Svelte Barkley sparkles on Tonight Show appearance

Charles Barkley looks like he’s found “The Fountain of Youth.”

Adhering to the Weight Watchers weight-loss program helped Barkley to drop to 50 pounds as he prepared for TNT’s Dec. 25 opening games.

“I lost 35 on Weight Watchers,” Barkley said. “I am the first guy for them. I feel good about that. Me and Jennifer Hudson. They just wanted a couple of good-looking people to advertise their products.”

Barkley told Jay Leno on NBC-TV’s Tonight Show that he’s had other chances with weight-loss products.

“I had other opportunities to other products,” Barkley said. “But I don’t think you can give a fat person a little meal and think they won’t cheat.”

Barkley said he rarely ate vegetables before his Weight Watchers conversion. And when he did, he ate starches like potates, rice and corn.

“You can’t really cheat,” Barkley said about his new weight program. “I eat cauliflower, brussle sprouts, asparagus. You know, I hadn’t any of those things. I’m not going to stand out here and lie to you and tell you they are good, but they are all right.”

Barkley held court on a variety of other subjects. Here are some of the best bits:

On his weight loss: “What I hate more than anything in the world is when every fat black guy who is bald comes up to me and says he looks like me. Clearly, I’m not as good looking as I think I am.”

On Dwight Howard’s impression of Barkley: “He thinks he’s funny. The only thing funny is his team.”

On teammates’ wives tattling leading to Kobe Bryant’s divorce: “That’s never good for a team. You keep the wives and girlfriends away from each other.”

Barkley on Tim Tebow: “I’m a fan of Tim Tebow, but I’m Tebowed out. I like Tim Tebow and wish him the best, but there are other things in the world.”

Here’s a look at the interview, courtesy of NBC.com.