Dwight Howard entered the league as the number one pick of round one in 2004 NBA draft. NBA fans could not believe the peak physical condition that the 21-year-old Howard came into the league with. As the years of his professional career progressed, he put on more muscle and became enormous, almost unbeatable. However, the 37-year-old’s diet comprised predominantly of McDonald’s, Skittles and Honey Buns!

So how did Howard maintain his physicality while following an unconventional diet? In a recent interview, the 1x NBA champ unearthed his “gifted” mysteries.

19-year-old Dwight Howard’s Secret

American Journalist Graham Bensinger asked Dwight Howard, “Why decide recently to lose weight?”. The 37-year-old NBA champion replied, “The NBA is way different than when I first came in. I came in at the weight which I’m almost at right now, which is crazy.”.

He continues, “But back then, you needed to be really big and be able to move guys. When I first came in, I wasn’t able to do that because I wasn’t strong enough.”.

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The former NBA star reveals his secret to his “gifted” physical abilities as he said, “I just decided to eat meat potatoes and do a whole bunch of exercise in the weight room. Tried to get as big as I can and I just got bigger and bigger but I felt like I was getting slower.”.

The host interjected, “Because you were getting heavier?”. Dwight Howard responds, “Yeah. The heaviest I’ve been in my career is like 280 lbs.”. Howard laughed as he further added, “and even though it looked good, I looked swole, I couldn’t touch my back because I was too swole.”

The secret behind the awe-inspiring “gifted” physical abilities of the young Dwight Howard was a rather simple one. It was his dedication to hitting the gym and maintaining a clean diet. However, Dwight Howard revealed that he struggled to maintain a healthy diet during his early NBA days, when he was just 19-years-old in 2004.

Dwight Howard’s sweet tooth fixation as a kid

Earlier in the same interview, the 37-year-old NBA champion talked about his ridiculous diet in his early days in the NBA. The former Laker explained to the host, “I used to eat a lot of candy. Coming from the South, my grandad would give us a big ten-pack of the fun-sized Snickers and Baby Ruth whenever we would go visit him. That’s why I developed that sweet tooth.”.

Dwight Howard further explained, “As I got older, I just kept going. I started to love Skittles. All I wanted was Skittles, Skittles, Skittles and Star Bursts.. you know, I couldn’t stop. Then I fell in love with Honey Buns. I would at least eat 4-5 of them a day.”.

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Considering the massive sweet tooth that Dwight Howard had as an NBA athlete, it is truly impressive that he could maintain the physique that he had back then. He was an absolute beast on the board as he averaged 12 points and 10 rebounds in just his rookie year.

What are your thoughts on Dwight Howard’s secret to his special abilities? Let us know in the comments below!

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