Shaquille O'Neal Credits 'Eating Right' For INCREDIBLE 40-Pound Weight Loss

NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal has opened up about his weight loss process.

O'Neal spoke openly about shedding an incredible amount of weight after altering his diet and incorporating other healthy lifestyle recommendations into his daily routine.

The required changes started to manifest once the former basketball player adopted the diet plan meticulously.

He previously discussed on "Impaulsive with Logan Paul" a few months ago how his NBA TV colleague Charles Barkley's huge size motivated him to embark on his weight loss challenge. O'Neal's perseverance has since paid off, as seen by the approximately 40 pounds he has lost.

Read on to learn more.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, O'Neal spoke candidly about losing a lot of weight after he changed his diet and added other healthy lifestyle advice to his daily living.

He shared during the sit-down that a friend of his inspired the change by calling his attention to his weight which appeared to be edging towards endangering his health.

The said friend also put him in touch with a specialist who assisted him in beginning his weight reduction journey by creating a thorough outline of what he needed to accomplish and how to achieve it.

"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 ex-professional NBA player recounted on the show.

O'Neal added, "He was saying, 'You can do this, you can't do that, [eat] more vegetables, [your] iron's low.'

After the retired basketballer implemented the dietary plan judiciously, the necessary changes began to appear.

"Once I just started changing those certain things, it dropped," the Quinquagenarian reflected. "It's all about eating right."

He shared details about the food substances he was told to avoid, noting that soda was one of the key ones. Now, O'Neal has opted for healthier options like shakes, which are often made of fruits and vegetables ground into liquid form.

O'Neal also disclosed that he planned on kicking out bread from the list of things he still consumes, adding that his desired look is to transform into famous Hollywood macho actor Mark Wahlberg.

"I think I could get the Marky Wahlberg look. I want to be known as the Black Mark Wahlberg," he said jokingly on the show per Page Six.

A few months ago, O'Neal shared during an appearance on "Impaulsive with Logan Paul" how NBA TV partner Charles Barkley's weight pushed him to make take up the weight loss challenge.

The former basketballer said that prior to the start of the weight loss journey, he compared himself with Barkley's weight and was upset that there was no difference.

"I like to create crazy motivation," he said, per New York Post. "I was looking at myself, and I had that Charles Barkley retirement body.

"I didn't want my stomach to be over the belt anymore. So I was just like, 'Let me go ahead and get slim.' After that [picture] went viral, now I've got to live up to it," he added, referencing a video of himself showing off his abs which he uploaded on his social media page.

All that hard work has since paid off for O'Neal, who said in that interview that he dropped nearly 40 pounds.

"I was 401 pounds. Now I'm 365," O'Neal shared, per NYP. "I'm trying to take it back to 345. I want to have muscles everywhere, and I want to do an underwear ad with my sons [for] Fruit of the Loom, baby."

While O'Neal is now an advocate of eating right, he is also dedicated to working out in the gym.

"[I do] just cardio — 30-40 minutes — then chest, arms, biceps, triceps," he told GQ in March. "A simple old man workout. I can't do all that CrossFit stuff."

Alongside eating healthy and exercising, the sports analyst is taking his health very seriously after his doctor diagnosed him with sleep apnea.