Oh my... so i had a horrible realization this weekend.
My husband and i were at Petsmart buying dog food for Oliver.... when i realized that i was trying to lose more weight than a giant 40lb bag of dog food.. which was heavy! I am carrying more than a big bag of dog food around with me all the time!
It really pushed things into perspective for me... and kind of freaked me out a bit... but motivated me! Imagine actually carrying around that bag of dog food all the time.... but... wait... it's like i am!
My realization didn't happen until after I'd lost a lot of weight. I have small dogs (20 & 25 pounds) and one day I realized I'd lost more than they weighed together!! wowsa!
When you lose the weight, pick up that bag again and see how heavy it is!!!
When I was heavier, I used to say that I would go jogging with anyone, but that they had to wear a weighted backpack so that we would weigh the same. Then they could see what it's like to be overweight.
It really makes daily life so much harder to be overweight. Climbing stairs, getting up from a chair, even just walking.
That's why when someone wants to start exercise while overweight, it's a good idea to start very slowly and with exercises or machines that aren't hard on the joints. It's easy to overdo.
My brother & I are both losing weight, we've lost about 160 lbs together... We both started saying "Wow... that's a whole frickin' person!" When we're done losing, we'll have lost an obese person... We were both like "Holy... that's a lot."
I just imagine myself once I'm down at goal carrying around this adult in one of those baby backpack things. Ouch!
I try to find it exciting -- yes, I have to lose 100 lbs (my oldest son weighs about 109 and I couldn't pick him up if the house was on fire ) but I look forward to getting that "extra person off of me" so I can run, play sports and wear nice clothes again. And, I also have a 50 pound little guy, so when I'm at 1/2 my goal, I have a visual to pick up as well!!
I had a similar experience in the dog food aisle. But mine was more nutritionally related. My poor dog was allergic to EVERYTHING so I had to find food she could eat that wouldn't cause a reaction. How many hours did I spend pouring over the labels on a bag of food??? WAY more time than I did looking at the food I was putting into my own body.
I did so much more to keep her healthy and active than I did for myself at that time. It's my turn, now!
I actually had the same thing, except I was at Costo lugging a 40lb bag of dog food across the store to put in my mother's cart. When I had put it in the cart (I was at about 205 lbs at that time) I thought about how much relief I felt after getting rid of it, and how great I'd feel after losing that 'dog food'(and then some!) off of my body. That's one of the things that got me serious about this weight-loss business.
One of my favorite Biggest Loser things is toward the end when they have to do a challenge while wearing the weights equivalent to what they've lost. It's really eye opening!!
What a realization, huh? I know exactly what you're talking about with those 40 pounder bags of dog food. Now multiply that by 2 and that's about how much weight I have to lose. It never FEELS like that much on my body, but it's astounding to actually hold 80lbs of weight in your hands. My husband has a set of 45 lb. weights that he uses for bench presses. 90 lbs... it's a real eye opener. I can't wait until I can lift even just one of those 45 lb weights and say "this is how much I've lost!"
It's fun checking your weight loss with familiar items. I am almost up to the 44 lb bag of Pedigree. I just bought one yesterday, and I could hardly get it in the trunk! Five more lbs!
I had a moment like this when I was only seeing the scale move 1 lb at a time. I was thinking that this was not working and 1 lb was nothing...until I looked at a 1 lb container of potato salad... that is a lot of potato salad, so now I cherish each and every pound I lose.
What a great idea. I am always struggling to lift my darling doggies food out of the pet store. So I'll think of that the next time I don't want to go to the gym or I want to binge.
Thanks