"If it's got fat in it, it'll put fat on you if you don't burn it off," Show says. "If you're going to have pizza, have pizza in the afternoon so you can burn it off at the show that night or with cardio. It just makes sense. Don't eat junk and then just lie around."

However, that pretty much sums up how Big Show was living prior to last year, when he was sent by Federation officials to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), in part for being out of shape. A well-developed sweet tooth and an aversion to cardiovascular workouts led to his wieght rising well beyond healthy levels. Show says his main weakness was snacking late at night, knocking down ice cream, cookies or brownies before going to bed.

Show's fiancee, who is a chef, made the temptation all the more difficult with her expert cooking, he says. Whatever he craved - tiramisu, brownies, cookies - she made tasty versions which he eagerly scarf down.

"It was more comfort food than anything," he says. "If I was tired or down, I'd go for the sweets. I don't need that anymore. If I ate that stuff now, I'd probably get sick. Now I crave spicy foods. My fiancee makes healthy things for me to snack on now. She makes this tremendous spicy rice dish that I keep in the fridge. If I'm running down, I fo have a few spoonfuls of that and I'm set. And it's real healthy."

While in Louisville, Show took a long, hard look at where his career was heading and decided to make the necessary lifestyle changes that would allow him to return to prominence in the Federation.

"It was the best think that ever happened to me," he says. "i needed a kickstart. I needed something to help me get motivated. It's not that I didn't want it, but maybe deep soen subconsciously I was bored or frustrated. I didn't know how to bring out my hunger and intensity. Now, I watch matches of myself before I went to Louisville and matched after I came back, and I have so much more intensity and desire now.

Eliminating the "empty" foods - cookies, potato chips and the like - and late-night snacking from his routine has been the biggest factor in Show's weight loss, he says. He has also eliminated milk from his diet - he used to consume a gallon to a gallon and a half of whole milk per day. He's replaced that with large quantities of water to hydrate himslef. He has also upped his intake of lean protein. Show says that layman's formula is one gram of lean protein per pound of lean mass you want to achieve.

Another successful tactic was adding an hou or two of cardio workout to his routine each day. Previously, Show's workout rountine consisted almost exclusively of weightlifting. Even if his weight was at a manageable level, he tired easily. Now, by adding long sessions on the Stairmaster or stationary bike - or even just talking long walks with his boxer pupper - Show has become far more durable in the ring.

The copany he keeps in the Federation has also played a major role in keeping hin on the right path, he says. "One think about being in the WWF is that you are surrounded by guys with great bodies who eat right," he says. "You can open yourself up to so much knowledge just by watching the guys. They drink {meal replacements} shakes between meals. They don't put butter all over their food. I've got a good riding partner in Billy Gunn. He's got one of the best physiques in the business and he eats like a freaking horse."

Although Show is considerably larger than the average person, his weight battles are something anyone can relate to (although he says that his 70-pound loss is comparable to a 25 to 30-pound drop for an average-sized person). The first 20 or so pounds came off in a hurry he says, mainly consisting of water weight. Then he hit several plateus before gradually dropping a couple of pounds here and there towards his target. It has been a long and often frustrating process, he says, but well worth the effort.

Had he resorted to a crash diet, Show says, he probably would have backpedaled and put the weight back on just as quickly. The slow, sensible approach now has him within 25 pounds of his true target weight, and he's taking it a couple of pounds per week at a time. Most importantly, he hasn't fallen off the wagon once, and he says he has never felt better in his life.

"My performance in the ring is getting better every week," he says. "Mycardio is tremendous now. I can bump with the best of them. I can breathe; I can move; I'm more animated now - I'm more efficient at my job. I was 480 pounds and all wieghts in the gym - I coun't move. My muscles couldn't breathe. My knees feel so much better now. Think of how your knees would feel if you walked around all day with a 70-pound weight on you shoulders."

A Giant Stuggle

Big Show's weight battles began in earnest when he was 21 and recived treatment for acromegaly (gigantism). A tumor on his pituitary gland coused his rapid growth, which would have continued unchecked had he not received treatment to correct the condition. The late Federation Hall of Famer Andre the Giant also suffered for acromegaly.

However, the treatment also affected Big Show's metabolism. Before his treatment, Show was 7-foot-1 and 328-pounds, but had only 5.2 percent body fat and a 36-inch waist. Within three months he had exploded to a 55-inch waist. "That was pretty much this end of my basketball career," he says.

When he made his professional wrestling debut with WCW in 1996, he weigheda rock-solid 390 pounds. But, he says, life on the road and excessive partying caused him to balloon to 537 by the time he signed with the Federation. He dropped 50 pounds before he made his Federation debut, thanks largely to liposuction - which, he adds, is not the way to go for sensible weight-loss.

"With lipo you just end up putting it all back on," he sayd. "You have to change you lifestyle and the way you eat to keep it off."