Last night I was talking to my 25 year old nephew on the phone. He's in the National guard, served in Iraq a few years back and is now getting called up for Afghanistan. He leaves for the stateside pre-training in November and is really worried about his knees holding up when he has to carry around the 100 lb. pack.

I was trying to encourage him that while he may have inherited weak knees from his father, his auntie carried around an extra 100 lbs for 20 years and can still walk just fine.

Wow. We both were silent for a bit after that one. He always knew I was the fat aunt but had no idea the actual weight. And I was suddenly very thankful that I do still have joints that now support my active lifestyle.

Pretty amazing stuff our bodies can do!

Good for you for encouraging him and revealing the amount of weight you've lost. Isn't it neat that people have no idea what "fat" translates to? I remember watching an episode of ER many, many years ago and they had a patient that they had cut out of his house because he was so large. I remember being incredibly offended because they estimated his weight at 350, 400 pounds. Not only wasn't it clearly incorrect but at the time, I was 300 pounds and very active so I was ticked off! But people have no idea what size translates to.

Carye: hugs and prayers for your nephew.

It's true, people can't really imagine our weights. I know a friend of mine, last time, was always telling me not to lose any more. Partly, there was a touch of green-eyed jealousy there but partly, when she heard how much I'd lost, she couldn't imagine that I wasn't now unhealthily light.

This time, although she hasn't mentioned the two stone I've lost, I know that when/if it comes up in conversation, she'll again assume I'm over-dieting: she wants to lose 7lbs, so it's hard for her to imagine the numbers I'm talking.

all the best to your nephew!

yeah, I told the trainer at the gym I wanted to lose 50lbs, and he visably looked a little shocked (ha!), and that isn't even the real amount I needed to lose to fit the rec hight weight number, more like 70 to 80. and you have to figure he deals with weight all the time. go figure.

It still boggles my mind that anyone can carry that much weight. It makes no sense. I know it's well distributed, but gosh. How did I manage to do daily tasks? And I did! I really didn't notice the weight all that much...not as much as it seems I should have when you consider a 100 pound pack. But it does explain the achey feet. I just can't fathom that I can not lift the weight I have lost and yet I carried it every moment of every day.

It does make me understand why I have such large legs though. Those of us who have been obese can do some pretty impressive squats and leg presses.