Has anyone ever considered their own weight?

[907Pilot]

So, I am relatively new to this whole back country thing and even piloting in general. I think you all know the story: always wanted a plane, got to an age I could buy one, got my license, living to explore the world from above.

I bought a 170A in March of this year after 2 solid years (no less that 3 hours a day of looking, 7 days a week) of looking. I totally changed my lifestyle to make it happen.

As I was pouring over my personal numbers and capabilities of my plane I came to a perhaps obvious conclusion.

I am 32 weighing in at 198. My wife is an ultra athletic type, weighing in at about 155 (running 2-3 hours 7 days a week). And I have a 1 year old baby girl. When we go on a trip, we are at gross. Granted, probably 100 pounds of this extra weight is the airplane (original interior, 29x11x10s, back seat, etc) weighing more than it should. But I was thinking, where can I lose some weight?

I came to the conclusion: easy place to lose weight? My belly. I went on a diet and lost 17 pounds in 3 weeks. I know it sounds kinda ludacris and quite frankly, I have to laugh at it.

Anyone else here ever looked at it this way?

[GumpAir]

Anyone else here ever looked at it this way?

Hell yeah. That 17 pounds off your gut is 3 gallons of gas, or, an extra cushion of 20 minutes flying time if you need it.

Now me, if I get any fatter or lazier, I'll need a seat belt extension.

Gump

[Oliver]

[...]
I came to the conclusion: easy place to lose weight? My belly. I went on a diet and lost 17 pounds in 3 weeks. I know it sounds kinda ludacris and quite frankly, I have to laugh at it.

Anyone else here ever looked at it this way?

My wife and me.
When we got our tickets, we had 220 (me) and 155 pounds in our medicals, what only allows for a little bit of fuel in a 152.
By simply paying more attention to what we eat an trying to avoid non-substantial calories like Coke, alcohol, ice cream or chips, we already lost 20 (me) and 8 pounds over the last few months.

I can tell you - this is really satisfying + allows us to do longer trips in a cheap 152 or to take more stuff like a passenger in the 172 with us + I look and feel better!

I also know others who did the same, mainly for flying. So - no, you're not alone.

Cheers,

Oliver

[PilotRPI]

Absolutely. I'm 6' and 155 Lbs, and my wife is 115. It allows us to use something like a 150/152 topped off and with enough flex to throw in stuff for a picnic or small trip without worrying. Sometimes my buddies can barely put in another guy before being at gross.

My weight also allows me to do aerobatics with an instructor. I've only done one lesson, but plan to do a few more in the future. One's weight can have a huge impact on their flying. Me being skinny also allows me to take a few of my bigger friends up with a healthy margin. We have to be honest, the 200 Lb person standard doesn't allow us to stuff too much into our plane. And I haven't seen too many planes where you can fill the seats with 200 Lb people, enough fuel to get off the runway, and still be legal.

[Jaerl]

Boy, you guys are lightweights. Since I quit contracting on a daily basis 5 years ago, I have put on about 50 lbs! I wasn't really slim then and I would like to get down to 180. That would be a 80 lb loss from where I am now. I thought about starting a tread like this and getting some of you guys to be diet buddy's. I lost 40 lbs in 5 weeks once when a kid that worked for me and I had a contest to lose weight.

80 lbs out of my C150 would have been great. Luckily my teacher was only 140 so we could fly the 150 with 15 gallons of fuel. That still gave us 2 hrs but no baggage and no performance. Anyone want to start loosing?

[qmdv]

Sombody has to say the obvious here. Just go by a Maul

Tim

[flightlogic]

Pretty touchy subject you brought up here. Americans are growing increasingly fat.
If the airlines bring it up, they get sued or slammed in the press right away.
The responses I have seen here so far are pretty reasonable though. That is good news.
Everybody on here worries about losing their medical. Not only is the airplane happy if you weigh less, but your AME is too. I only wish I could keep up with my athletic wife. She will live to a hundred and keep her medical too. Only problem is she can't land as well as I do.

[Littlecub]

.....easy place to lose weight? My belly.

That is easy for you to say......and maybe even 'do'......

All I can say (here/nicely) is 'congratulations!'..........

It is ALL in the genes. You get dealt a hand in the womb and turn the cards over to see what you were dealt spread over a lifetime.
Well, Ok. You CAN influence the effects of those cards/genes through lifestyle-but, at times it seems like damn little.

Next time around I'll chose a better gene pool to dip in.
lc

[Littlecub]

Next time around I'll chose a better gene pool to dip in.

That is the American way, too! Blame your parents!

lc

[hotrod150]

Pretty touchy subject you brought up here. Americans are growing increasingly fat....

And I thought it was just me!
Since I got laid off a while back, I've taken up walking-- 1 to 1-1/2 miles (at the airport), at least once & often twice a day. Also sit-ups, push-ups,squats, & pull-ups, 5 mornings a week.
Result: gained about10 pounds in the last 2 months. And I was already overweight. Guess I have to start practicing my push-aways (from the dinner table), which to me is about the toughest exercise of all.

[iceman]

by last christmas I had ballooned to 204 having been in the 170's most of my life... Went to Medifast and signed up the first week of January... to date i've lost 32 pounds and feel a ton better... felt good to figure my load in the maule when I went to JC this summer..Maule seems to leap off the ground with just me and no stuff in the back now...

[akavidflyer]

When I quit smoking I put on almost 50 pounds. Went from wearing 28's to 36's.. After 8 yrs 10 month and 4 days of getting fatter the shit hit the fan one day and I started smoking again.. Since then I have dropped 30 of those pounds without trying. I noticed a REAL big difference in the flying in my lil plane. Not so much the weight, but the extra room and comfort!

