# How fat have I gotten?



## Tad (Mar 14, 2006)

I've always been a desk-jockey, but previously I was pretty good at biking to work in decent weather, and taking the bus (which involved a fair bit of walking) in not so good weather, at least most days of the week. And I'd be doing other activities. I'd typically gain a little weight and lose a little conditioning in the winter, but nothing too severe.

This job though, man! No decent public transit, so since the end of biking season I've been driving every day (blech). And it is a total time vampire--any time I don't specifically put aside to spend with my family I end up committing to work. The result is that I've a real inactive blob this winter, and I've recently come to realize this had had significant blobbing effects on my physique. Just in the past week or two I've noticed things like:
- more difficulty leaning over to tie up shoe laces
- going to lean my head against the wall (I was miming my frustration) and finding my belly hitting the wall first).
- an awkward feeling that I think is a result of a slight shift in my centre of balance
- when reaching across my body, my arms running into my "moobs"

For the most part I don't like having gotten this out of shape, and I didn't intend to let myself get this fat. On the other hand, part of my loves being fat and is all excited by how big I've gotten, and kind of enjoys how being out of shape emphasises the effects of being bigger. Still, my intention is to start making time in my schedule for more regular physical activity, and to try to shed a little of the new fat (something that I'm generally terrible at).

But first......  It happens to be school break here this week, and my son and wife are away for a few days. I don't think I have any good view of how fat I really am. So over the next few days I'm going to enjoy my new rotundness, and try to find some ways to get a good handle on just how big I am. If I manage to come with anything fairly evocative I'll share it on this thread. 

I'm also open to any interesting suggestions from others!

For starters the dry numbers, not that they give much real grasp of things:
-height: 5'8"
-weight: probably about 220 pounds (my scale says 215, but I know it reads low, I'm just not sure how low)
-best fit in clothes: shirt 17.5" neck shirt, XL tops, 42" waist pants.
-Equator of the belly: 46" or so (haven't checked in a few weeks)

Regards;

-Ed


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## EvaDestruction (Mar 15, 2006)

where are the pictures?


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## Tad (Mar 16, 2006)

Gah, after posting that I promptly came down with a stomach bug, so I've not done a thing about it. Doing somewhat better today, so if I can find the cable to connect the camera to the computer I'll try to do something tonight.

-Ed


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## missaf (Mar 16, 2006)

Awesome update, Ed. I always appreciate your detailed posts. I have some ideas for you, I'll post them tomorrow.


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## Tad (Mar 16, 2006)

....I'll try to do pictures tonight, but here is one comparison. I measured the equator of my belly (the largest point around, for me just above the navel), and it is currently 47".

We have a standard sized ironing board, and I measured it to be 52". So the diameter of my waist is just 5" shorter than an ironing board!

-Ed


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## Tad (Mar 16, 2006)

Just relaxing.....and yes, that is a standard sized paperback, and a regular pint of hagen-daas.....they just look small by contrast


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## Tad (Mar 16, 2006)

Turns out that I'm not too good at coming up with good pics from more traditional poses, but these were the best of the batch.


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## Tad (Mar 16, 2006)

Well, I don't really have a belly hang yet, but these are my attemts to simulate one 

Oh, and one where the local feline decided to get into the picture *L*


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## Tad (Mar 16, 2006)

What 47" really looks like. Of course, after I took this one, I had the hagen-daas--most of it actually made into milkshake--so imagine one more fair sized book at the end of the row......


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## Tad (Mar 17, 2006)

Again, a normal sized coffee cup here.


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## BLUEeyedBanshee (Mar 17, 2006)

Thanks for sharing...

The one with the cat in the pic blocking the view...for whatever reason cracked me up! 

But thanks for all the pics and for some different views!


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## Fortune Cookie (Mar 20, 2006)

Ed - 

It's always a pleasure to read your musings, and the pics just made it all the better. And loving all things "geek", I thought the laptop pic was especially wonderful.  

-Fortune Cookie


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## SoVerySoft (Mar 21, 2006)

Lovely, lovely pics!! A buffet of edx pics! Totally enjoyed that.

Love the ones in the Canada shirt. White does your belly good


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## bigwideland (Mar 22, 2006)

I would like to do a few pics like those !!!

At 73 inchs it would be interesting to do a few.


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## Tad (Mar 22, 2006)

bigwideland said:


> I would like to do a few pics like those !!!
> 
> At 73 inchs it would be interesting to do a few.



Absolutely--I think it would be great for more of the guys on the board not just to show their bellies, but to find ways of taking pics to give a good sense of just how big it is.....sometimes in pictures you lose the sense of scale. So show us how big 73" is, or how much overhang you have, or how much of a doorway your fill up, or..... 

Oh, and I found another measure of my gut size on the weekend: we were up visiting my parents, and by a fortunate chance of weather in the hydro-line field behind their house a pond had formed and frozen over solidly, so we went skating. First of all, sitting on a low bench, I was barely able to bend over sharply enough to do up my skates--that was a shock! Secondly, while others skated all over the pond, when I ventured onto one side I heard some definate complaints from the ice, so avoided that part of the pond afterwards.

-Ed


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## noob (Mar 25, 2006)

Great job, man


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## fat hiker (Mar 29, 2006)

"when I ventured onto one side I heard some definate complaints from the ice," 
Ah, Edx, that reminds me of my childhood, when to check the ice on the pond in the field at school the cry always went up to send out the "fat man" - there was a boy a good 30-40 pounds heavier than any of the rest of us who went by that nickname, and goodnaturedly was always "up for the challenge". (He was also up for any spare food that happened to be around...)


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