A Better Night’s Sleep for a Less-Heavier Christie

SOUTH AMBOY, N.J. â€" While Gov. Chris Christie celebrated a big public victory in New Jersey on Tuesday, he has also been privately enjoying another success: better sleep, as a result of his weight loss.

In an interview Tuesday morning on his campaign bus, outside a diner in South Amboy, Mr. Christie described what he called the biggest difference in his life since he started shedding pounds: “I sleep better. I didn’t realize how badly I was sleeping being that much overweight.”

Asked how much weight he has lost since his lap-band surgery in February, the governor smiled, then pointed at his wife, Mary Pat, who was sitting next to him.

“She knows, but nobody else knows,’’ he said. “I’ve set a goal and I’m more than halfway to my goal.”

Mr. Christie described his health as good, and said his appetite is so much smaller now he recently could not even finish a wrap sandwich.

“This surgery really causes you to have a new way to eat â€" it really does,’’ he said. “It teaches you a new way to eat, and that’s a process over a period of time to get used to. And I’m still not completely used to it.”

Asked whether he would have any problems handling the rigors of a presidential campaign, he responded, “No more than any other 51-year-old person.”

He added: “I’m slower than I was when I was 40. But that’s the slow march of time. No, I don’t have any problem handling the rigors.”