How hard it is to carry around an extra 20 - 30 pounds!! When you put a child on your back in a back pack it makes it real to me. I am carring around at least 50 extra pounds if not more and now I realize how come I am tired when I go up the stairs... and I get tired so much easier! It's all this extra weight I am packing around! And what a relief it will be to get it OFF!

Emily~ Good point! I watched "The Biggest Loser" and thought it was a really good idea when they had all of the participants strap on the weight bags equalling the pounds they lost while on the show. I just got back from a hiking/backpacking trip and what a wake-up...hauling around all that extra weight all day and then feeling the relief when it came off. I'm ready for some more relief!

I'm going to look for weights equaling what I want to lose to see how it feels. What great incentive to feel that amount getting lighter and lighter.

Leann

It's amazing how we don't realize what we are doing to ourselves when we get so heavy. I needed cat food one weekend and thought, hey, I'll walk the 1/2 mile to the pet store and pick up a small 10 pound bag and bring it home. OMG, I was so tired carrying that thing by the time I got home and it was only 10 pounds.

Couldn't imagine what it would be like to haul around a 30 pound kid on top of being over weight. Sounds very painful.
Sarah

Emily, I can so relate. I was climbing five flights of stairs the other day, and there was a man in front of me climbing at a good clip. I didn't want him to think I was a "fat, middle-aged woman" (which I am. heh heh heh), so I kept at his pace. I almost died (I was also trying not to breath heavily), and it made me remember that I'm carrying an extra 60-some pounds around.

I had to give all that up when my asthma got so bad.... I wonder if it'll get better as I get thinner?

I loved The biggest loser!!! They had a lot of really great ideas!!
I love the idea of trying to carry around the weight we lost...Talk about a great incentive to keep on losing!! Woo Hoo!!!

Excellent point.. my daughter weighs 16 kilos which is about half of the weightloss that I need to do and I get so exhausted hauling her around..

Emily, that is SUCH a good point! I used to be totally out of breath after climbing one flight of stairs to get to my office in the morning. Once I lost about 40 pounds, that no longer happened...but all along I had been telling myself that my asthma must be getting worse because there was no way that a 'few extra pounds' could be to blame! I was in such denial!

The interesting thing, for me, is how ingeniously the fat is placed on our bodies to allow us to carry it. Though it caused tons of back and hip strain, still, I was able to carry a lot more weight in fat than I can physically lift and carry now.

I think that it's the fact that we don't get all the fat all at once. It's a gradual process.... but still you know now that even a little extra weight is so hard on your bones, your heart, it's just hard work lugging around this spare tire! UGH!

We go on our "Family" camping trip every year, and there was no escaping the inevitable hikes! I used to dread them. And then I would whine every step of the way!

This year I was enthusiastic about the hikes! I didn't tire nearly as easily, and I wasn't bringing up the rear like the last few years. I've still got a long way to go, but I can really notice the difference!

Heather, I'll bet you anything it gets better.

great points

Howdy, all--

I, too, have been surprised at how much easier activities have become. I used to get winded running things over to our business office at work (about a half a mile from here to there), but I can make the trip there and back a few times now, no sweat.

Speaking of weight bags...one of my best weight-loss cheerleaders has helped me to keep track of what I've lost in terms of dog food... Every time she sees that I've lost again, I hear, "Do you know what that is in dog food?! Monica...that's 4, 20 lb bags of dog food and a bag of sugar!" Lol. For the life of me, I can't figure out where in the world I found room on this body to stash all that "dog food" now....