It has often been said that the very best way to light up most of our planes is to put ourselves on a diet. It is alot easier to trim 40 or 50 pounds off my ass than to get 10 pounds off the plane.

[hotrod150]

That settles it... I'm going back to 2 packs a day! I weigh about 40 pounds more than when I quit so maybe we're on the right track. I'm sure that about 25 years of over-eating & sitting on my ass didn't have anything to do with that....

[aktahoe1]

Absolutely. I'm 6' and 155 Lbs, and my wife is 115. It allows us to use something like a 150/152 topped off and with enough flex to throw in stuff for a picnic or small trip without worrying. Sometimes my buddies can barely put in another guy before being at gross.

Thats how much I weighed in 7th grade, 30 years ago...

Now 6'3" and 215...feel great! Live an active life and try to actually do something everyday. Avoid the second helpings and dont eat like its thanksgiving at every meal and you will feel a lot better. Most people eat there share of crap and live a very in-active life style. Work 8-5, miss meals, and then get home to plop on the couch with the remote control. Try eating breakfast everyday to kick start the metabolism and then when you get home go do something, like take the dog for a walk for 30 minutes. You would be amazed. "Diet" is a four letter word like "work". Its generally not fun, you dislike it and are doing it to obtain a goal. Then once the goal is achieved you go back to the old habits. Forget the diet and make a lifestyle change. Eat what you wish in smaller portions and become active. Its just that simple....

[lowflybye]

I can relate to this one...I am 6'3" and have a large frame. By January 1st of this year I had hit an all time high of 350, size 46 pants were getting tight, I was watching my blood pressure go through the roof and the doc was growing concerned about diabetes. Not only was I concerned about my medical, but also being around to see my kids bring me some grandkids. February 1st I began my mission of increasing the useful load of anything I fly. As of this morning I am at 283 and size 40 pants can be removed without unbuttoning them. Now that can come in handy Still shooting for my football weight of 250, but happy with the progress thusfar. Slow and steady but effective...just like the old Stearman and Maule...which by the way perform much better now for some reason.

[Littlecub]

Now 6'3" and 215...feel great! Live an active life and try to actually do something everyday. Avoid the second helpings and dont eat like its thanksgiving at every meal and you will feel a lot better. Most people eat there share of crap and live a very in-active life style. Work 8-5, miss meals, and then get home to plop on the couch with the remote control. Try eating breakfast everyday to kick start the metabolism and then when you get home go do something, like take the dog for a walk for 30 minutes. You would be amazed. "Diet" is a four letter word like "work". Its generally not fun, you dislike it and are doing it to obtain a goal. Then once the goal is achieved you go back to the old habits. Forget the diet and make a lifestyle change. Eat what you wish in smaller portions and become active. Its just that simple....

Ahhhhh, Man. I know all that stuff, but the difference between KNOWING IT and LIVING IT is........ HUGE!!

I do appreciate that you make it sound 'easy'....
I guess like a LOTTA other 'stuff' in life......attitude is everything! (including flying )

lc

[Littlecub]

As of this morning I am at 283 and size 40 pants.......

Congratulations, LFB! You get a gold plated 'attaboy' for that reduction!

lc

[flightlogic]

Iceman and Lowflybye put the fine point on it. The Heredity excuse is crap.
You are what you eat. Plain and simple.... or is that plane and simple.
The best, but least marketable diet book ever to be produced would only have two words in it, besides the starving author's name. EAT LESS.
Full stop....

[Littlecub]

The Heredity excuse is crap.

Not quite that simple-if you check out the science behind it. LOTS of evidence of variation in metabolism of food. Very Large differences.
If you mean the 'logic' part of your name, you need more facts to input into your 'logic' circuits...

Believe what you will, but fact is facts, and SOLID science speaks the truth.
lc


Examples would be intensely studied Pima Indians of AZ and some of the south sea islanders. If famine kills off all but a few of the most efficient metabolisms on and off for multiple generations over centuries.... The survivors become/are designed by nature for near starvation and normal average food intake (to you and me) causes multiple health problems on them (including FAT). Extreme examples, admittedly, but makes the point. There is also fairly large variations within individual families of European extraction based on the various genes available in their gene pool.

[lowflybye]

The best, but least marketable diet book ever to be produced would only have two words in it, besides the starving author's name. EAT LESS.
Full stop....

For me it has been just that, but heredity is a constant problem. It is easier for some than others and I fall into the others catagory...but it CAN be done. I have cut my portion size in half and stay away from a second round. Cut back on the bread, sugar, and soft drinks. The biggest thing for me was that I have a problem with paying for food and then throwing it away. I have 3 kids under age 10 so that happens a lot. I had gotten into the habbit of finishing off whatever they left on their plate and that was a BAD habbit. Now I make them take their plates to the kitchen when they are done, throw away the remainders and put their plates in the dishwasher. We also keep the serving dishes, pots, and pans in the kitchen so a second / third helping is not sitting in front of us at the table. Out of sight is out of mind and it works. When I get hungry during the day I grab a spoon full of peanut butter instead of an all out snack. It is mostly all protien and it is filling so it hits the spot.

The concept is very simple, but the discipline is very hard. I weigh myself every morning and evening, not because I expect daily results, but to keep the goal always on my mind.

Having said all that, if there is a sponsorship offer I will gladly say that I have done it on a steady liquid diet of RedBull.