A few weeks ago, inspired by a photo from last November of me next to 147 pounds of dog food, I broke out my abacus and scoured the interweb, and compared my weight loss to a bunch of commonplace (and not so commonplace) items, like Oreos, quarters, tubas, and statues of Bigfoot. Check it out here – it’s a fun read (and even more fun for me calculate and write)!
The post got a great response, and, ever since, I’ve been thinking about what else I could compare my weight loss to. I’ve lost 164 pounds, so here’s some more items that weigh roughly 164 pounds. Thanks to a friend who shall remain nameless (which I’m sure he’d prefer), for an assist.
WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, I PRESENT TO YOU, MY WEIGHT LOSS IN…

…M&MS. I’ve lost the equivalent of 86,592 M&Ms. Can’t visualize what that many M&Ms looks like? They’d fill a 20-gallon aquarium to the top, and there’d still be about 5,600 hundred M&Ms to spare! Here’s another fun visual: If you lined up 86,592 M&Ms, end to end, they’d almost make it all the way across the main span of the Mackinac Bridge in northern Michigan (it’d be just 106 feet short). Here’s a picture of the Mackinac Bridge – it’s the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere, and the third-longest suspension bridge in the world:

…BOWLING BALLS. The heaviest bowling ball allowed for use by most bowling leagues and associations is 16 pounds. I’ve lost ten 16-pound bowling balls!

…WATER. One gallon of water weighs 8.35 pounds, which means I’ve lost almost 20 gallons of water! (The exact number is 19.64 gallons). The photo has four of those 5-gallon jugs that go upside-down into a watercooler, and it ain’t easy to pick up one of them!

…PREDATORY CATS. Adult mountain lions, which live in the mountains surrounding Los Angeles, weigh, on average, 150 pounds, so I’ve lost one mountain lion. That means I’ve also lost one cougar, one puma, and one panther, because they’re all the same animal.

…MAJOR SPORTS TROPHIES. I’ve lost more weight than these six major sports trophies combined. I had to look up what the Commissioner’s Trophy was for – I’m not much of a sports fan!

…EMMY AWARDS. While I may not be a sports fan, I’m a huge television fan, so I’m happy to share that I’ve lost the equivalent of 34 Emmy Awards, which is how many Cloris Leachman, Candice Bergen, Mary Tyler Moore, Tyne Daly, Shia LaBeouf, and Betty White have collectively won. Yep, Shia LaBeouf has an Emmy Award – it’s a Daytime Emmy that he won in 2003 for the Disney Channel show Even Stevens.

…TIRES. These Michelin Harmony 205/60R15 tires weigh 22 pounds each, so I’ve lost seven of them.

…COUNTRY MUSIC STARS. On the March 20, 2011 episode of Celebrity Apprentice, John Rich said, to Donald Trump, “I’m 160 pounds of rompin’ stompin’ meat, brother!” My ears perked up for two reasons: 1) that sentence could easily have been said by Yosemite Sam (although I doubt Yosemite Sam weighs 160), and 2) he weighs 4 pounds less than what I’ve lost. So, I’ve lost John Rich.

…FRIED CHICKEN. I’ve lost 27 12-piece buckets of KFC Original Recipe fried chicken. I’ve never been a big KFC eater, but that’s a lot of chicken! Based on the nutritional information on the KFC website, all that chicken adds up to 78,570 calories and 4,212 grams of fat.
If you have ideas for other items I could compare my weight loss to, leave them in the comments section! No need to do the research or math – leave that up to me – I’m good at it!
One more thing…
…Keep it up, David!

Holy crapballs this post is so full of awesomeness!!!! I may snatch (hehe I said snatch! Twice!!) this idea!
Cotton balls
I can’t even imagine how many cotton balls it would take! Good suggestion.
Great post! How about grape tomatoes – that’d be alot of lil tomatoes! BTW, welcome back!
That would be a lot of grape tomatoes!
cubes of butter
That’s so funny that you mention that, because I was considering it for this post… but with KFC and M&Ms, I had the unhealthy food beat covered. Great minds think alike!
Its so amazing when you can compare it to something you can relate to! I love that you’ve “lost John Rich”!! So awesome!
I’m losing weight as well. For me the kicker was when I picked up a 26 pound box of cat litter – and realized THAT is how much weight I had lost. That thing was heavy!! Woohoo!
Congratulations!
That IS a heavy box of cat litter! Isn’t it a great feeling?
Would anyone miss John Rich if you lost him?
Totally enjoyed this post!! That’s a lot of M&Ms. Keep it up, David!
This Southern girrl’d miss John Rich. Think “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy”! Hee Hee!! Congrats, David! Umm, hummingbirds. They’re all over my honeysuckle this morning, sucking down nectar like zippy butterfly vampyres. One female rufous {ruby-throated} hummer weighs approximately 3 grams {they weigh more than the males due to baby-making functions}. One gram is about 0.1058 ounces.
Wow – hummingbirds are LIGHT! Thanks for the idea and the info, Karen!
That was great! You are hilarious! Way to go!!
So many awesome visuals today! I love it! Keep it up David! =)
Hi Dave,
You have lost 164 lbs! AMAZING or 164 x 454 grams per lb = 74456 grams. Fat is 9 calories per gram so, assuming you lost mostly fat, you have lost 74456 x 9 = 670,104 calories !! You say ” all that chicken adds up to 78,570 calories..” I say it has to add up to a whole lot more !!!—to 670,104 calories at least.
Congrats! Keep it up David !
Thanks for the fact-checking, Dad! I didn’t mean to imply I’ve lost 78,570 calories, I meant to suggest that if you were to eat 27 buckets of chicken, you’d be consuming 78,570. But I was curious about how many calories I’ve lost in the past 15 months, so thanks for doing the math! xoxo
Brilliant!
That’s an awesome post! Fun to think of things in new ways … perhaps I’ll post my own “what I’ve lost” post one day, when I’ve actually lost some weight.
David, bricks are heavy, and think of having to CARRY them around all day! How many bricks have you lost, do you think?
Hey Cathy! Check out this post… I calculated my weight loss in CINDER BLOCKS! http://keepitupdavid.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/butterfingers/