Brooklyn’s biggest champion is campaigning to be a loser — but he won’t tell if the scale is tipping in his favor.
Portly Borough President Markowitz, 65, whose hearty spirit rivals his hale appetite, kicked off his annual Lighten Up Brooklyn anti-obesity drive outside Borough Hall last Wednesday by taking on an old and formidable adversary: his ever-expanding waistline.
As medical workers from the Department of Health looked on, Mr. Brooklyn badgered brave passers-by into stepping onto a scale, though he refused to get on one himself.
“I chose not to!” replied the beefy beep, who has packed on the pounds since being elected the borough’s CEO (chief exercise officer) in 2001.
Marty also wouldn’t cough-up the size of his ballooning girth, despite issuing enough public laments about it over the years to fill a blimp.
“That information is between my doctor and myself,” he added coyly while giving pedestrians the skinny on how to discard their excess baggage, offering them a weigh-in, a morale boost and literature to point them in a more healthful direction — all measures the borough president, who likes his Junior’s cheesecake in large slabs, could benefit from himself.
After a heart scare a few years back, the 5-foot-5 pol trimmed down from 204 pounds to 179, and even maintained his new svelte size for two years with “vigorous walks” in Prospect Park.
“Unfortunately, I fell off the wagon, picked up some of my old habits and a good part of the weight I lost has come back,” mourned the diminutive, diet-challenged diva.
The Lighten Up Brooklyn promotion calls for setting realistic goals, ramping up physical activity, avoiding fad diets, getting weekly weigh-ins and, most importantly, plugging on despite setbacks.
Just think, if Mr. Brooklyn had taken his own advice, he might have been able to zip up his old jeans by now.
For info about Lighten Up Brooklyn, visit www.brooklyn-usa.org.
