A-2s for Weight control

[fedoralover]

When I ordered my Aero A-2 I thought about getting a size 44 which would give me a little wiggle room in case I gained a few pounds but I decided against it figuring I wouldn't pay that much for a jacket and then allow myself to get too fat to wear it. So I got a size 42 instead. Well, over the summer I gained about 8 pounds which was just enough to make the jacket uncomfortable to wear this fall, so I cut back on the ice-cream, chips and beer and moderated how much I ate, cut out snacks after 6 in the evening and in 2 weeks the 8 pounds have come off and now the jacket feels right again. I was wondering if anyone else uses the high price of a quality A-2 to help them control their weight?

fedoralover

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

When I ordered my Aero A-2 I thought about getting a size 44 which would give me a little wiggle room in case I gained a few pounds but I decided against it figuring I wouldn't pay that much for a jacket and then allow myself to get too fat to wear it. So I got a size 42 instead. Well, over the summer I gained about 8 pounds which was just enough to make the jacket uncomfortable to wear this fall, so I cut back on the ice-cream, chips and beer and moderated how much I ate, cut out snacks after 6 in the evening and in 2 weeks the 8 pounds have come off and now the jacket feels right again. I was wondering if anyone else uses the high price of a quality A-2 to help them control their weight?

fedoralover

The price of any quality clothing is incentive enough. My question is,...How do I reduce the size of my head??:eusa_doh:

 

[scotrace]

A very dear friend here, when I was planning to order an A2, indicated in the gentlest of ways that I didn't want to have the new jacket stretched over a front porch. That, and another dear friend who said to my face, "time to lose that gut pal. Enough's enough," made me start the weight loss thing.

Now my A2 is two sizes too big. (not for sale anyway!)

 

[Atticus Finch]

When I ordered my Aero A-2 I thought about getting a size 44 which would give me a little wiggle room in case I gained a few pounds but I decided against it figuring I wouldn't pay that much for a jacket and then allow myself to get too fat to wear it. So I got a size 42 instead. Well, over the summer I gained about 8 pounds which was just enough to make the jacket uncomfortable to wear this fall, so I cut back on the ice-cream, chips and beer and moderated how much I ate, cut out snacks after 6 in the evening and in 2 weeks the 8 pounds have come off and now the jacket feels right again. I was wondering if anyone else uses the high price of a quality A-2 to help them control their weight?

fedoralover

Yep. Actually, G-1s work least as well for this purpose. They tend to have a very trim cut in the gut area. I seem to be forever one bar-b-que sandwich away from busting out of my favorite jacket.

Atticus

 

[fedoralover]

"Better health through better clothes" seems like a marketing line that would work. Line up a bunch of guys with pot guts before they buy an A-2 and then show them slimmed down after they get one.

fedoralover

 

[jeep44]

My Civil War reenacting uniforms serve the same purpose. I never let my weight vary more than a couple of pounds,and I keep a constant eye on what I eat,too. I'm the exact height and weight of the average CW soldier,and I like how my uniforms and gear hang right and look right.
Aside from that, ALL clothes look better on a thin person. I spent too many years being overweight,and due to a number of circumstances, was able to lose around 30 pounds in about a year,and have kept it off for six years now. What a pleasure to wear my size 40 A2 again after so many years of it hanging unworn in my closet (an old Avirex one from back when they actually attempted to make a good one)

 

[greyhound68]

I wrote on the VJ forum about "Jenny Craig" and jackets. Amazing at the response I got. Nothing like ordering a 800 dollar plus jacket and then gaining weight and having it not fit. Sure is a good way to force one to cut back on the junk and stay in shape. Of course being in the Army forces me to stay in shape. But then I like running and biking. Great thread.

 

[KhalilSheikh]

I wrote on the VJ forum about "Jenny Craig" and jackets. Amazing at the response I got. Nothing like ordering a 800 dollar plus jacket and then gaining weight and having it not fit. Sure is a good way to force one to cut back on the junk and stay in shape. Of course being in the Army forces me to stay in shape. But then I like running and biking. Great thread.

You're not alone. I got a custom-fitted Langlitz that fits me so well, that I can't gain an ounce!

 

[Spitfire]

The price of any quality clothing is incentive enough. My question is,...How do I reduce the size of my head??:eusa_doh:

Stop thinking ????

 

[Edward]

I want an A2 with steel boning in the front and a laced back...

 

[scotrace]

I want an A2 with steel boning in the front and a laced back...

I think Bob Crane wore one of those in a rarely-seen episode of Hogan's Heros. Looked like a Dubow.

 

[Atticus Finch]

My Civil War reenacting uniforms serve the same purpose. I never let my weight vary more than a couple of pounds,and I keep a constant eye on what I eat,too. I'm the exact height and weight of the average CW soldier,and I like how my uniforms and gear hang right and look right.
Aside from that, ALL clothes look better on a thin person. I spent too many years being overweight,and due to a number of circumstances, was able to lose around 30 pounds in about a year,and have kept it off for six years now. What a pleasure to wear my size 40 A2 again after so many years of it hanging unworn in my closet (an old Avirex one from back when they actually attempted to make a good one)

About ten years ago, when I weighed quite a bit more than I do now, I was in the audience at a civil war reenactment being conducted by the 10th North Carolina Artillery Regiment. During a break I approached the unit's "Colonel" and explained that my great, great grandfather was buried under a 10th N.C. tombstone in Beaufort. At first he acted skeptical and asked his "adjutant" check the original unit's roster for g.g. granddad's name. But when the adjutant reported back that it was sure enough there, the Colonel's whole attitude did an about face. He quickly began an earnest effort to recruit me to the group. He explained how the 10th N.C. attempted to be as authentic as possible and said that everthing I used while reenacting (weapon, clothing, equipment) would have to be approved by a committee on authenticity. He even told me that my girlfriend (who was standing there with me) would have to be in period dress if she were to visit me in camp. He had no idea what he was asking.

