You Definitely Can't Call ex-Dallas Councilman Dwaine Caraway a Political ‘lightweight'

Dwaine Caraway is ready to throw his weight around again at Dallas City Hall - and apparently he has a lot more of it.The grandiloquent ex-representative of city council District 4, which runs roughly between interstates 45 and 35 south of downtown, is gunning to get his old job back.He'll make that clear next week when -- on his mother's 88th birthday - he's expected to formally announce Feb. 1 that he's challenging first-term council member Carolyn King Arnold, who replaced him two years ago.None of this, I'm sure, will be done surreptitiously."Tell her I said happy birthday in your article," said Caraway, ever the politician, giving a celebratory shout to his mom, Mattie Mathis Caraway.But, politics aside, Caraway has mounted another campaign that's just as vital as the May 6 election: A bid to lose weight - again.Not only is he working with a personal trainer, he's teamed up with a nutritionist who's changing his eating habits and helping him shed a few pounds.His notorious visits to a popular restaurant in his district, Rudy's Chicken, are slowing giving way to a new lifestyle marked by a healthier, vegetable-rich diet."Instead of letting me eat fried chicken, they've got me eating yogurt," Caraway said. "I'd never tried it because I couldn't even stand the word. I didn't like asparagus, but I'm eating that now. And I'm trying to get ready for brussels sprouts. I've even gone so far as to purchase a skillet off TV - the Gotham Steel, no-stick skillet."This is vintage Caraway, adding a layer of levity to a personally heavy moment. His doctor, he acknowledged, "scared me a bit because I was beginning to approach a diabetic stage."As with most adults his age - he turns 65 in April - his excessive weight also puts him at greater risk of other afflictions, from heart disease to strokes. He also suffers from sleep apnea, a serious disorder that occurs when a person's breathing is interrupted during sleep.His nutritionist is keeping him in line, he said. He's drinking fewer sodas and cocktails, munching on less red meat and curtailing his fast food."I'm real proud," said Caraway, who's trying to get his weight back down to the 260-pound range. He wouldn't say exactly how much he weighs now - "I'm pretty heavy, let me say it that way," he said.But back in the day, when he was a younger man, he carried about 220 pounds on his 6-foot-2 ½-inch frame. In recent years, however, his pants size ballooned to a 50-waist.And when his waist spread to nearly 52 inches, "I said, 'That's it.' And now I'm moving in the right direction."Now, he can squeeze into "some" of his Size 46 slacks, but the 48-waist ones are more comfy."I'm feeling better, that's one thing," he said. "But I've still got a ways to go in dropping the pounds."  Continue reading...