I just gained back 90 pounds!!!!

   Ben got the idea tonight to try an experiment with a couple of back packs and some of the weights we have around the house.  We slipped 80 pounds of weights into the bags, and then had me put them on.  Needless to say, it was an eye opening experience. In the past year, I have lost 90 pounds.  So putting on the bags with close to that amount of weight really made me understand just how much I have taken off of my body.
    Simply walking around the living room for about two minutes was hard.  My knees felt sore, my breath was shorter, and I couldn't even do three squats.  I have no idea how I functioned on a day to day basis back then, when I weighed 260 pounds.  Well, to tell you the truth, I didn't function.  I just existed.
    It is always an eye opening experience when I look at my old photos.  I realize how miserable I was and how horrible I looked and felt.  It was embarrassing when we moved in to our new apartment with a stair well, and I had trouble going up and down the small flight of stairs.  My knees would ache, and I would find myself out of breath at the top landing.
    I have to sit and ask myself WHY I let my body to get to that point.  I think, honestly, I let it go because I did not see what I had done.  More accurately, I did not WANT to see what I had done.  I did not want to see that my poor choices had caused me to experience health issues that no twenty-six year old should have to deal with.
    So tonight, as I tried to walk around the living room with the added weight on my body, I found myself thankful that I finally did something.  Thankful that I finally took back the health that I had so easily tossed aside.  I never truly appreciated what it meant to be born with a healthy body, until I no longer had one.  It is amazing what we take for granted, until it is gone.  I never want to go back to that place again, now that I know what healthy feels like.  Though it may be hard to believe, I did not realize how poor my health was, until I began to experience what it meant to be fit and healthy.
     After my experience tonight, I want to try something.  I want to find a weighted vest, one that hopefully can bring me close to my old weight.  And then I want to spend a day or two trying to go about my normal routine with it on.  Just basic things like doing laundry, playing with the kids, teaching a lesson, doing this or that at work.  I hope to record my thoughts and experiences on here if I get the chance to do it.  Putting on the weighted bags tonight truly made me appreciate the changes my body has gone through in this past year. I know that I'll appreciate the changes even more when I try to go a day or two with the weight back on my body.

Amazing what can come from a little bit of inspiration!
Kristina