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We hop on the scale. We write down what we eat. We measure various parts of our bodies, and we go through complete changes of wardrobe. Along the way, we have non scale victories to help us see how we are doing. We get feedback from others on how good we look. Even with all that, we sometimes lose perspective of how we are doing. At least, I do. I'd wager there might be one or two others like me here. ;-)

Today, I got a real dose of real perspective on how my weight loss journey is going. I was visiting my parents and helping my 82 year old father with a few chores around the house. One of the things I did was pick up some 50 lb bags of sand and salt for the driveway and walkway at their place. I mean literally. I grabbed them out of the back of my truck and carried them up the front stairs of their house.

If you want a real good idea of how you are doing on your loss of weight, grab 50 lbs of sand, sling it over your shoulder, and walk upstairs. Do it a few times. Then realize you used to carry that and more, every single day of your life, everywhere you went. I'm down 117 lbs right now. I had no desire to throw two bags on my shoulder to see how it felt. I was content with one.

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Funny you should say that. I don't know exactly how much a cylinder head weighs but I threw on in my backpack and carried it around for a bit this last weekend. I know that it has to be a bit short of my missing 81 pounds but I can guarantee that my body didn't miss it one bit!

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You two could appear in comedy clubs together!

I can't life 50 pounds (yet) but I now can carry the Kirby monster up and down the stairs by myself and open jars without help for the first time in years.

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You two could appear in comedy clubs together!

I can't life 50 pounds (yet) but I now can carry the Kirby monster up and down the stairs by myself and open jars without help for the first time in years.

That sucks! The Kirby, I mean. :P I can't help it, it is a character flaw. Mrs. LittleBill is pretty strong from helping me out all these years with remodeling, firewood, moving stuff around the shop, (the occasional wrassling match) etc, but I am still the chief jar opener around here.

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A friend of mine who is a mentor to me uses children to measure my weightloss. For example, as of today, I have lost an 11 yr old girl. Puts things in perspective for me. I am not going to lift bags of sand! :-)

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A friend of mine who is a mentor to me uses children to measure my weightloss. For example, as of today, I have lost an 11 yr old girl. Puts things in perspective for me. I am not going to lift bags of sand! :-)

Congratulations!

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A friend of mine who is a mentor to me uses children to measure my weightloss. For example, as of today, I have lost an 11 yr old girl. Puts things in perspective for me. I am not going to lift bags of sand! :-)

Amber alert! (This is the only time that an amber alert is funny)

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A friend of mine who is a mentor to me uses children to measure my weightloss. For example, as of today, I have lost an 11 yr old girl. Puts things in perspective for me. I am not going to lift bags of sand! :-)

Amber alert! (This is the only time that an amber alert is funny)

OMG. You made me laugh so much. However, I am going to rethink my measurement!

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Every year we send a huge box to my in-laws in Russia. I was mailing it this week. The box weighed 60 pounds, and I couldn't carry it by myself.

Since I'm 90 pounds down, I can't imagine how I used to live. No wonder I felt like crap all the time.

Sent from my SM-G925V using the BariatricPal App

Edited by Vinasu

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I love this perspective! Just this morning I was telling my husband about how I can effortlessly take the stairs up to my office now. 3 months ago I carried an extra 50 pounds. I cannot fathom carrying this 50lb bale of hay up the stairs before.

post-300674-0-45496500-1482421204_thumb.jpg

Also of note, I just read that the average make octopus weighs 100lbs. That's my goal. Lose an octopus.

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That is awesome. I remember reading an article about a gentleman who was quite overweight and wanted to go on a 10 day hike with his sons boy scout troop. He got in shape by walking with a back pack and each week he would carry what he lost. He dropped like 90 pounds.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using the BariatricPal App

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    • LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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