New Jersey State Senator Bill Baroni remembers what people said about him years ago: First everyone called it baby fat. Then people labeled him big boned. As he got older, it was husky. Finally they just called him fat.

“Being a fat kid was not easy,” Baroni said. “I was the last kid picked for teams that didn’t begin with the word ‘chess.’ ”

By the time he started working in politics, the Hamilton native weighed about 300 pounds. Sitting at a campaign event, he began having chest pains and feared he wouldn’t make it to age 25.

Baroni decided to make a change.

He came to the Douglass Campus Center on May 5 – some 15 years later and 120 pounds lighter – to tell his story and call attention to obesity. About 60 percent of state residents are overweight or obese, and Rutgers stands to be a leader in addressing diabetes, heart problems, and other health threats associated with that problem, Baroni said.

Dozens of Rutgers researchers focus on food science, nutrition, and related areas. Last fall the university received a four-year, $10 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to establish the Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health on the George H. Cook Campus.

“What we need to do is make a fundamental change in public health when it comes to how we handle obesity,” said Baroni, a Republican who represents the state’s 14th district. “If we had the media coverage we have for swine flu on diabetes, no one would doubt we have a serious problem.”

Baroni said he never remembers being thin. As a child, he avoided sports and activities that drew attention to his extra weight. That only made the pounds increase. After a serious car accident during high school, his first thoughts went to his weight: At least he could avoid gym class.

When he started working in politics, Baroni alternated between Burger King and McDonald’s, sometimes eating both on the same night when he wasn’t even hungry.  Occasionally he tried to diet, but it never stuck.

“Eating became a crutch,” he said.

After feeling chest pains, which turned out to be indigestion, Baroni realized he needed to do something. He learned about the Duke Diet & Fitness Center and quickly traveled to North Carolina, checking in at 312 pounds in November 1994.

“I was no longer looking to go on a diet,” he said. “I was looking to change my life.”

Baroni spent four weeks learning about food, exercise, and other health issues. He emerged 14 pounds lighter and returned home with a 1,500-calorie diet plan and a fitness program.

Flash forward 15 years: Baroni now weighs about 180 pounds. He still works out nearly every day and eats healthy foods, ranging from bananas to low-calorie frozen meals. The fast food is gone. He returns to the Duke facility for a week each year to recharge.

Baroni says the state can do more to encourage the kind of lifestyle change that saved his health by providing more nutritional school lunches for children, allowing residents to deduct gym membership fees on their taxes, and supporting strong obesity research at Rutgers and elsewhere.

“My worry is that we have a future generation that thinks what I went through is easy,” Baroni said.  “Rutgers has been a leader and will continue to be a leader on this issue.”

The university is conducting a search for a director of the Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health, said Robert M. Goodman, executive dean of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The institute, which will cost at least $65 million, will focus on obesity, but it will also aim to better understand how diet and nutrition affect many aspects of human health.

“We’re looking at these issues not just for treating disease,” Goodman said, “but also for addressing broad public health questions about diet and nutrition.”

Goodman said Baroni’s personal story shows that people can take control of their own health. Baroni himself cautions that there is no magic pill.

“I still identify myself as a fat person,” Baroni said. “This is an addiction I live with every day.”