As I stood there in my size 52 jacket, listening to him drone on about authenticity, I couldn't help but wonder how many flabby, 285 pound, forty-two-year-old Confederates were in the original 10th North Carolina.

Atticus

 

[Edward]

About ten years ago, when I weighed quite a bit more than I do now, I was in the audience at a civil war reenactment being conducted by the 10th North Carolina Artillery Regiment. During a break I approached the unit's "Colonel" and explained that my great, great grandfather was buried under a 10th N.C. tombstone in Beaufort. At first he acted skeptical and asked his "adjutant" check the original unit's roster for g.g. granddad's name. But when the adjutant reported back that it was sure enough there, the Colonel's whole attitude did an about face. He quickly began an earnest effort to recruit me to the group. He explained how the 10th N.C. attempted to be as authentic as possible and said that everthing I used while reenacting (weapon, clothing, equipment) would have to be approved by a committee on authenticity. He even told me that my girlfriend (who was standing there with me) would have to be in period dress if she were to visit me in camp. He had no idea what he was asking.

As I stood there in my size 52 jacket, listening to him drone on about authenticity, I couldn't help but wonder how many flabby, 285 pound, forty-two-year-old Confederates were in the original 10th North Carolina.

Atticus

lol the more I read about these sorts of "wood for the trees" moments, the less 'other' the Rocky Horror costuming scene becomes. It's odd to think that if there was a draft today, I'd probably be too old for it (a relief for a conscientious objector, but nonetheless!!). I did quite fancy a go at Civil War re-enactment, but I'm probably in no way suited to it now. Eh, well.

 

[Kishtu]

Edward - English or American Civil War re-enactment?

(awaits reply with narrowed eyes)

If you had seen some of the sights that go on the field with the Sealed Knot purporting to be officers, you would not question your fitness for the role....

 

[Alan Eardley]

Edward - English or American Civil War re-enactment?

(awaits reply with narrowed eyes)

If you had seen some of the sights that go on the field with the Sealed Knot purporting to be officers, you would not question your fitness for the role....

Absolutely...

Alan

 

[Kishtu]

Absolutely...

Alan

Of course anyone who wanted to join a proper regiment would be more than welcome to PM me and become a fully authentic dragoon with a shotgun licence an' everything....

(Actually, me with a shotgun licence, I think the correct smiley-facey-thing would be ....)

 

[Speedster]

Well here is a picture of a band from the SpanAm war era. Kindly notice the bass drum player:

There is still hope for us overweight types.

 

[Edward]

Speedster, he looks like he's in training to take up the lambeg. lol

Kishtu.... The English Civil War never really appealed to me.... without getting into details, I guess because while my natural sympathies are strongly anti-royalist / pro-parliament, I've never been quite able to reconcile myself to Cromwell and the Puritan cause. Maybe being Irish has a teen weeny bit to do with that too. Cromwell - or at least those purporting to act in his name, which I allow cannot always be said to have been entirely the same thing - wasn't very nice to the Irish. I have always been a little bit intrigued by the US Civil war, not least because so many Irish boys, having crossed the ocean to escape poverty at home, fought on one side or the other. Of course a lot of them were, as I understand it, press-ganged... Then you hear of instances like the Conferderate regiment, I think one of the Tennessee regiments, that was an Irish affair - with predominantly Roman Catholic men who voted in Protestant officers. Bearing in mind that the same divisions in Ireland which caused so much trouble in modern Ireland were already in full swing back then, that is an intriguing difference to the perceived norm in the old country. Aside from the Irish involvement, I was really drawn in to a documentary I saw once about a reenactment group in the US who spent the week leading up to a major battle reenactment living exactly as they would have done back in the day - eating the same food, camping in the same spots, marching the same route... a total Civil War existence. They even had with them "prisoners" who were absorbed in their role as CSA POWs. I found it fascinating.... guess I spent too much time as a teenage Dungeons & Dragons player, but it's the immersing in history / character thing that appealed most, along with the Irish link to the conflict.

Since discovering its existence via these boards, I know if i lived closeby I'd love to get involved in the Anglo-Irish War and Civil War re-enactment groups, though I'd need to be well into the Republic for that - up North, though things are changing, running round pretending to be Ra or Black and Tans or whatever is still too close to the bone I think!

 

[green papaya]

I rather go up a size, I never buy small sizes, you cant keep your high school young man's size forever

small sizes become useless, if you put on a few pounds, big sizes can always be layered with underclothing, or have room for comfort

Ive been wearing a size 44 regular A2 since 1991, and it still fits about the same as it did back in 1991

 

[jeep44]

Mr Finch:
Yes, I see waaaay too many XXXL CW "soldiers". The Artillery is a special refuge for the old, fat guys who don't feel like exerting themselves much. They can fire the guns a few times, and then go back to camp to cook and eat. "Hardcore" reenacting groups are fond of staging grueling,strenuous marches as a subtle way of keeping that sort at home.