shed the next 20 pounds by. What sparked O’Neal’s desire to lose weight was some bloodwork, with the former professional basketball player recounting the experience: “It’s all about eating right. 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.” He continued, “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.” Luckily, it hasn’t been very difficult for O’Neal to lose the weight, with the 50-year-old proclaiming, “Plus the supplements I’m taking, and the shakes I’m drinking, the weight just fell off. I’m not at 100 percent ninja mode yet. I’m still 75 percent.” O’Neal had some more advice for people looking to follow in his footsteps, advising them to start off by walking, even if it’s just for 30 minutes each day. He then told people to get rid of things they love, which for him are bread and soda. So what’s his ultimate dream? O’Neal joked, “I want to be known as the Black Mark Wahlberg.”
