Months ago some one posted "What Things Weigh" and on the list was the weight of a cinder block: 33 pounds. For some reason I latched on to that as a goal. I know how heavy a cinder block is because I have to move them around from time to time. We have a small farmstead and I despise those cinder blocks that are out behind our garden shed. Well now, as of today, I am down two of those babies (plus one pound). Sixty-seven pounds down!! Honestly I cannot even imagine carrying around two cinder blocks all day every day and yet that's what I have done for years. That and more. No wonder I feel so good -- I'm free of those anchors.

Along with shedding weight, I am also still letting go of my old dieting mentality. I was an epic dieter -- on or off a diet for twenty years plus -- and so I still sometimes think in terms of being "good" or "bad." Yesterday might have been what I would have called a bad day. We ate out and I had a lot of guacamole, a few chips, a little chili, but kind of a lot of guacamole. And a cocktail! That was lunchtime. Then we went to a friend's house for a little dinner party and there were cheese and crackers. Yummy blue cheese. I had a loaded cracker and then another bite of cheese at some point, and wine was flowing. A Soup and salad for dinner; I didn't have bread. Then dessert! I even had a little bit of ice cream. This is very unlike me. BAD GIRL, right? Well, there is no good girl/bad girl anymore. There's just me and my band. I have been stuck at 187 for ages and this morning I jumped on the scale hoping, hoping, hoping yesterday hadn't taken me back over the top and into the nineties again (yikes). Nope, down two pounds to 185. This is the way it has gone for me the whole time. I think I'm not getting anywhere and then when I least expect it, there goes the scale down, down, down.

Yes, I want to put down one more cinder block -- I'd like to lose another thirty-three pounds. I'm not sure what my body's ideal weight will be and whether that is even the right goal, but I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing and let it take the time it takes. What do I do? I eat when I'm hungry and I don't eat when I'm not hungry. I'm keeping it as simple as possible, having overcomplicated everything to do with food and eating for such a long time. Best wishes to all, wherever you are on your journey. The day-by-day can seem like a bit of a slog sometimes (especially when the scale isn't moving like a speedometer), but over the course of a year? WOW!

I love that! I'm down two cinder blocks too - and hoping to go for a third.

Congrats!

Congratulations Bandista. You are doing amazing!! Cinder blocks make a great representation of shed-ed pounds. I like that. I still get trapped in the good and bad of eating and I still get a guilty feeling for eating stuff as well. I will go through the McDonald's drive thru once and a great while and get a vanilla cone and then beat myself up over it after having it. I really get bummed out and feel like I derailed myself with a single small cone. LOL Diet mentality kicking my butt still.

You're doing great and I am sure you will get there in time. My Doctors never gave me a number or a goal to shoot for so I am also struggling with that. I am quite content where I am I guess but if my body wants to give up a little more then I am OK with that too.

Keep up the good work neighbor!

For me it was 18 pound bags of cat litter... I was walking across Target parking lot lugging one to the car shortly after surgery and thinking how heavy it was and then I realized I had lost about that much weight since surgery. How did I even walk around all day carrying that?

Today, by my calculator, I'm down 3.5 bags of 18 pound cat litter... I don't think I could even carry that many bags at once but just 4 months ago, I was walking around with that much weight all the time.

This surgery has been WONDERFUL!

@@Bandista, your attitude is wonderful. I'm still in diet mentality but I do see the benefit of letting that go. It's so rewarding to take the long view and see the progress over many months or a year instead of just this week or moment. Congratulations on your success. You inspire me!

You guys are so creative. I like that concept of being able to visualize an item that weighs about what I've lost. Me, I'm down a little over an 18lb bag of kitty litter. I am still sliding in and out of dieters mentality though. I find that I eat waaaay less than what I used to (thanks to the green zone!) but I cringe when I think of the stuff I indulge on like 2 glasses of red Pino Noir, and a 2 inch by 2 inch square of my son's birthday cake with the icing scraped off. Then there are days I know that it's about moderation. Obviously I am not going to indulge everyday so once in a while is okay. I am a work in progress folks. ...hmm now I want to say a toast to my next bag of kitty litter...good thing I'm at work.

Edited October 28, 201411 yr by blacktxbelle

I can't get the diet mentality out of my head either. guilty feelings are always with me. and since I am having a few complications I can add those guilty feelings to the load I am already carrying. did we really live our lives with all these feelings? how in the hell did we put one foot in front of the other?

Hah – cinder blocks and kitty litter, love it! I just told someone yesterday that I've lost 2 bags of mulch (40 lbs each). I said, "imagine strapping one bag of mulch to your front, and another to your back. Now walk around all day, including going up and down stairs in your house. That's how I felt before surgery." Not any more!!!

Edited October 28, 201411 yr by Rogofulm

That is awesome you lost 67lbs, I did not know cinder blocks weighed 33 lbs. but certainly they feel a lot heavier than that!! You were carrying a 3rd grade or 4th grade child on your back!! How about that! Keep it going!

when I went on my last trip I could barely manage my suitcase. it weighed 48#. that is what I have lost. no wonder I was tired. or, in my usual terms, more than 2 bags of dogfood. ( 18 # each). just for practice, I tried putting one bag on each leg and going up a couple stairs : very tough. thank you sleeve!!!! love sara