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*As of yesterday, you’ll be seeing a lot more (or less) of ex- NBA great Charles Barkley.

Barkley is the newest spokesperson for Weight Watchers, and commercials featuring the former pro athlete’s weight loss will be flooding the small screen during the holidays.

The now used-to-be “round mound of rebound” and TNT basketball commentator said that after retiring from the league in 2000, he packed on 100 pounds to his 6’ ft. 6” frame, ballooning to 350 pounds.

Barkley said he got his ‘wake up call’ when he paid a trip to the doctor.

“The doctor said, ‘Hey, dude, if you don’t lost some weight, you’re either going to get diabetes, have a stroke or drop dead. It’s either A, B, or C,” Barkley told USA Today.

Weight Watchers approached him, and Barkley has signed on for the organization’s newest campaign entitled “Lose Like a Man.”

The campaign is targeted to the male population to urge them to get into a healthy eating lifestyle, according to People magazine.

“I felt bloated and big,” says Barkley, who said he lost 14 pounds on his own, then shed another 27 pounds with the help of Weight Watchers.

Barkley said he had to weed out junk foods like pizza and cookies, and now swears by yogurt and oatmeal. He’s also been eating cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and asparagus and enjoying them for the first time in his life. Barkley said that before vegetables, he admitted ‘I thought vegetables were all nasty.”

“Diet is not a man’s world because we don’t like to diet—we like to eat,” Barkley said in a press release.  “Like a lot of athletes, I’ve gained weight since I’ve retired.  But, I don’t want to be a fat old man taking lots of pills. Weight Watchers is helping me change my lifestyle and learn how to make smarter eating choices anywhere I am.”

Barkley, who has been a popular on-air basketball commentator and formerly played with the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns and the Philadelphia 76ers, said he has noticed the change in his body.

“Now I have more energy!” Barkley confessed.

eurweb.com