If Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Doug Ford have their way, their waistlines will join the city government in shrinking in 2012.

“Rob has two young kids, I have four girls, and we want to be around to watch ’em get married and be grandparents. If you’re carrying this extra weight, then that’s not healthy. And we know that. So we’re gonna get in shape,” he recently told NewsTalk 1010.

Ford told NewsTalk that the campaign will involve periodic City Hall weigh-ins. Public pressure, he said, will help them stick to their diet and exercise regimens.

“When you tell 3 million people that you’re gonna lose weight, you sure better lose weight,” he said, laughing.

The mayor referred to himself in February as “300 pounds of fun.” Both Fords are self-deprecating about their battles with the bulge; the weight-loss challenge may help humanize them to voters.

Former mayor David Miller lost about 50 pounds while in office. To succeed, Doug Ford told NewsTalk, he and his brother will have to avoid their respective “deadly sins”: chocolate milk for him, ice cream for the mayor.

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