[Speed Gibson,
Thursday February 17, 2005 at 9:45pm]
Ten Pounds of Perspective
To put 10 pounds of weight loss in perspective, imagine that I've invited you to Thanksgiving dinner.
After a champagne toast, you start with 4 oz of light turkey meat, 2/3 cup of mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup of bread stuffing, and gravy to cover. You also take a little cranberry sauce, a dinner roll, butter, and jelly, plus 1/2 cup of fresh green peas with pearl onions. A glass of white wine is poured for you.
Round two, you have another 4 oz helping of turkey, dark meat this time, with another 1/3 cup of potatoes, 1/4 cup of stuffing, and gravy. You take another dab of cranberry sauce for the turkey, plus 1/2 cup of corn pudding you didn't have room on your plate for the first time. And you have another roll with butter and jelly, and a little more wine.
Later, you have a good slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream, then coffee and a glass of port.
Assuming you could finish this large amount of food, consider that 10 pounds of fat represents about 15 of these meals! Or, in my case, I'd have to "suffer" through two of these meals a day for about 3 weeks to put my lost ten pounds back on.
What this best illustrates for me is how calorically dense body fat really is, and why dieting is therefore such a struggle. Still, I don't feel any regret about having missed the equivalent of fifteen such meals over the past 47 days. I wonder: had I not dieted and maintained my original weight, what would I have eaten that would account for this?
Anyway, it's officially March 2005 at the SpeedGibson blog, even if the weather is still a bit brisk!
After a champagne toast, you start with 4 oz of light turkey meat, 2/3 cup of mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup of bread stuffing, and gravy to cover. You also take a little cranberry sauce, a dinner roll, butter, and jelly, plus 1/2 cup of fresh green peas with pearl onions. A glass of white wine is poured for you.
Round two, you have another 4 oz helping of turkey, dark meat this time, with another 1/3 cup of potatoes, 1/4 cup of stuffing, and gravy. You take another dab of cranberry sauce for the turkey, plus 1/2 cup of corn pudding you didn't have room on your plate for the first time. And you have another roll with butter and jelly, and a little more wine.
Later, you have a good slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream, then coffee and a glass of port.
Assuming you could finish this large amount of food, consider that 10 pounds of fat represents about 15 of these meals! Or, in my case, I'd have to "suffer" through two of these meals a day for about 3 weeks to put my lost ten pounds back on.
What this best illustrates for me is how calorically dense body fat really is, and why dieting is therefore such a struggle. Still, I don't feel any regret about having missed the equivalent of fifteen such meals over the past 47 days. I wonder: had I not dieted and maintained my original weight, what would I have eaten that would account for this?
Anyway, it's officially March 2005 at the SpeedGibson blog, even if the weather is still a bit brisk!