Shaquille O'Neal says he lost weight to avoid a 'Charles Barkley retirement body'

Shaquille O'Neal opened up about his weight loss during a podcast, joking that he wants to become a sex symbol and one day be in an underwear ad.

"I've been working out and I posted a pic a couple of weeks ago and it went viral. And I was like man! So I've been really really working out," the Hall of Fame NBA player and business mogul said on Logan Paul’s “Impaulsive” podcast that aired Tuesday.

The four-time NBA champ said that the motivation to become fit was his desire to no longer look like his NBA on TNT co-host Charles Barkley.

"I like to create crazy motivation," O'Neal said. "Because 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 like, 'let me go ahead and get slim.'"

"After that (picture) went viral, now I've got to live up to it."

The photo O'Neal posted shirtless after a workout in September has gained over one million likes and nearly 13,000 comments.

"I was 401 pounds. Now I am 365," O'Neal continued. "I am trying to take it back to 345. I want to have muscles everywhere and I want to do an underwear ad with my sons."

In an interview with GQ in March, O'Neal revealed that he revamped his diet and training routine since retirement from the NBA to help him lose weight and say healthy, joking that he had "Charles Barkley Over The Belt Syndrome."

Contact Analis Bailey at aabailey@usatoday.com or on Twitter @analisbailey.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shaquille O'Neal lost weight to avoid 'Charles Barkley retirement body'