With that number, 440 pounds, staring back at him from the scale, Marvin felt he could choose one of two paths.
“But sometimes you feel like, 'Why even bother?'” says Marvin.
Too many times before, he chose apathy.
This time, he chose action.
“For 30 days, I’m going to give myself the best fitness, the best nutrition, and if nothing moves, I said I could be fat for the rest of my life,” Marvin says.
He never considered surgery, never felt pressured by station management to change.
“No one has ever asked me or told me, ‘You need to lose weight,’” Marvin says.
Well, except his wife, Damita, and daughter, Drew, out of love.
Surprisingly, Marvin didn't have high blood pressure or cholesterol, but Damita felt time was ticking.
She and Drew changed their eating habits and increased exercise two years ago.
“He wouldn’t like to go walking or running with us,” says Drew.
Then April 1, 2013, Marvin came along. He joined in, walking and eating healthier, more vegetables and fewer calories. The pounds started to move with regular cardio.
It took the urging of a former high school teammate, Josh Nelson, to get him over the edge.
“I said, 'Give me two days, just two days, OK?'” says Nelson.
Nelson, a personal trainer, got that commitment, and as Marvin's waistline shrunk, he promised three days.
Josh says in six months, Marvin's not missed a single day.
He's doing it for himself, his family, friends, and oddly enough, you, the people watching him at home.
“Like it or not, you know, I’m in the public eye. I have a responsibility, and I take that very seriously,” Marvin says.
So it was a big moment in January when Marvin chose to deliver his sportscast not separated from his co-anchors but sitting beside them at the desk.
Marvin says, “And, I mean, this is me, wearing a jacket and tie for the first time in almost 10 years. It was probably one of the happiest moments of my career.”
He loves the support and the opportunities better health may afford him.
“I really do think he’ll like to see how I grow up,” says Drew.
Still, past choices haunt him.
“It’s hard for me to hear accolades about hearing, 'Good job,' of doing something that I had to be very selfish in the first place to do. You know, I placed myself in this position and I thank God for allowing me to get out of it,” Marvin says.
You can bet he's taking every opportunity to make the most of it.
Standing at the starting line of his 4th race in the past year, he knows better health probably set the finish line of life much further down the road.