The bench press machine in my gym is a Hammer Strength one that uses plates, and the big boys who use the place, bless their hearts, always load it up with their 25kg (55lb) plates and then leave them there. So I have take them off to replace them with my 10kg plates. And every time I do that -- pick up one at a time, lift with the legs, not with the back, LOL -- and carefully carry them across the room back to their rack, I think, "I used to carry this weight ALL THE TIME. How the f$%#!k did I DO that? I used to carry this up three flights of stairs! I used to hike up and down friggin' MOUNTAINS carrying this!"

Next time I read some internet commenter ranting about lazy fat people, I am just gonna laugh quietly to myself.

Nice observation Bronze. Sometimes this thought hits me too. I follow along on that train of thought with the idea that I took to strength training so well because my body was used to manipulating heavier weight...it was attached to me for my daily activities.

Hey thats a good idea...I should try that. 30+ lbs doesnt seem like much, but when you lift it...it is!

If ONLY I could lose what I can lift!! Ok-that's a joke Because if I did really, I'd be four years old again.

You've made a really good point.

I've definitely had that thought before! When I do leg work I use strap on weights so the weight is more evenly distributed and not just in my arms/shoulders. Sometimes I'll be doing my workout and then it just hits me that I've put on enough weight that I'm at the same weight as when I was at my heaviest. I really have to wonder how I was able to walk up stairs then at all!

One pseudo-goal for me is that I'd like to be able to deadlift my own weight. So far I'm up to 46kg+bar (101 lbs+bar) so I still have a ways to go but one can dream, right? I'll definitely have to lose a lot more first, though, because deadlifting 188lbs sounds like a lot right now!

Yeah, it reminds me of one episode they'd consistently run on "The Biggest Loser." I stopped watching a while ago -- my problems with the show began to outweigh my enjoyment in it or any inspiration I'd once derived -- so I don't know if they still do it. They strap the newly healthy contestants into enough weights so they're back at their starting weights. They then have to run through a course. At certain stages in the course, they drop weight at exactly the same pace as they lost weight over the previous weeks. Anyway the contestants who have all their former weight on at the start go through the same realization you've described so eloquently.

yes-my 8 month old! lol

I'm deadlifting, with the trap bar, a total of 165 pounds. Not my body weight, but close. There is someone on the site who does do her bw plus, but I've forgotten who it is.

Of course, right now, I've got patellar tendinitis. Hmmm, do I see a relationship here.

That's pretty darn close! Yikes, sorry about the tendinitis, though.