[ZiGeNX77]

I was laughing when I read this.

Weight gain means lower gas mileage

Want to spend less at the pump? Lose some weight. That's the implication of a new study that says Americans are burning nearly 1 billion more gallons of gasoline each year than they did in 1960 because of their expanding waistlines. Simply put, more weight in the car means lower gas mileage.


Using recent gas prices of $2.20 a gallon, that translates to about $2.2 billion more spent on gas each year.

"The bottom line is that our hunger for food and our hunger for oil are not independent. There is a relationship between the two," said University of Illinois researcher Sheldon Jacobson, a study co-author.

"If a person reduces the weight in their car, either by removing excess baggage, carrying around less weight in their trunk, or yes, even losing weight, they will indeed see a drop in their fuel consumption."

The lost mileage is pretty small for any single driver. Jacobson said the typical driver — someone who records less than 12,000 miles annually — would use roughly 18 fewer gallons of gas over the course of a year by losing 100 pounds. At $2.20 per gallon, that would be a savings of almost $40.

Outside experts said that even if the calculations aren't exact, the study makes sense.

"If you put more weight into your car, you're going to get fewer miles per gallon," Emory University health care analyst Kenneth Thorpe said Wednesday.

The same effect has been seen in airplanes. Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that heavy fliers have contributed to higher fuel costs for airlines.

The obesity rate among U.S. adults doubled from 1987 to 2003, from about 15 percent to more than 30 percent. Also, the average weight for American men was 191 pounds in 2002 and 164 pounds for women, about 25 pounds heavier than in 1960, government figures show.

The study's conclusions are based on those weight figures and Americans' 2003 driving habits, involving roughly 223 million cars and light trucks nationwide.

It will appear in the October-December issue of The Engineering Economist, a peer-reviewed journal published by the American Society of Engineering Education and the Institute of Industrial Engineers.

Jacobson, an industrial engineer, conducted the research with Laura McLay, a doctoral student in his Champaign-Urbana lab who now works at Virginia Commonwealth University.

They estimated that more than 39 million gallons of fuel are used each year for every additional pound of passenger weight.

The amount of extra fuel consumption blamed on weight gain since 1960 — 938 million gallons — would fill almost 2 million cars with gas for an entire year. However, that is only 0.7 percent of the total amount of fuel consumed by U.S. passenger vehicles each year, Jacobson said.

The estimates "are probably pretty reliable," said Larry Chavis, an economist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. "I don't know if it's going to encourage anybody to go out and lose weight to save gasoline, but even for individual families, it could have an effect on their budget."

Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, former CDC director and chairman of an Institute of Medicine report on obesity, said the findings are almost beside the point.

"The wrong fuel is being focused on," said Koplan, now at Emory University. "If you're heavier, the most important fuel you use more of is food."

Eating less, driving less and choosing more active means of transportation would reduce gas consumption, and also help reverse rising obesity rates, he said.

Article by LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer
source: Yahoo! news: Link to source article

End Article --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But it is true, excess weight in any form will lower gas mileage. Aside from bodyweight (that we're all trying or want to get rid of already), get rid of things that you don't need in your car. I've seen my friends haul around a tv, large packs of water, bowling balls, several books, tool boxes, and countless other things.

[supad0rk]

I partially stripped out my rear (I still need dry ice and some time), and my gas milage is a lil better but cops look at me funny lol. Plus I need my tool box... every S13 owner needs their tool box with them

[ZiGeNX77]

I partially stripped out my rear (I still need dry ice and some time), and my gas milage is a lil better but cops look at me funny lol. Plus I need my tool box... every S13 owner needs their tool box with them

What do you need your tool box at all times for?

Can people see the rear interior of your car? It must look a bit odd to them seeing it stripped out.

[supad0rk]

The back seats, the carpeting, and most of the panels and useless stuff in the back are gone. The only thing back there is a strut tower bar with two pandas hanging on it, cops just look in the back and look back at me with a funny look.

Reasons for the tool box: 1)A few months back when we went for a touge run a guy crashed and the tool box really came in handy, 2) sitting in the parking lot of tapioca express and someone deciding "lets work on our cars" it came in handy, 3) the old fashion "oh yeah man dont worry i have all the tools I need" and then when you show up the person says "Oh yeah i forgot to tell you i need... this this and that....", 5) just in case something fallls off my car or breaks, or 6) Just in case something falls off or breaks on someone elses S13

[4321]

The same effect has been seen in airplanes. Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that heavy fliers have contributed to higher fuel costs for airlines.

It's not just obese people who use up more gas because they weigh too much; very tall people and very buff people do too. All the people in those groups should pay more for airplane fares. So that they can get two seats where they can hog their excessive leg, elbow and shoulder room and let us petite and average people travel in peace at a decent cost.

[azn akira]

i didnt really read much of the article (too many words) but did they really need a study to show that less weight = better mpg. that should be pretty obvious...for what its worth, both of my cars weigh less than the factory curb weights. my rx7 weighs 200lbs less. i notice no difference in mileage, probably because of how i drive. but the bottom line is, by loosing a few pounds around your waist line is not going to have any noticeable effect on your mpg

[crashdummy]

want lower gas mileage?

get rid of rx7 (check)
buy motorcycle (check)

sucess

[KeN VeRsUs RyU]

i have a toolbox too. Comes in handy all the time even though it weighs like 50 pounds.

[chishifu]

Less weight.... less energy required to get the car moving... but it's just so insignificant that it's ridiculous
Also with cars like rx7, s13 and whatnot... we've pretty much all resigned ourselves to some pretty crappy mileage... esp with mods

ChiShi

[ghost]

Well everything in rear of my S13 is gone including the donut

All i have back there are a couple bottles of fix a flat and some tools like supadork

I'd rather have em and not need em rather than need em and not have them

[BestChinese]

yeah i notice when a passenger who is overweight in my car i need to push the pedal more lol

[supad0rk]

S13 + tools = usually a running S13!!! ftw! lol

Yeah I gave up my hopes on gas milage but that's not the real reason why I got rid of my rear.

[ghost]

I just hope my car will get at least half the mileage it gets when i add a couple cylinders in a month or two

[supad0rk]

Well everything in rear of my S13 is gone including the donut

All i have back there are a couple bottles of fix a flat and some tools like supadork

I'd rather have em and not need em rather than need em and not have them

Haha out your donut back! My thread explains why there is a need for one lol

[ghost]

Haha out your donut back! My thread explains why there is a need for one lol

both my rear tires did have nails in em....

dangit, i better get 2 just in case

[koneee]

stop eating dk. you phetty